meg reads and reads

Title: The Martian Author: Andy Weir This was my second audiobook, and I enjoyed it immensely. This is very much a science science-fiction book, meaning that Weir is either a scientist by nature or did a ton of research for this book, but either way, it is realistic and compelling and absolutely mind-blowing. I know a lot of people have already read this or seen the movie. I had never read it and have not seen the movie, so all of this was a complete surprise to me. I had no idea what this was about or what was going to happen, and it was wonderful. Mark Watney is a botanist-turned-astronaut on the first manned-mission to Mars. After a mishap on Mars, his crew, thinking him dead, inadvertently leave him behind, and he is forced to figure out how to survive. He figures out how to grow potatoes on Mars, how to have continuous clean drinking water, how to make sure he doesn't run out out of air, and ultimately how to communicate with Earth to let them know, "Hey, I'...

Title: Maul: Lockdown Author: Joe Schreiber I guess this is one of the last books written before Disney acquired Star Wars and wiped out the Expanded Universe (EU) as canon. I was having a hard time finding a list of Star Wars canon books written in order (rather than in chronological order by timeline), so I just started with those published in 2014 and went from there. The book itself is basically interesting. We have Maul on a mission from his Sith Master, Darth Sidious, to infiltrate a prison and acquire a piece of technology from someone who is hiding in said prison (on such a level that he is nearly mythological) and deliver it to what is essentially a cult led by a former Jedi called the Bando Gora--all without using the Force. The former Jedi leader of the Bando Gora, Komari Vosa (a former apprentice of Dooku), is not Sith either. She's just something else. There's also a whole side plot about how Maul is being used as a chess piece by Darth Sidious and ...

Title: The Secret Garden Author: Jennifer Adams Being a mom is hard sometimes. Ora has been really difficult this evening. No matter what we did, we could not make her happy. She had a long nap. She didn't want dinner. She didn't want to be held. She didn't want anything. It was beyond frustrating, and I was starting to wonder if she didn't feel well. She eventually started watching Boss Baby and calmed down a bit. But as we started getting the kids ready for bed, I sat down with her and read this book. My mom bought Ora a set of these a while back, but she prefers the stuff her older brother looks at generally. She enjoyed reading it. She especially enjoyed the page about "Poppy"--the flower, of course. She calls her grandfather (my dad) "Poppy," so I'm sure that's what she was thinking about. She wanted to linger on that page, though, so we did. Reading to our children is so important. I don't just say that as a literatur...

Hi everyone! I posted a podcast today featuring Chelsea Effect's new song "The City" (out April 17). To hear it, please follow the link . You can also just search MBeckelhimer Book Reviews on whatever podcast app you choose to use, and it should come up. In the podcast, I discuss briefly reading Dr. Seuss to Ora and her "reading" it back to me. Here's a photo. And here's a photo taken after eating Chinese food with Mandi Perkins in NYC in 2011. The rest of my photos seem to be lost to time. I can't find them anywhere. I used to have photos of me with Anderson.Paak and his guitarist Jose Rios and everything, but I can't find them. Oh, well. Check out the podcast for the full story.

Title: Rose Madder Author: Stephen King I have complicated feelings about this one. I was a little disappointed after a couple of really awesome King novels, and this one ended up falling flat in a lot of ways. I think this is mostly because parts of it just seemed to drag out. I have seen other reviews of this book that thought it was good minus the fantasy element, and while the actual way the fantasy element enters the story a bit far-fetched, it's no more far-fetched than any other books or movies with the collision between "reality" and "fantasy." I honestly thought the fantasy portions were smart and are largely what ended up saving the story for me. The book centers around Rose, who has been married to Norman for about 14 years, and he is horribly abusive. Some of the descriptions of the abuse are graphic, including the description of when he caused her to have a miscarriage through one of his beatings. She finally gets up the nerve to leave him...