I love Mary Roach and I LOVED this book. I’ve read Stiff and Spook before, and Packing for Mars was better even than those two. This woman does it all, and I would love to just take her out for a beer sometime. Packing for Mars delves into the space industry in every way imaginable: from the first tests to see what would happen to people in zero gravity to how they eat, sleep and poop in space. Roach investigates it all, and asks the greatest questions. The writing is […]
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan
This probably the best John Green book I’ve read that didn’t feature a delightful young man named Augustus. Will Grayson, Will Grayson stars, you guessed it, two kids named Will Grayson. WG #1 has a best friend named Tiny (who’s an enormous, black and gay, because it’s a John Green book and he really does like to mix things up) who constantly overshadows him. Will’s theory in life is to stay un-involved from things that might hurt him, so he avoids girls and conflict and all […]
The Jewish Daughter Diaries by Rachel Ament (Editor)
This was a cute little collection of stories about Jewish moms, written by their daughters, most of whom make a living either writing, acting or doing stand up (or some combination of the three). It was hardly an earth shattering read, but the stories were sweet and funny and make you want you call your mom. My mom is not Jewish, but she was raised Roman Catholic and there’s a lot of overlap in the stereotypes: obsessed with feeding you, meddling in your life and […]
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard
This was a good, twisty read. I almost dropped it to 3 stars, just because the third act was precisely what I had predicted, until Pickard threw a curveball that surprised me while also fitting perfectly. Great ending! “It had come as a relief when she had been forced to go into the hospital in Emporia, where she could be given drugs that made her sleep, sleep through an investigation that did not include her sons, sleep through the quiet departure of her older boy […]