What I’m Reading this Week: 12th January, 2015

Afternoon everyone. Bit of a late start to my blogging week this week. Not sure why but today has just completely gotten away from me, as did the weekend. I really couldn’t believe it was Monday this morning. I need more time off to enjoy life! Oh well, on to my books for this week.

As predicted last week, Brave New World is taking a bit of time to read so I’m starting off this week’s what I’m reading with what I didn’t get finished last week. It’s not that it’s that long, I’m just struggling to get into it. I am finding many other things to do instead I’m afraid. It will be finished but when is another matter. In between times, this week I’ll be reading….

The Martian by Andy Weir which I’ve read good and not-so-good reviews for. Although, I’m not much of a one for review copies (too much pressure to read them), I did get one for this so thought I should give it a go.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first man to die there. It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he’s stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive–and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to get him first. But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills–and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit–he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

I’m also going to listen to A bunch of Sweet Peas by Henry Donald. This is an older book (published 1988) that I came across at my local library and I just liked the sound of it. Plus, it’s short and with Brave New World, I think I need something like this.

In 1911, in the Scottish Border village of Sprouston, the young parish minister wrote to the Daily Mail for entry forms for its sweet pea competition. The top prize was a staggering £1000 and organizers predicted that as many as 15,000 would enter. He could not foretell that the paper’s estimate of the number of competitors would be more than doubled, or that a fortnight before the deadline a nation-wide drought would threaten the very existence of the sweet peas he was so painstakingly cultivating. This touching and beautifully illustrated tale is based on a true story.

And that is it for this week. Something old, something new, and something short and sweet. Seems like quite a good mix! What are you reading – something good I hope.

Emma

Once again, I’m linking in with Sheila at Book Journey, who has a weekly linky post, It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? Click on the link to find out what Sheila and other book bloggers are reading.