The Martian by Andy Weir

     Look, I am not a science fiction fan in the least. And I read the description of the book wrong, which I am now glad I did. I was expecting a book about an astronaut left behind and him struggling with missing his wife. Okay, maybe I had too much wine deciding on a book that night. The last thing I wanted was a science fiction love story. Gag.  How wrong I was.

     Picture yourself in the not so distant future, on a Mars mission.  A horrible storm descends on your crew, you are blown away in a gust, your crew thinks you are dead.  NOT!  Meet Mark Watney, from Chicago. Not the star astronaut, or the second, or even the third. He's just a run of the mill botanist/engineer astronaut...with the most hysterical sense of humor. I have laughed more with this book than I have with any other book I've ever read. I've told countless folks about the book, telling them they NEED to read it. As a matter of fact, I told the receptionist at my daughter's orthodontist this morning.

     Mark Watney is just this badass hero. CNN has a dedicated Watney Watch program. You go through the first part of the book with Watney's point of view, then you get NASA's. Some of the lingo is completely over my head, but it's few & far between. The humor is throughout. I mean, really, when an astronaut sends an email about boobies....c'mon.

     I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and was pretty sad that it ended. I would recommend this book a million times over!! Thank you Andy Weir!



"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Norah Jones

Funny how one song can take you way back.  I found my long lost cd case and found Norah Jones' first cd. The first guy I dated after my divorce gave me that cd on a date to the drive-in in Atlanta back in 2002.  So funny that I thought I loved that guy.  I guess it's unfortunate for him that he was the first man I'd been with since I was 15 years old, lololol. Wow. Um, sorry for that!  I saw him on facebook today, he has like five kids now. Good for him! Beautiful wife and family, all the things I would wish for him. Just listening to one cd brings it all back, erases all the years and takes me back to his car that night, him giving me his huge sweatshirt because I was freezing. I still have that sweatshirt. I think of him often, not as a regret but as thanks to opening me up to new things after being in a strangle hold of sorts for a decade. Thanks Matt, for showing me I can get over a terrible marriage and even worse divorce. I eventually found the man of my dreams and we have 10 years behind us and many more to come. <3

I am finally recovered from christmas

It seems like every year I am waiting on December. I am gathering clues all year from my family and friends on what to give them for christmas. I tell myself I have time, plenty of time to buy things, to decorate, to cook, to plan the family dinner... and then BAM, out of seemingly nowhere, christmas is here.

My oldest sister and her husband & son flew down to Atlanta from Iowa to spend the first christmas with us ever. They stayed at our house which was a little worrisome since we only have one extra bedroom. It all worked out and everyone was comfy enough, even though my youngest and their son slept in the finished basement on xmas eve.

We had the big dinner on xmas eve at our other sister's house, with my mother in law in tow. Contrary to popular opinion, I adore my mother in law, and still adore my exhusband's mother. I have been very lucky.

So, in addition to having family in town, staying with me, along with my mother in law for the night, I was working for my coworker while she was visiting with her family in Tampa for two weeks. She couldn't have picked two better weeks to go than over xmas, hardly any calls, hardly any work!

I pretty much drank wine every day of break so much so that I had an allergic reaction to my favorite wine. After one glass of cabernet shiraz, my nose closed up, my skin was patchy red all over, my ear was so red it looked purple and I had to drive to Kroger for benadryl!! I NEVER drive after any drinks, but since I was the most sober (only one glass) I had to go. I couldn't open the damn package and had to get the cashier to open it for me to take in the store... then I had to take two more the next day. All was well and I have only had one more glass since that night. Maybe since I'm not drinking as much I'll lose a pound or two. I'm a total fat ass. No, really.

And with that thought I need to eat lunch.  Ciao!

A Fifty-Year Silence by Miranda Richmond Mouillot

Have you ever gone somewhere and completely connected to the place? Felt as though you belonged there? That's what happened to Miranda as a teenager when her Grandfather took her to La Roche.  Her life since that trip had always pretty much had La Roche in the center.

Miranda's grandparents were Holocaust survivors, her grandmother an accomplished doctor and her grandfather worked for the UN and was a translator at the Nuremberg Trials.  They met while in college and married in the mid 1940's, had two children, then divorced and never spoke again.

When Miranda decided to tell their story, (being an only child, she felt it was left up to her to tell it), and along the way found out so much more than she thought she would.

This story touched me so deeply. It is beautifully written, and Miranda does a wonderful job of weaving the past into the present story.  You learn to love the carefree but devoted Grandmother and the grumpy, territorial  Grandfather.  It's a story of love, hardship, war, perseverance, history, anger and sadness.

I cannot wait to read another of her books, when she writes one! I could barely put the book down and now find that I too am missing her grandparents.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."