Posts

Showing posts from July, 2015

Review: The Martian

Image
As I write this review, I'm trying to temper my enthusiasm. I need to surrender and just start with a command: Read The Martian . Go buy it now and start reading it. When you have to take a break from time to time, and you may, pop back here and read this review. Okay, now that we have that out of the way, here's my review: I loved this book. I would rank it as one of the best books I've read this year. The buzz was pretty high from readers and reviewers, and I heard there was a movie in the works starring Matt Damon. When Amazon advertised the book for a ridiculously low price, I downloaded it to encourage myself to read it. There it lingered. My friend Melanie and her son listened to it on a recent road trip, and her description intrigued me: Remember that scene in Apollo 13 when the engineers needed to build a filter out of items than astronauts could find on the space ship? That's what this book is like, only even better. My dad was one of those engineers

American Independence: Too Late to Apologize

Image
In honor of the brave men and women who helped the United States of America become a reality, I offer a fresh look at the acts of sedition required for success — expressed in song. Thanks to Soomo for such a revolutionary take on music and history. (Check out the video on women's suffrage : it will make you gaga.)

Summer Reading List: How's It Going?

Image
Fellow readers, are you spending enough time with your books this summer? I suspect I am falling behind, but I tend to do that when I have a lot of books going at once. Below is my "completed" list  from Memorial Day weekend and my nightstand list.  As you'll notice, a few books on each list were not on my original summer read  list , but I'm flexible in that way. There are a couple of shorter pieces, but as I noted before, it all balances out. Start Late, Finish Rich Picturing Grace Divergent The Three Monarchs Moriarty Station Eleven Good Omens Here are the books currently on my nightstand: The Light Between Oceans The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Stepmonster Steve Jobs The Descent A God in Ruins Second Life  The Martian Man Seeks God: My Flirtation with the Divine  Alexander Hamilton I have bookmarks in five of those books, so I may not finish them all tomorrow, but I'll have a cascade as I reach the end