February Wrap-Up

WOW this is late. Sorry. Better late than never, right? I've been feeling the school crunch lately, and I honestly forgot what I read this month until I referred to my Goodreads just now. Well. Apparently February was a okay reading month for me; there were some good ones, but a few brought me down.

The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

5/5 Stars

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

5/5 Stars

Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

5/5 Stars

The Martian by Andy Weir

2.75/5 Stars

The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead

3.5/5 Stars

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

3.25/5 Stars

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

5/5 Stars

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

4/5 Stars

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

4/5 Stars

Book Review: The Martian

Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Sci-Fi
Published: 2014, Crown Publishing
Rating: 2.75/5 Stars

When a violent dust storm strikes on Mars, Mark Watney's crew prepares to evacuate the red planet. Mark is injured by debris, and the crew believes him to be dead - so they reluctantly leave without him. However, Mark is still alive and now the only person on an entire planet. He must figure out a way to contact NASA and survive despite seemingly impossible odds.

I did something that I never do: I saw the movie before I finished the book. Not on purpose, technically. I went over to a friend's house to find the movie already playing. I was about 50 pages into the book at that point. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing if it was this incident, the massive amount of hype, or just my personal feelings that made this book underwhelming for me.

I had high hopes for this book before I started it and before I ever saw the movie. As most readers know, going into a book with high expectations can be disastrous. I wouldn't say it was disastrous in this case, but I was disappointed.

Mark, while occasionally funny, didn't make me laugh out loud (which many people apparently did frequently). I liked him, but I didn't care about him as much as I should have. I should have been cheering him on, but I found myself liking the chapters that focused on NASA and Mark's crew much more. 

I found it difficult to suspend my belief. Mark faces some insane challenges that he miraculously overcomes. I get easily annoyed when characters nearly die multiple times - it really takes me out of the story. I know the whole point of the book is that its a survival story, but I'm thinking that maybe that's just not my thing. Something that I found unique about The Martian is that it's a type of sci-fi that I haven't read much of. There aren't any creatures or aliens or made-up planets; the science is real (although I've heard that there are issues with the math and science in the book). 

This book wasn't for me. There's a lot of math and science jargon that I skimmed over, and I take skimming as a sign of me not liking what I'm reading. This book is super popular, which is why I wanted to develop my own opinion of it, but unfortunately, I'm not a fan.

Book Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Author: Robin Sloan
Genre: Fiction
Published: 2012, Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Rating: 3.25/5 Stars

When Clay Jannon loses his job as a web designer due to the recession, he stumbles across a display window with a "Hiring" sign hanging in it. He lands a job at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, and his set-up is pretty nice; hardly anyone comes into the store except a few strange regulars, and books very rarely get purchased. Instead, these odd patrons check out seemingly unreadable tomes and return them a few days later. Clay begins to piece the bookstore's quirks together, and it leads him on a surprising journey.

I gave this book a rating of 3.25 stars because I felt positively neutral about it, if that makes any sense at all. I enjoyed it an average amount, but I liked it enough to give it a slightly higher than average rating. Sounds logical, right? Sure.

A lot of people really enjoy this book - especially a lot of book lovers. I, of course, am a book lover, but there was something about the story that just didn't click with me. I'm not sure if I ever truly connected with the characters. Clay was okay but kind of uninteresting. Kat, the sort-of love interest, was mildly irritating and one-sided. Neel, Clay's best friend, was my favorite character. The plot is slow, even though this isn't a long novel, and I felt like I never got super into it. The best word I can think of to describe my reading experience is "detached."

The mystery aspect of this book was pretty cool. If you're into technology, secret codes, or the history of book printing, you'd probably enjoy this. Honestly, I don't have much to say about this book; it didn't evoke a substantial response from  me, positive or negative, so take that how you want. It's not a book that I would readily recommend to a lot of people. If it intrigues you, definitely go for it. The cover glows in the dark, which has nothing to do with the quality of the content, but it's neat anyway.