Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

Rate:

10/5

Goodreads Review:

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him & forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded & completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—& even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—& a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Review:

I got this book from Bloggingforbooks.com a couple of weeks ago and it sat on my shelf a couple of weeks before I got the sudden urge to read the book and watch the film and lord Jesus Christ am I so freaking happy that I did!

This book is pure genius.

Its smart.

Its funny.

Its out of this world!

See what I did there?

This book is written in such a way that you UNDERSTAND every aspect of it even though it is actually really complicated stuff. Mark Watneys humor is stellar and without spoiling, I did cry at the end of the book just like I cried at the end of the film.... Both times I saw it in the movies. Its honestly beautiful.

Speaking of the movie. It IS a tad bit different. There are things in the book that I wish had been added in the film but I can totally understand why it wasn't

But it makes me consider myself lucky to have the book and had been fortunate enough to read it xD
Seriously, everyone that I bump into, I talk to about the movie and the book.

Its just so seriously amazing.

Hands down it is one of my favorite books now.

If I wasn't so OCD about a paperback joining my hardcovers, the book would get a spot on the top of my shelves (the golden spots)

Recommend it?

YES!!

Giveaway for second poster

So I decided to go ahead and give away the second poster, which is the black poster

The entries are exactly the same, so if you entered before, you get to simply re-enter your information. 

The giveaway will end on the 19th of November :D

Again, its international

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Topic Tuesday: Zombies

Episode 5: Zombies !

Glad I picked this one out of the jar this week! It's literally perfect xD

By jar I mean that I have a jar that is covered in gold glitter on the inside (with modpodge so it doesn''t go all over) with about 100 topics in it and the way I pick my topics is I put my hand in the jar and randomly take out a piece of paper with the topic and write about that :D So yay for zombies around halloween.

For this week I will probably only/mostly be analyzing 2 of my favorite zombie books

I will probably talk about them so much that it will be somewhat of a review/analysis of it

WORLD WAR Z !

So I got World War Z (british cover) a couple of months ago for a class, we were only supposed to download a couple of chapters but since I liked the movie, and felt like reading zombies, I went ahead and order this book online, I got the british cover cuz I thought it was so beautiful. Anyways, I started reading it and about 7 pages in, I knew the book was going to be SSSSSOOOOOOOOOO freaking different than the movie, like big time xD But it was still good. 

I WILL BE QUOTING SOME PARTS OF THE BOOK! BEWARE!

 The following excerpt I copied directly from the book, ish, I used ..... to separate large sections and only used the part I wanted to talk about.

• I found “Patient Zero” behind the locked door of an abandoned house across town. He was twelve years old. His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he’d rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds, not on the gouges on his legs or arms, or from the large dry gap where his right big toe had been. He was writhing like an animal; a gag muffled his growls.....One of my “orderlies,” the one responsible for his arms, gave up trying to hold them and thought it might safer if he just braced them against the floor with his knees. But the boy jerked again and I heard his left arm snap. Jagged ends of both radius and ulna bones stabbed through his gray flesh. Although the boy didn’t cry out, didn’t even seem to notice, it was enough for both assistants to leap back and run from the room.......The boy began to twist in my direction, his arm ripped completely free. Flesh and muscle tore from one another until there was nothing except the stump. His now free right arm, still tied to the severed left hand, dragged his body across the floor.

That part of the book can be found in the first chapter and it is literally the scariest thing I had ever read, the way the author described it just implanted it into my brain and I could see it and it was freaking awful. It was what a zombie was supposed to be ! I imaged what it would be like to know that this thing trully existed and it terrified me, however, it leads me to the next topic.

• Most people don't believe something can happen until it already has. That's no stupidity or weakness, that's just human nature. I don't blame anyone for not believing.

 It's so true, it is honestly one of my favorite zombie books, it speaks volumes about the dead and the living, people ARE in denial about things that currently go on in society, or simply turn a blind eye to it, if its not going on in their area, they ignore it. Its that simple.

However, in the book, even when it WAS in their area they ignored it! IT WAS HORRIFYING !

Next zombies I shall talk about:

WARM BODIES!

 

I have the American cover of this book but damn is the British cover beautiful.  

Honestly, the UK has such beautiful cover ! The Hunger Games is also beautiful as...

Anyways!

 Zombies by Isaac Marion, these aren't scary in the typical way that a zombie would be scary. It's more rationally scary. In The New Hunger the way the zombie is trying to understand what happened to him and trying to calm his hunger and is trying to eat what his brain remembers as food. Or the memories of the Julie and Nora as they try to be safe from the world around them, but they are still kids, forced to grow up.

