From One Book Lover

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

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.)

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