"Turns out even NASA can't improve on duct tape." - Andy Weir, The Martian

"It’s been an hour and an alumnus.”

“…What?”

“An hour and an alumnus. Since I went to sleep.”

“…”

“Alumni? What’s the singular?”

“…………What are you saying”

“AN HOUR AND AN ALUMNUS. AN ALUMNUS.”

The above is a conversation my husband and I had after I woke up from a nap. I was completely awake but convinced that the word alumnus meant 20 minutes, because obviously it should. I’m a linguist so I’m an authority on the words.

As well as coining clever new word usages, I have surpassed my reading goal for 2017! *fanfare* *toot toot* Hurrah! (You would be correct in thinking that I just wanted to tell that story and only came up with this weak segue while writing this.) The total currently stands at 22 and I am in the middle of 2 more, reading one with my eyes (Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card) and one with my ears (Eleanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell). Since my last post I have read We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and The Martian by Andy Weir. I also did not finish Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, because gosh dang it I don’t need to waste my time on drivel. This is new Anna, who doesn’t finish books if she doesn’t want to. Yeah.

I have recently enjoyed not knowing a single thing about a book before delving in, and this was the case for We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. This book was not at all (at ALL) what I expected. The blurb really doesn’t give anything away and I think it’s best to go into it blind, so I won’t go into details. My favourite part is the ending, so even though the first section was a bit “Eh, whit?”, I’m glad I pushed through. 

I picked up Ender’s Game because it’s my husband’s favourite book and I took him saying “I don’t think you’ll like it” as a direct challenge. And, as we saw earlier with his denial of my linguistic prowess, he is often wrong. And ha! I did like it! In ya face! (He doesn’t care.) Ender’s Game is sci-fi and political and highly confusing at times, but a really great read. Ender is a genius 6-year-old, sent to Battle School to be trained up for the next intergalactic war. I really don’t know what else to say. It’s real good. (Who let me write about books?) 

Wait wait wait. The Martian. I can talk about The Martian. I l o v e d The Martian. I devoured it in a day. I knew about the film and I wasn’t all that fussed about seeing it, but I picked it up when perusing the library for anything that I’d heard of. And oh dang. It felt so real! Have people been going to Mars without me hearing about it?! Complex enough that it seemed like legit NASA but still readable and enjoyable. Gripping and funny. 5 star. New favourite. Applause.

On Sunday I’m going to be travelling for 16 hours – potentially a good time to read, potentially a good time to watch Parenthood…I’ll let you know how it goes.