• Suddenly exhausted, she closes her eyes and slips into nightmares again. Graveyards rising out of the ocean. Her friends’ corpses in the light of their burning school. Skeletons ripping open men's chests and crawling inside. She endures it patiently, waiting for the horror film to end and the theater to go dark, those precious few hours of blackout that are her only respite.

That's all just very creepy and sad. 

On to Warm Bodies again, R is, of course, one of my favorite zombies. At first I was annoyed with it, like all of these things, he remembers from his previous life, the knowledge. But then I realized, hey, amnesia works like that, you remember what a cake is when you see it, you remember what a car looks like but you can forget everything about your past life before the moment in which you "wake up again" Its a real thing. So I was like okay, that's super scary. Having to try and deal with this every day and trying but failing to even remember your own name or what you did or why you mattered or didn't.

Warm Bodies is beautiful, it makes you think of the world, it really does.

• There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, and it's up to you how you respond to it.

That's wall worthy right there.

By that I mean that I have a section in my room that has a whole bunch of book quotes on it xD

Movie Adaptations:

So I want to say this.

The book to movie for World War Z is super freaking different... BIG TIME!!!

Warm Bodies is also somewhat different, by SOMEWHAT, I mean that there are details here and there that were changed, like what R wears, but many things, even some dialogue, is exactly like the movie, so .. YAY for that.

Plus, extra yay for Brad Pitt 

and Nicholas Hoult (who has been my wallpaper for a couple weeks)

Everyone has their own ideas of zombies, book wise, I love 2. Brooks' zombies, these completely animalistic and savage zombies, and Marions' Zombies that are struggling with themselves but slowly loosing their humanity unless something changes. Like.. it's very deep xD

Topic Tuesday: Love Triangles

 Episode 4: Love Triangles

I feel like love triangles have been talked about by everyone at this point.... So lets add one more to the topic xD

I used to be a huge fan of love triangles and don't get me wrong, I still somehow enjoy it... SOMEHOW... but on a tough day, I hate them >.> Why? I've been stuck in them, ish... So having to read them in a whole bunch of books sucks. 

Why can't a character not have to be in love with one character or only like one character, period. Like Hazel and Guz, there was no one else but them.

If Isaac had been in love with Hazel or Hazel had a bit of feelings for him, the book would've been way different. 

The reason I talk about triangles today, is because I read a book over the weekend that had a love triangle in which the girl was pretty much bipolar on the guys. I won't say which book, in order to avoid spoiler, but it was pretty much her sleeping with this guy cuz she had feelings for him, then waking up the next day and saying how discussed she was by him and then going to the other guy, making out with him and getting engaged but inside she is already regretting it >.> LIKE WHHHYYYYY why must an author do that?

Its not like authors will stop with triangles

Nor should they, but there has got to be a point in which its not such a HUGE thing in the book, where the character is literally making stupid decisions.

But hey, at least its not as stressful as a love pentagon

 Too many gifs to include BUT

 Im talking to YOU gossip girl ! I get that in the books it might not be like the show but STILL! I mean come on! If you have seen the show, you know what I am talking about.

If you haven't... You should

 A book can totally be epic and amazing and with love drama WITHOUT a triangle and further meanings between 3 people without them being IN love with each other!

I ain't saying that the 2 people interested in one another should be in love with one another the WHOLE time, and that no doubts will happen in the story line.. It wouldn't be as interesting without it, but when it takes up a huge chunk of plot, it can irritate me (THE EXAMPLES I USED ABOVE MAY OR MAY NOT APPLY TO WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT) 

What are YOUR thoughts on love triangles?

send me an email and tell me what you think. subject line: Love Triangles 

Review: Hickville Confessions

Rate:

5/5

Goodreads Description:

New town. New look. New beginning. High school junior Ryan Quinn has a past. She will do just about anything to keep it hidden, even if means joining the ultra-conservative, no fun allowed, Purity Club. But secrets are hard to keep in a small town and when the Purity Club girls discover the truth, they viciously attack Ryan.
Justin is the kind of guy who can make Ryan forget her vow to change. He’s the kind of guy she should avoid at all costs. But he knows her soul secrets. He understands her and it is torture when she is away from him. But as she deals with the outward scars on her face and the inward shame of her past and Justin’s home life continues to spiral out of control, their relationship becomes as convoluted as their home life. Will they find the courage to open their hearts to each other in spite of their family drama?

Review:

Okay, thank you to netgally for this free ebook review copy in exchange for an HONEST review.

