(I bought this because of alibaba77’s review.) This is a great book. If you’re at all into astronomy, stargazing, astronauts, science, or good books, you should read it. Mark Watney, our hero, is MacGyver on Mars. His Mars mission crew colleagues presumed him dead after an accident in a Martian storm. He has to figure out how to survive until the next Mars mission or until NASA figures out a way to save him sooner. He’s got a few potatoes, some duct tape, and a […]
Ms. Hempel Chronicles
Well this is just a charming little book. Ms. Hempel is a twenty-something schoolteacher who lives a pretty normal, almost mundane, life. She attends the school talent show. She muses on the odd relationship between student and teacher, and sometimes teacher and teacher. She gets engaged. She breaks up. She takes kids on field trips. She wants to be the young cool teacher but she also feels that she ought to learn how to be a disciplinarian. The book is a novel, sort of, in […]
A Basket of Anecdotes
I picked this book up randomly, looking for a funny book to break up the heaviness of my recent choices. This is collection of very short anecdotes from the author’s life, no more than a few pages each. Hawn has a good sense of comedic timing, and her writing feels conversational, as if she’s really telling you this story in a bar or a stand-up routine. Everyone has unusual stuff happen to them once in a while, but not everyone can see the humor […]
Let’s talk about your relationship with your Father(land)
Let’s summarize quickly and chronologically: Kweku Sai, a Ghanian man, is expelled from Nigeria in the “Ghana Must Go” policy in the 80s. He becomes a renowned surgeon in Boston where he also has a wonderful Nigerian wife and four intelligent, beautiful children. After a career-ending indignity, he abandons his family to return to Accra, leaving emotionally damaged children and an overwhelmed wife in his wake. When he dies (don’t worry, not a spoiler), the family re-convenes in Ghana, and each person (and, consequently, the […]