Finally, after a slew of annoying-ass protagonists, I read The Martian, starring one of the best main characters I’ve read in a long time. I like Mark Watney. Everyone does. Too bad his crewmates left him on Mars! “He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.” LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re […]
Running Away From the Past
Yet another book with a really unlikable female narrator. I feel like I’ve read a lot of these lately — anything by Gillian Flynn, The Girl on the Train, Dear Daughter, and so on. But just like all those novels, with their fucked up protagonists that make shitty decision after shitty decision, based on poor impulse control and messed up childhoods, I could not stop reading this damn book. Back in high school, Juliet Townsend was always right on the heels of her best friend and rival […]
Saving the Whales
Saving Crazy’s is the third novel in Karen Hood-Caddy’s young adult series, The Wild Place. Like the first two novels, it focuses on 13 year old Robin, whose family runs a wildlife sanctuary out of their barn. I think this book was probably the weakest of the three — a lot of it focuses on Robin and Zo-Zo (her best friend) fighting over a not-particularly-desirable boy named McCoy. But it’s still a cute little read. Besides the drama over McCoy, the novel’s main focus is environmental, of course. First […]
Triple Cannonball on a sad read
I would normally do a happy dance for a triple cannonball (which was my goal for the whole year, so I’m pretty amazed that I hit it in August!), but my 156th book, Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, hardly lends itself for happy dancing. While the book contained some pretty depressing material, Krakauer also filled it with beautiful scenery, touching interviews and his own little glimpse into the life of a difficult, passionate young man. “I’d like to repeat the advice that I gave you before, in that I […]