First of all, epic cover, Im a sucker for simple but beautiful covers. Now, onto the book. I though this was going to be a light and fluffy read. It wasnt. It has some strong themes in it, a big one being bullying which is HUGE in high school, whether youre a victim, the bully -.-, or you've seen it, everyone is affected by it. I feel like its not something is often talked about, so yay for Karlik on touching that with a ten foot pole xD Nailed it too. The book really pulls you in, it has a good and solid story line that is hard to put down, and as someone who has been on the edge of entering a reading slump, its highly appreciated xD 

Ryan was likable, which says a lot, I feel like sometimes authors can make a character that tries to change her/his ways and try to be better into this martyr, into a doormat, but Mary didn't' she rally built this character well.

Seriously though, I must really enforce that this book and the topic of bullying is NOT what some people would consider their cup of tea, its harsh, but... It really pulls you in, its just something that you feel like you have to really really read and go on with.

Recommend it?

Yes, honestly, I recommend any book that has a real world topic that will actually catch the attention of a young reader

Review: Plus One by Elizabeth Fama

Rate:

5/5

Goodreads Description:

It takes guts to deliberately mutilate your hand while operating a blister-pack sealing machine, but all I had going for me was guts.

Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol deliberately injures herself in order to gain admission to a hospital, where she plans to kidnap her newborn niece—a Ray—in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. By violating the day-night curfew, Sol is committing a serious crime, and when the kidnap attempt goes awry it starts a chain of events that will put Sol in mortal danger, uncover a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population, and throw her together with D'Arcy Benoît, the Ray medical apprentice who first treats her, then helps her outrun the authorities—and with whom she is fated to fall impossibly and irrevocably in love.

Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day-night divide, Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights—and a compelling, rapid-fire romantic adventure story.

Review:

As I've mentioned possibly 50 times by this point, its one of my favorite books xD

Its that easy xD

There is something about the topic itself, the fact that they are separated into time zones and they cant really mix that is like WOW

Like if they were able to socialize without it being like.. ILLEGAL, it would be okay, but no, they are separate and they are treated differently.

I still remember the first time I read it... It was like BAM in your face right into the action xD

The writing is beautiful, the characters are beautiful, the cover is amazing!

Seriously, that cover is one of my favorite covers, it speaks so much about the book, like total opposites coming together.

I seriously need a freaking sequel for this book though >.> like BADLY I have gone as far as considering fan fiction for this book and making my own sequel but there is no way it would turn out as good xD Thats literally the only reason I haven't written fan fiction. That and the fact that I often ditch my stories afte'r a while xD Since i got a desktop and my laptop died, I have stopped writing u.u

Recommend it?

I really, really do

Topic Tuesday: Pet Peeves

Episode 3: Pet peeves

So today I will be talking about bookish pet peeves that I have, in no particular order, but they just kind of irritate me.

1. The price of books

All I want in life is to be able to buy a wall full of books without having to sell half of my organs u.u I mean seriously, my latest example will be Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone Illustrated book. 40 U.S Dollars? PLUS TAX?! Whats up with that?! I often time wait a really long time after the release of a book in order to buy it so I can find it on sale. Except when it came to Marissa Meyer's Winter, I totally already pre-ordered that xD Its the most expensive book I've bought. By that I mean I have paid full price for the hardcover. Libraries don't always have newer books u.u

2. Cover changes

So this one isn't HUGE specially since the newer covers are so freaking beautiful and some of my favorite book covers BUT, the problem is that I will always wonder what the last book cover would've been , like they show you what Lola and Anna kind of look like, but you don't get Isla. You know? Like its a totally different cover and they didn't show you what it would've been. Also, say I was sticking with the book buying up to date and bought the books as soon as they came out, they would be different when the last book came out! I would be stuck with different cover styles and that would seriously bother me D: 

3. Broken spine books

WHY WOULD YOU HURT A BOOK LIKE THAT! I am by no means rich, I cant afford to always buy myself a book and specially books that are full priced u.u So I often go to used book sales, and maybe I am being picky and I get some people break the spines of books on purpose, but I just dont get why. Like I dont see how breaking a spine on purpose is good u.u Now, how this applies to me in real life. I let a friend borrow one of my Harry Potter paperbacks and when she gave it back, I noticed the spine was broken >.> WHYYYYYY

4. Not getting your book back for months

I have let friends borrow books in the past, a lot, I LOVE letting people borrow books that I rave about and recommend. What irks me is when they take years and year to return my book.

Like, if you didn't want to read it, it's fine, you have different tastes than I do... But don't take forever. It normally wouldn't bother me if its a book I am not attached to, but when its a book I want to seriously reread and then you ask for it back and they are like, oh i'm about to start reading it but they don't and they take more time to return it... Then I have a problem.

