Bring Him Home

I've been reading again. Hurrah !

Ok, so how come I've been away from reading ? There's a few reasons actually ...

I'm usually reading a lot at work, so when I get home I don't really want to be expending that much mental energy. I'm wanting to relax, cool the brain down and generally be lazy to regenerate that mental energy.

Pain in my wrists. Too much computering and a few too many awkward falls in the cricket have led to wrist pain, mostly RSI, that isn't going away. It's manageable through things like wrist supports and I don't need pain pills but still, holding those books up puts strain on those sore wrists.

And I didn't want to wreck my books. It's only fairly recently that my forearms have gotten so much more intact. They're not healed yet but they're getting there. Before, I'd have a big chance of getting blood on the books. To be avoided ...

But I have managed to get one new book read this week. One reason for that is using the iPad as an ebook reader (via the Kindle app). Firstly the app, I'm pleased with it. The text is easily readable to my eyes (which are in need of new glasses) and I can rest the iPad in my lap without having to tension my wrists holding the book open. Win. I'll definitely get more ebooks to feed the iPad with.

What's the book ?

There's huge potential for spoilers here which may take the shine off a highly enjoyable book but I'll try to avoid those.

It's Andy Weir's first book and I became aware of it after watching the trailer before Terminator Genesys. I REALLY want to watch this film now. I was super impressed with the trailer and the book has just amplified that interest tenfold.

What's it about ?

A massive storm has led to the abandonment of a mission to Mars but on the way to the escape vehicle, the crew of 6 loses a man. Or so they think ... The star of the show, Mark Watney, is left stranded on Mars with little hope of escape and a fraction of the supplies to let him hold out until rescue can come.

But he digs in and figures out how to survive on a hostile world. Along the way, drama, heroics, silliness, humour, comedy, excitement, surprise and more than a few genuine What The Hell ? moments.

It's an excellent book and it had me laughing, giggling and chortling away for page after page. It has that genuine One More Chapter Before Bed pull. The science is top notch, although sometimes the plot is helped by things going fairly deliberately wrong. The alternative to that would be a plain sailing route where all of the ideas worked perfectly. Where's the fun in that ! :-) Some of the more hysterical moments are our boy's reaction and solution to when things go wrong.

It's a cracker and I hope they squeeze even a fraction of its quality into the movie.

Why do we have to wait until October though ! That's way too long to wait. From just reading the book, I think it'll be my film of the year. Perhaps I'm putting too much expectation on and am doomed to be disappointed ? I hope not. If the film is naff, I'll just read the book again and that'll remind me of the chuckles.

Chuckles are awesome.

As are books. And I need to get reading more of them. They are food for the mind. I've been entertained by The Martian and I've learned a few things in there too. I hope Andy Weir comes out with more books.

I've been thinking back to the 2 Mars books by Ben Bova too. I enjoyed those however ... the first of those is dominated by a crisis that lasts for well over 100 pages before they figure it out. The crisis well outlasts its welcome and becomes annoying. In The Martian, the crises happen, are well described, you get the impression of how life threatening they are and then the solution is enacted. The crises in The Martian are dealt with in interesting ways, which also means they don't drag back the narrative. Oh and some of those crisis solutions are so mad they draw out the Mad Scientist tag.

I'd thoroughly recommend this book. But ... I need more !

Chuck me your (fiction please !) recommendations :-).