Pages

Friday, February 27, 2015

The Cephalopod Coffee House - The Martian

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Cephalopod Coffeehouse! The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.

This time, I actually have a book to tell you about:



The book starts with this ominous sentence:

"I'm pretty much fucked."

Ordinarily, I wouldn't advise starting your book with an F-bomb, but in this case it works and works beautifully, because Mark Watney, our intrepid narrator, is that kind of guy. A wise-ass to the core, incredibly geeky smart (he's a botonist AND an engineer), and he's just been left for dead on Mars. He's going to need his sense of humor.

Honestly? I give this five stars, which I almost never do. I ripped through this book in a matter of days,  completely engrossed in Mark Watney's effort to survive and his hilarious commentary on his plight:

"Remember those old math questions you had in Algebra class? Where water is entering a container at a certain rate and leaving at a different rate and you need to figure out when it'll be empty? Well, that concept is critical to the 'Mark Watney doesn't die' project I'm working on."

So far this is my favorite book of the year. Now we'll see if anything else can top it...
***

This review was brought to you thanks to the Cephalopod Coffee House. Click the pic to see who else participated!

http://armchairsquid.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-cephalopod-coffeehouse-february.html

22 comments:

  1. I've been curious about that book. I guess that's why they are making a movie of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are they? I wonder how it will translate...hmm.

      Delete
  2. Sounds like a great book. And cool that it's going to be a movie.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love me a snarky, geeky lead man. Will need to look this one up!
    Thanks for the recommendation.
    Veronica

    ReplyDelete
  4. Okay...you convinced me. I'm adding it to my list! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh this one sounds like fun! I like humor anyway and tend to use it in real life when dealing with difficulties.

    I'm adding it to my list.

    Sia McKye Over Coffee

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sounds like my kind of book. Putting in my little black journal of books to read.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Out of a short list of reviewers, two chose this book. That settles it; I'm reading it. :-)

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yeah, I'm fucked, too. I can relate.

    Love,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete
  9. LOL. I reviewed this book last month, and the first line is what hooked me too. Mark Watney felt so real as a character.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Two people picked this book. interesting !
    The first sentence says it all !

    cheers, parsnip

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like a book that opens big, as long as it follows through afterward. Jennifer (as noted above) reviewed this one recently, too. It certainly sounds like a gripping read.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well, now, that opening line is sure an attention-grabber, isn't it? Thanks for the recommendation.I'll have to check this one out.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This sounds fabulous! I so want to read it now! Thanks for the recommendation. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow! I have heard wildly varying things about this book. Another friend just said she gave up on it halfway through. But your review makes me want to add it back to my TBR!

    ReplyDelete
  15. That opening sentence made me laugh out loud. Perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I did hear about this one. Only good things. And I did hear about it becoming a movie, too. Famous actor in the lead if I recall correctly.

    ReplyDelete
  17. You almost HAVE to keep reading after that first line, right?

    ReplyDelete
  18. I always know it is an American book if it has at least five F bombs per a page.... Brits don't do it.. or at least not that often... if ever.... Whenever I have to translate an American book I have to censor half of the Fs....

    ReplyDelete

If you're interested in my blog I'm interested in your comments.