5. People that brag about ARCs

Okay, so you get an ARC and you want to post how excited you are about it and post when youre reading it. TOTALLY OKAY BY ME! WE ARE ALL EXCITED FOR YOU!

But when they started saying that they mustve gotten it because they are one of the best blogs out there or that they stop talking to people with smaller blogs or IGNORE people that ask simple questions about blogging after they have received a highly popular ARC just irritates me. Like no, I do not believe that getting an ARC makes you better than anyone and you should FEEL like you're better than anyone else. 

Im just like 

So get off your high horse, read and review the book just like all the other book blogs out there. Every blog is different and every blog has their epicness to it. 

Libby Garrett Intervention Freaks & Geeks Party

HEY everyone! Bust out the cat shirts and saddle up your unicorns because it's time to GET YOUR FREAK ON! The Libby Garrett Intervention is almost here, and to celebrate it's release, bestselling YA author Kelly Oram is hosting a freaks and geeks Facebook party Monday October 26th from 4-7 pm (PST)! That's right, come party Science Squad style.

Libby Garrett, the beloved wild and crazy cat-loving science geek sidekick from The Avery Shaw Experiment is back with her own story to tell. Or should I say, her own journey to take.

Libby Garrett is the ultimate misfit. She's an overweight, misunderstood, quirky nerd. And WE LOVE HER FOR THAT! So for this book launch, it's time to leave your insecurity at the door and party with the misfits. The Libby Garrett Freaks and Geeks party is a place for us all to come and be ourselves, and celebrate the fact that we're all misfits in our own way.

Join Kelly and a dozen other AMAZING authors as they introduce you to some of the best misfit characters YA literature has to offer and tell you about their own personal struggles with insecurity and fitting in. They''re gonna get real, people. It's gonna be awesome. Oh, and also, they're going to have fun, and games, and awesome books, and giveaways galore, so you really don't want to miss it.

Join the event and bring all your friends. For one night the biggest freaks and geeks are going to be the coolest kids on the planet. (Oh, yeah, I totally just claimed us all being cooler than the whole world. I dare you to prove me wrong.)

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE PARTY

Don't miss the the Science Squad novels!

The Avery Shaw Experiment Available now on Amazon * iBooks * Kobo * Nook

or

Preorder The Libby Garrett Intervention on Amazon * iBooks * Kobo * Nook

About the Party Hostess:
Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and loves to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, four children, and her cat, Mr. Darcy.
www.kellyoram.com

Author Spotlight: Elizabeth Fama Plus One Episode 4

So ... can you hear my excitement over this? Ive mentioned before my love for this book so... Yeah,.. You SHOULD be able to hear my excitement xD

So thank you to author Elizabeth Fama of doing me the honor of an interview :D

About the Author

I am vastly over-educated. I attended the University of Chicago, where I received a BA in Biology with honors, an MBA, and a PhD in Economics and Finance. I should probably have majored in Literature instead. I enjoy excessive running and swimming, compulsive laundry, and obsessively cooking everything from scratch. I am an audiobook addict.
Website: Elizabethfama.com
I'm married to John H. Cochrane, a talented economist whose equation-filled finance textbook sells better than all my novels combined. We have four grown children, each pursuing a creative field, and when we're together we have boisterous family dinners with lots of vegetables and swearing.
Twitter: ElizabethFama

About Elizabeth:

-What's the funnest part and also the most challenging part about being an author?

The most fun is when I'm "on a roll" and the world of my book is more engaging to me than the real world. During those times I literally ache for the manuscript when I'm not with it, like when you fall hopelessly in love. I think those jolts of oxytocin are what keep authors writing. The most challenging part is when I'm afraid to put words on the page, and I go to bed not having written a word. 

-You have a PhD in Economics (Can I call you Dr. Fama from now on? xD) When was it that you realized 

you wanted to be an author instead?

Hmm, maybe I should just enter rooms from now on and announce, "I'm The Doctor." :)

I knew I wanted to be an author while I was finishing my dissertation. I had a babysitter for half the day, and I found that I was sneaking work on children's books rather than doing my research. I had to force myself to put the children's books away for six months in order to finish my degree, but by then I knew I'd never use the PhD.

-Is there a particular author that has really inspired you?

I adore Megan Whalen Turner. She knows that her readers are smart, and she doesn't "explicate" a thing. She trusts that if she shows you something once, you'll pick it up. It's especially salient in the way she depicts relationships. The characters convey their feelings for each other in subtle ways, and Megan knows that if you're watching carefully, you'll understand.  

-Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Aside from continuing to write novels, I have this weird dream lately of bringing together...er, mature authors, perhaps by organizing writing retreats, perhaps in my new house in California (which will have a big bunk room that sleeps up to eight people). There are many of us authors--Megan Whalen Turner included--who are over forty, and I think we have a wisdom that's somewhat undervalued in this business. It might be nice if we supported each other more consciously. 

-Are you working on anything new?

I've just finished producing the audiobook of PLUS ONE, with Julia Whelan as the narrator. Julia sings as Poppu, is passionate when she's Sol, and can voice quite a hot D'Arcy. Plus, there's a bonus original song called "One Whole Half" that incredibly catchy. We'll be releasing it within days or weeks! 

As far as my writing goes, I'm working on two books at once, which has been difficult. I'm usually monomaniacal, and it's hard for me to divide my time (see "falling in love" in question #1 above). One novel is a contemporary road trip, and the other is historical fiction. The research for the historical novel is kicking my butt, but I'm surprised to find that it's the project my mind drifts to when I'm falling asleep. In the next few weeks I'm going to consider focusing solely on that one. 

Plus One:

-If you got to cast the actors for D’Arcy and Sol for a movie, what actors do you picture as the 

characters?

D'Arcy has always been a young Adrien Brody for me. Sol is harder. I've never found an actress that reminds me of her, but I think this model (whose name I don't know) is pretty close! 

-Where are Sol and D’Arcy 10 years from now?

I should probably just write the answer to this question as a sequel, because I have so much more of the story brewing in my head.

-What do you hope readers can relate to or learn from Plus One? Besides learning to accept differences?

For me, PLUS ONE has always been about civil liberties--about how easy it is for the government's "protection" of us to grow into loss of freedom; and about how hard it is to change laws and governmental structures once they're in place, so we have to remain vigilant about our rights. Sol observes, "We didn't live in revolutionary times," because most people--other than Grady Hastings and his young followers--have become resigned to the Day/Night divide.

-Plus One has one of my favorite covers: How was it chosen/created/inspired?

I'm so glad you like it! The designers at Macmillan/FSG found the original photographic artwork by Jakub Wojewoda on DeviantArt, and altered the faces to look like night and day. It's an arresting image, but it markets the book more toward the love story than toward the political subject matter of the book (which is why so many people aren't aware that it's also political).

-Is there any sort of research that you did to build the world in Plus One?

I love doing research. I read a lot about the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, and about Woodrow Wilson's policies surrounding the illness and the war. I researched mayors in a couple of cities, most notably St. Louis, who were so restrictive about movement of citizens during the pandemic that they managed to dramatically lower the incidence of disease in their towns. I also traveled to Maquoketa Caves State Park to research Sol and D'Arcy's trip there.  

-At any point in the story, did the story take a different direction than you originally expected?

I didn't expect there to be so much French in it! I needed Sol to overhear valuable information, and on on a whim I decided that D'Arcy's family would be from France and Sol understood the language. Poppu became Belgian as a result, and then I realized that this plot point had actually become thematically important: it's another cultural thing that Sol and D'Arcy share deeply--despite the fact that they begin their relationship with a prejudice that they have nothing in common. 

Bonus:

-Ebook or physical?

Audiobook!

-What is your opinion on the color blue? Why?

Blue is prettiest when it's dusty, and veering toward purple.

-If you could travel to a different time, what time would that be? Why?

Oh, if only! I'd choose Florence in the 1500's, so that I could experience firsthand the world of my current historical novel.

-What is the weirdest dream you’ve ever had?

After our beloved dog died a couple of years ago I dreamed that she was with me in the house again. She was able to speak, and she was very level-headed about being dead. It was comforting.

Thank you so much for featuring me on your blog, Valeria!

My pleasure n.n

Goodreads Description:

It takes guts to deliberately mutilate your hand while operating a blister-pack sealing machine, but all I had going for me was guts.

Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol deliberately injures herself in order to gain admission to a hospital, where she plans to kidnap her newborn niece—a Ray—in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. By violating the day-night curfew, Sol is committing a serious crime, and when the kidnap attempt goes awry it starts a chain of events that will put Sol in mortal danger, uncover a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population, and throw her together with D'Arcy Benoît, the Ray medical apprentice who first treats her, then helps her outrun the authorities—and with whom she is fated to fall impossibly and irrevocably in love.

Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day-night divide, Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights—and a compelling, rapid-fire romantic adventure story.

BUY THE BOOK:

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