The Martian

One man, marrooned on Mars........

Read this really quickly!
Was lent to me by a friend and thought I would give it a go. To start with it was good as an easy read to get into, then I found myself ploughing through it like there was no tomorrow! To start with i was wondering how the story could be sustained with just one man on his own on Mars, but it really works!
Nice storytelling techniques, found myself really drawn in to the characters. Gets very technical, not sure I understand all of it, but put across in an understandable way if you were wanting to understand all the ins and outs.

the miracle life of edgar mint

Welcome to the vinyl cafe: Stuart McLean

Funny easy read of family life

Mr Mercedes: Stephen King

Bit different from Mr king, a detective story but still told in his distinctive cinematic style

The Night Circus: Erin Morgenstern

Beautiful imagery, but easy to read and easy to forget. Not much of a plot, and a bit Young Adult overall. Not in a good way. Poor man's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which, incidentally, I'm just beginning a re-read of (and finding it hard going, as it's a much better book but I'm very tired)

The Half Life of Stars: Louise Wener

I was so excited to spot this in the library, being a huge indie kid (Lousie Wener)
Secret: I still want this haircut (since circa 1995)


And this.. just because ... What do I do now

It was great and I keep meaning to check out her other books as it was funny and fresh and not chick lit-y at all whichwas what I  (very wrongly) assumed. Read it!

Us: David Nicholls

New book by 'dick lit' author Nicholls, who wrote One Day, and this book is like the grown up version. By grown up, I mean that the main characters are older. I found this easy to read and funny and touching in places, although I made the mistake of reading it at the same time as that other David (Mitchell)'s new book. There were a few surprising parallels which ended up confusing me (both mention Stoke Newington, for one!) so I decided to power through this easy reading novel so I could give my undivided attention to the much more deserving (author crush) The Bone Clocks. I've now given this book to Andreas in an(other) attempt to get him reading. I will report back.

I liked the relationships in this book a lot more than the travelling, which is unlike me, but could be to do with the character that does the travelling, seeing Europe through his eyes. The main relationship, which is breaking down through the novel, was nicely portrayed and stayed just on the right side of cliche. I liked the flashback arrangement and thought it worked well, although it wasn't a reach to read and I didn't have to think that hard about it (not a bad thing at the moment).

There But For The: Ali Smith

This book was really good, so funny and different to what I was expecting. I liked her The Accidental, but this is different again. It's full of puns, clever word tricks and story tricks, and refreshing angles on familiar things. It's about a man who goes into a room while at a dinner party, and doesn't come out. Who hasn't thought of doing that? I liked this review of it. I have another book lined up about running away from things...