What I’m Reading: The Martian

Posted in Book Review, Books, What I'm Reading by

18007564From Goodreads.com:

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars’ surface, completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark’s not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills — and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength – he embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive, using his botany expertise to grow food and even hatching a mad plan to contact NASA back on Earth.

As he overcomes one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next, Mark begins to let himself believe he might make it off the planet alive – but Mars has plenty of surprises in store for him yet.

Grounded in real, present-day science from the first page to the last, yet propelled by a brilliantly ingenious plot that surprises the reader again and again, The Martian is a truly remarkable thriller: an impossible-to-put-down suspense novel that manages to read like a real-life survival tale.

My review:

I’m not going to lie: I picked up The Martian because of two reasons: Others thought the book was great and there’s a lot of buzz behind the movie starring Matt Damon. (The internet meme stating how Hollywood has spend a lot of money saving Matt Damon made me laugh. A lot.) I’ve yet to watch the movie (Kyle wanted to rent it but I told him I wanted to finish the book first), so I have nothing else to compare it to.

That being said, I am glad I did decide to pick it up and read it. It was pretty entertaining, and I found Mark Watney’s humour to be excellent. (Maybe that’s why the movie was in the Comedy category at the Golden Globes?) Even all the technical, nerdy, science talk didn’t bore me because the humour made it easier to “get.”

At first I thought The Martian was going to be just a day to day (or would it be sol-to-sol?) diary of Watney’s time on Mars. I was happy to read the “on earth” portions to help balance his story and bulk up the book. I found myself itching to reach the next section just to see how the folks at NASA reacted to what Watney was doing. It’s a definite page-turner and while the ending didn’t surprise me, some of the stuff that happens to Watney did. (Can’t the dude just catch a break?!)

I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t yet read or watched it, so I’ll wrap things up by saying that I’m looking forward to watching the movie. As for the book, I’m going to give it 4.5 stars out of 5. Why is it missing half a star? I wish we got to know more about Watney other than the simple fact that he has parents. The learned about the other astronaut’s families a little, so it was a bit of a let down that we didn’t get to know more about Watney’s.

The Liebster Award

Posted in Awards by

liebster2-1

I received the Liebster Award from Vicki at Tippytupps. Thanks Vicki! What’s I’m supposed to do is answer the questions she posted, then create 11 of my own and nominate 11 people. So, here we go:

1. What is your favourite season and why?

I’d like to say spring because I love being able to sit outside and bask in the sun’s rays, but everything is usually melting and mucky and gross otherwise. Fall is probably my favourite. Nothing is prettier than the changing colours of the leaves on the trees!

2. What is your favourite book?

I don’t think I have a favourite book. There’s a few that I’ve read that I’ve really enjoyed and that have moved me, and I have a couple of favourite authors, but I don’t think I have a #1 favourite book.

3. Favourite place you’ve visited and why?

Two places come to mind for this one – Las Vegas and Sechelt. Totally different places! Vegas because well, it’s Vegas! It was such an amazing place to visit with Kyle and I loved being able to just be an adult! It’s totally not a place I’d take the kids, although it is common. Sechelt holds a dear place in my heart as I have fond memories travelling there with my grandparents, and it’s where my grandma’s and great-grandma’s ashes were spread. I just find it peaceful and calming.

4. Where would you like to be in 5 years time?

I’d like to be exactly where I am – happy and healthy, surrounded by love. As cheesy as it may sound, I honestly wouldn’t change much about my current life status.

5. What is your biggest fear?

Something bad happening to my family. I know you can’t live in a constant state of worry or fear, because that’s how you trap yourself, but they all mean the world to me and I would be devastated if something bad were to happen.

6. What is your favourite thing about yourself and why?

I grew two little humans inside of me. I’d say that’s pretty awesome. ;)

7. Given the choice, what holiday would you prefer – city break, beach or adventure holiday?

Right now I’d totally go for a beach holiday. Christmas is over and I’m done with the cold and snow. Come December 26, the white stuff loses its allure!

8. What is your guilty pleasure TV show? (C’mon, be honest!)

America’s Next Top Model, although it just wrapped up its last season in December. I’m also known to watch anything that involves Gordon Ramsay, except for Hell’s Kitchen. I stopped watching that a while ago. (How hard can it really be to cook a risotto, especially if you’re a good chef already??)

9. What was the first song you ever bought?

On iTunes, I have no idea. The first CD I ever personally bought was No Doubt’s Orange County, I think. The first CD I ever owned (as in, it was gifted to me) was Backstreet Boys. (Duh!)

10. Have your learnt anything from blogging?  If so what?

That’s your reach to different audiences is unlimited and uncontrollable, so be cautious and aware of what you choose to publish.

11. What is your favourite quote?

“Treat others the way you want to be treated.”

So there you go! Now I’m supposed to create 11 questions of my own:

  1. What’s the strangest food you’ve every tried?
  2. When putting on your socks, do you put the left or right one on first?
  3. If you could dye your hair any colour and have it go right back to its normal colour the next day, what colour would you dye it?
  4. If you had to choose one major awards show to attend, which would it be?
  5. What’s your favourite board game?
  6. How do you like your eggs?
  7. Backstreet Boys or N’SYNC?
  8. If we were to peek at your “to watch list” on Netflix, what are three shows/movies we’d find on it?
  9. What’s the first memory you have as a child?
  10. Grown-up colouring books: Yay or nay?
  11. If you could only eat one meal for dinner for the rest of your life, what would it be?

So that’s that! I’m also supposed to nominate 11 people of my own, but instead I will just leave this open for anyone to copy & paste if they feel bored and need/want a “filler” post to do, or feel free to fill it out and post it in the comments section. Thanks again to Vicki for the nomination!!

What I’m Reading: Big Little Lies

Posted in Book Review, Books, What I'm Reading by
194864121

image via Goodreads

From Goodreads.com:
Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

My review:
This is the second Liane Moriarty book that I’ve finished (the first being The Husband’s Secret) and it’s safe to say that she’s becoming one of my favourite authors. Spare time to sit down and read is a rare thing for me and I found myself opening up Big Little Lies whenever I could!

I adored all of the main characters and the storyline was amazing, although at times I found Madeline to be a little bit self-absorbed and annoying. Moriarty was very clever to “give away” (kind of) what happens at the beginning of the book and use that to build up the rest of the story, which is probably why I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what happened, dammit!

I also really loved how Moriarty used humour but still kept to the seriousness of the subject matter. The lesson learned for sure in Big Little Lies is “Nothing is ever what it seems.”

Despite me being annoyed by Madeline, I still give Big Little Lies 5 out of 5 stars. I’m looking forward to reading my next Moriarty book, for sure!