FRIDAY FINDS showcases the most interesting books I’ve encountered during the last week and have added to my neverending TBR list on Goodreads. Below a selection of my newest additions; click on the book descriptions to go to its Goodreads page! 😀
My finds:
Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure
First published: February 11th 2014
Finished reading: August 18th 2015
Pages: 369
“I need to ask myself, ‘What would an Apollo astronaut do?’ He’d drink three whiskey sours, drive his Corvette to the launchpad, then fly to the moon in a command module smaller than my Rover. Man those guys were cool.”
The Martian has been all over the blogosphere lately and it sounded like a very interesting read, so I thought it was about time I finally read it. In general I’m a bit hesitant towards overhyped books and I normally don’t read a lot of books set in space either… But I’m glad I decided to read this story by Andy Weir anyway, because The Martian was definitely an exception to the overhyped books rule. This book was simply brilliant. The main character, the plot, the prose… Everything was perfectly done and there were so many quotes marked on my kindle! The story of the main character and astronaut Mark Watney is one of extreme survival, but it’s also full of technical/scientific details I loved and funny moments that made me laugh out loud at points. It’s the perfect mix of science, adventure and humor that will speak to a very broad public… Even to those who normally don’t really like stories set in space like me. The Martian is without doubt one of my favorite reads this year and I would recommend it with my eyes closed!
A few days ago, astronaut Mark Watney was just one of the first people to set foot on Mars, but things have gone terribly wrong since. A mayor dust story forces the crew to evacuate, but Mark never made it back to the ship… The rest of the crew thinks he’s dead and leave him behind. Mark is now stranded and completely alone on the foreign planet, but his resourcefulness helps him survive the first crucial days. He takes a crash course in Surviving On Mars 101 and soon he found himself a daily routine. He has no way to contact Earth to tell everyone he’s alive, but Mark is working on that. He will have to succeed to survive; there are a lot of things that can kill him on Mars and he is slowly running out of supplies and time…
I can definitely understand why The Martian has won already so many awards, because this book is simply brilliant. Even if you aren’t into the whole space genre, you cannot help but enjoy this story, feel for the character and be amazed by his resourcefulness while surviving on Mars. The plot keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time and I loved the prose and character development. This book has made it straight to my favorites list and I would love to read more of Andy Weir‘s work in the future. 110% recommended!
WWW WEDNESDAYS is hosted by Sam at Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.
I just started The Death Cure by James Dashner yesterday and I’m not too far into the story yet. I’m not sure what to think of it, but at least I will be closer to finishing one more series… I’m about halfway with Fairest by Marissa Meyer and I still stand by my comment that it’s not as good as the main series. Levana just isn’t a very likeable character! I made some progress with The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt before the read-a-thon started, but I’ve temporarily put it on hold until next Monday.
Wait a minute; I’ve read EIGHT books since last WWW?! I checked twice, but apparently I’ve been reading like a monster for the last seven days haha.
The first book I’ve read is Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas; such a great read and the ending seriously messed with my mind!
I’ve had some start up problems with The Wrath And The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh; it took me a while to get used to the many foreign names and characters but I enjoyed it afterwards.
I had no such luck with Landline by Rainbow Rowell: I love her YA fiction, but I was seriously disappointed by Landline.
I then finally picked up The Kings Of Cool by Don Winslow, a TBR jar pick I have been posponing for the last I-don’t-know-how-many weeks. It was actually really good and I regret now waiting so long!
I’ve also read The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, a book that has been on my TBR for ages and I enjoyed it just as much as I’ve hoped. I really need to get a copy of the sequels soon though!
I continued with Rarity From The Hollow by Robert Eggleton, an ARC I ended up enjoying despite some problems I had with the plot, characters and prose.
I then read Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher, a quite short and entertaining read that ends with a very painful cliffhanger! I will have to read part two soon and cross my fingers it won’t have such a big cliffhanger as the first…
The last book I finished was The Martian by Andy Weir, by far one of the best reads so far this month. The main character, plot, prose… It really shows why this book was picked as one of the Goodreads Choice winners.
I will probably try to read The Kill Order by James Dashner so I can finish yet another series… Although it will probably depend on how much I enjoy The Death Cure. I’m also looking forward to both My Heart And Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga and The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins. I guess it will depend on my mood which one I decide to read first. The last one on this list is my new TBR jar pick: The Geography Of You And Me by Jennifer E. Smith. I’m normally not a big fan of romance, but this title has been recommended to me various times so I will give it a try very soon.
TEASER TUESDAYS is a weekly book meme originally featured at A Daily Rhythm. To participate, just open the book you are currently reading to a random page, and choose two ‘teaser’ sentences from somewhere on that page. (no spoilers!)
I’ve finally started reading The Martian by Andy Weir yesterday and so far I’m enjoying it. I’m having really high hopes for this one since so many seem to love this book and it was one of the Goodreads Choice winners last year… Fingers crossed it stays this good!
My teaser (26%):
“Communications would be a great thing. But traversing thirty-two hundred kilometers to Ares 4 is incredibly dangerous. We’d rather he stayed put. If we could talk to him, we’d certainly tell him that.”
What are you reading right now?
WWW WEDNESDAYS is hosted by Sam at Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below. This week I’m trying out a slightly different format! 😀
I started Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas on a whim yesterday because I wasn’t happy with my other current reads. So far I’m definitely enjoying it better than the rest of the titles… It’s actually the second time I’ve started The Wrath And The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh, and somehow I cannot seem to get a proper feel for the story. It’s not that I don’t like it, so maybe I’m just not in the mood for it right now. I’ve also started The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, a book I’ve been wanting to read for ages. I’m not sure what to think of the prose, but the plot is interesting so far. And as far as The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt goes… No progress at all this week. I really have to stop starting new books and read at least a few chapters! Currently I’ve only read about a third and I really want to finish it this month.
I managed to read no less than 6! books since my last WWW post. I guess the fact that it has been raining for about every day means I have been having a lot of free time to read…
I first finished Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, a ‘heavy’ read with a very original dialogue between the main character and the girl on the tapes.
I then couldn’t resist any longer and read Blood Of My Blood by Barry Lyga. It’s the third book of the Jasper Dent series and I absolutely loved it! So many plot twists, awesome characters and brilliant prose! Barry Lyga is definitely one of my new favorite authors.
I started Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly on a whim afterwards, looking for a light read. I was mostly disappointed by it; boring characters, mediocre prose and a not so credible plot.
Dash & Lily’s Book Of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan was a lot better, although I have a feeling I would have enjoyed it even better during the Holiday season. But since it was a book club read, I didn’t have much choice picking the date. 😉
I’ve also read The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Finally! I’ve had this one on my TBR for ages… I enjoyed this read, especially the prose, but not as much as some others might have.
The last book I’ve managed to finish this week is You Are My Sunshine by Roberta Kagan. I wanted a proper historical fiction read after being disappointed by Masquerade a while back, but I wasn’t a fan of this novel either. Bland characters, a weak plot and the prose was not so great either. Such a shame, because I normally love WWII historical fiction!
I have Rarity From The Hollow, an ARC sent by the author Robert Eggleton, next on the list to read as soon as I finish my current reads. I also want to try and read The Death Cure by James Dashner so I can finish one more series (although I have a copy of The Kill Order as well)… And I’m looking forward to start The Martian by Andy Weir soon since I’ve heard great things about it. And I REALLY should read The Kings Of Cool by Don Winslow soon, because it was my TBR jar pick ages ago and I still haven’t picked it up…
