Quick poll: How would you rather spend your time these days, enjoying the nice weather outside, or reading?
Trick question! I recommend doing both at the same time. Lounge chair + sunshine + a little breeze + that smell of summer in the air + a book in my hands = my absolute favourite indulgence.
Two more squares off the bingo card this month:
A book you heard about online:
The Martian, by Andy Weir
(Hardcover, 369 pages, Published February 11, 2014 by Crown (first self-published 2011); audiobook from Random House audio and audible.com)
4 stars
I think a more difficult category for me would have been a book I didn’t hear about online. With the exception of the couple of books I pick up on a whim at the IFOA every fall, I scout all my reads on the interwebs. As for The Martian, I couldn’t stop hearing about it online. I came across people hyping this book in emails, on websites, in podcasts, and on Twitter. (Much of the hype was from the good folks at Random House Canada and Book Riot.) Why all the excitement? Simply put, The Martian is one wild ride! What is a Mars-exploring astronaut to do when the rest of his crew abandons him on the red planet, thinking that he’s dead? Said astronaut would be busier than you’d think – the book is described as MacGyver meets Castaway meets Apollo 13. (Now, for a real account of the long-term effects of space travel, give Chris Hadfield’s An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth a read. And for some perspective on how close humans are to actually travelling to Mars, check out this article from space.com.)
The second book in a series:
Lost in a Good Book, by Jasper Fforde
(Paperback, 372 pages, Published September 2002 by Hodder & Stoughton)
3.5 stars
Well hello again, Ms. Thursday Next! You charmed me when I read of your adventures in The Eyre Affair, so it was a no-brainer to pick up your next book for this square. I was curious to see what you’d get up to after having rescued Jane Eyre when she was kidnapped. A literary detective who travels through books and sometimes time – that type of story is right up my alley! I don’t know how you do it, tracking down Shakespeare forgeries and searching for missing loved ones and fixing plotholes and preventing the world from turning into pink goo and outwitting evil henchmen, not to mention caring for your pet dodo. Well, you do have a cast of most amusing supporting characters to lend a hand. That Miss Havisham is hilarious; I’ll never think of Great Expectations in quite the same way again. In addition to being pure fun, Jasper Fforde’s writing is mighty clever – you are lucky to have him as your author. (In case my four loyal readers are wondering, I did like The Eyre Affair (5 stars!) better than this one, but that probably won’t stop me from picking up the next book in the series at some point.)
Current to-read pile count: It’s under 20!!!!!! I am a rock star!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! Thanks to buying only one book this month (yes, it was an emergency!) there are 18 books in the pile.