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 e...

Recently, I managed to wrack up a $30 Kindle book bill one month buying books priced at $3 or less. Now, $30 isn't huge in the grand scheme of things — I can spend that on a single printed book (sans latte) at a full-price bookstore. However, I am always looking for a great deal, so I reviewed my Kindle and Amazon reading and borrowing privileges. I noticed some of my recent inexpensive buys were Kindle Unlimited or Kindle Prime books, which meant I could read them for free (with some restrictions). Kindle Prime members are Kindle owners who may borrow a single book each month from a select list. Kindle Unlimited permitted readers to borrow, for a fee, an unlimited number of books each month from a select list. Between the two, I could read for three months on what I spent in a single month. But was it really a deal? Were the books I wanted to read Unlimited to me? The short answer: no. The long answer: none of the 130 books on my Amazon book wish list are Unlimited....

It comes out of nowhere and takes the world by surprise, a new virus with a near-total mortality rate. What it does to humanity is devastating. What humanity does in its aftermath is fascinating. In Station Eleven , watch the world through the eyes of people with connection to a single person: the world-famous Arthur Leland. Each has experiences that, when woven together, tell a fascinating, riveting story about hope and loss, love and fear. This isn't a "science fiction" book beyond the idea that it's futuristic and involves the end of the world as we know it. It's the story of people trying to live in a world that is strange, cruel and beautiful. Emily St. John Mandel chooses an interesting, comprehensive cast of characters through which to see this new world, and it was amazing to watch the threads slowly create one of the most interesting, gorgeous designs I've seen in a while. Much like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale , Mandel doesn’t t...

I hang my head in shame and announce something that should be obvious by now: I did not read Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, the Polar Book Club book this past winter. I tried. In fact, I am still trying to read it, a few sideways glances at a time. It is perhaps the least enjoyable book I have encountered this year. It was weird, which I normally do not mind (and, truth be told, tend to prefer).  It was tedious reading, scattered, unfocused storytelling.  It also put children in adult situations. Okay, let's not be coy: a pre-teen boy was having all the sex he could muster. I cannot tolerate gratuitous sexualization of children in books, and since the story ambled along in a scattershot way, I did not see the value in that portrayal of a child.  Finally, it was not the story I expected to read. I thought I was getting a love story that stretched across time.  Instead, I managed to get quite a ways into the story without a glimmer of such romanc...

It's the summer reading season, which is when I make  unreasonably long lists of books to read.  It's like the rest of the year, but with a publicly announced ambition. (And warmer. Usually.) As a child, I loved the summer reading club — and found myself really disappointed to find no adult version. So, I did what most people do: I formed my own club and invited my friends, family and interested future reading buddies. (Let's be honest: if you see someone with a book, especially a book you yourself have read, are they really strangers?) Now, the summer has unofficially begun with Memorial Day, a solemn occasion to remember why we have the freedom and opportunity to exercise our rights and privileges as Americans. Please, take a moment to remember the true reason for the day. Review your bookshelves or nightstand to decide what to put on your summer reading list. Here is mind, in no particular order: Good Omens Divergent  Insurgent Allegiant As Yo...