2015 Reading Challenge Update

So Goodreads tells me I'm already two books behind schedule! Hmm, maybe 100 books this year was a bit overzealous. I have read two other books, but they really weren't my favorite so don't even worry about those. They're on my Goodreads account if you want to see there.

To update my book challenge from Modern Mrs. Darcy, I've completed a book that's currently on the best seller list and a book by a favorite author. Those are easy.

The Martian Review:

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?

When I first read about this book the first reviews said that the writing is just way too comedic and the narration seems a bit childlike and immature especially when in such a situation. I disagree, I feel like the comedy and jokes that Mark Watney cracked throughout the books probably were his way of survival. There was tons of science that I often had to go back and re-read the descriptions of what the main character was trying to accomplish. It's a fun read that is very different from many popular science fiction books out there. Super excited that this is coming out as a movie directed by Ridley Scott! (sidenote: I'm surprised they casted both Jessica Chastain and Matt Damon in another space movie together. I loved Insterstellar.)

Sharp Objects Review:

Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.

Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory.

As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming.

With its taut, crafted writing, Sharp Objects is addictive, haunting, and unforgettable.

It's an extremely complex and disturbed story. Typical Gillian Flynn. It has a great narrator that you want to sometimes scream at for what she does, but you can't help but to like her. Halfway through the book is where the narrator and the book really open up to the deeper psychological and family issues that overshadow the entire situation. Terrific book, terribly creepy.

Are you keeping up with any reading challenges?