Bogormen

Title: 172 Hours on the Moon
Author: Johan Harstad
Genre: YA, Sci-fi
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 368
Date read: January, 2015

Three teenagers are going on the trip of a lifetime. Only one is coming back.

It's been more than forty years since NASA sent the first men to the moon, and to grab some much-needed funding and attention, they decide to launch an historic international lottery in which three lucky teenagers can win a week-long trip to moon base DARLAH 2.


You definitely have to suspend your disbelief in order to read this book. Three teenagers are given the opportunity to go on an expedition to the moon. Why? Simply to ensure that there's enough interest in the mission that NASA is certain of the funding.

Yeah, right.

But the reason for the mission is never fully explained - even in hindsight. And certainly not in a way that justifies bringing three kids along.

And that is just the beginning of the MANY questions that are left unanswered. Such as:
- What was in Sander's letter?
- What happened to Simone?
- Who on earth was responsible for the log?
- What is Priority DP7?

... and that's just the ones I can mention without including any spoilers!

The book was billed as horror, but while I certainly agree that parts of it were creepy as anything, as a whole it was entirely too unrealistic to be all that spooky. And due to the many unanswered questions (see above) I was left with a feeling of frustration rather than suspense. But it certainly tried really hard (too hard, perhaps?), and I have a feeling that if I was less annoyed with threads left hanging and open endings, I might have gotten more caught up in the creepiness of the novel.

Title: Cupid is a Procrastinator
Author: Kate Hurley
Genre: Christian non-fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 240
Date read: January, 2015

It's your eighth wedding this year. You are livening up the dance floor with a stirring rendition of YMCA when suddenly, the moment comes that separates the crowd. The slow dance. This one's for pairs. You are not a pair. You thought you would be married much sooner, but it hasn't worked out that way. You are trying to make sense of the unexpected single life.

Kate doesn't offer a magic formula that will bring your spouse to you, nor does she ask you to be content with your "gift" of singleness. With candid humor and refreshing honesty, she shares her own struggles and discoveries as a single person and invites you to come with her on a journey toward hope.


I was surprised by how much I liked this book, and especially by how relateable I found it. As an "old married woman" one could perhaps claim that I am not the intended target audience of this book, but even so I discovered that Kate Hurley had words of wisdom for me as well, and I found myself highlighting passages all over the place.

Because in the end, Kate Hurley's book is about "hope deferred" (Proverbs 13:12). For Kate Hurley, Cupid turned out to be a procrastinator. Others may be waiting on the stork, better health, a house, a job or any other milestone event. The "hopes" are different, but the way we can chose to respond and react really isn't, in the end.

"Cupid is a Procrastinator" is a refreshingly honest take on the issue of singleness, that doesn't offer platitudes ("Just wait! It'll happen when you least expect it!") but dares broach the subject of what to do if it never happens, and how to live a fulfilling life, even with a "hope deferred".

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 5+/5
# pages: 384, Audiobook ~11hrs
Date read: January 2015, January 2019, August 2020, March 2024

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?


It doesn't happen often that I find a book that leaves me speechless. But when I do, that book automatically becomes an instant favourite.

"The Martian" had me hooked from the very beginning. I couldn't put it down, and stayed up far too late last night to finish it. I was instantly drawn to Mark's plight and was fascinated to read how he solved the various obstacles and kept himself sane under the circumstances.

I don't know how scientifically accurate it is, but there were no glaring holes big enough for me to see. Besides, it kept true to its own universe, and to me that's more important.

The plot had me at the edge of my seat, and though I could almost guess the outcome from the start, the end still brought a lump to my throat - that's how emotionally attached I got. Very, very few books bring me to tears, and even fewer bring me to happy tears. Amazing writing all around!

Title: The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 243
Date read: January 2015

AJ Fikry owns a failing bookshop. His wife has just died, in tragic circumstances. His rare and valuable first edition has been stolen. His life is a wreck. Amelia is a book rep, with a big heart, and a lonely life. Maya is the baby who ends up on AJ's bookshop floor with a note. What happens in the bookshop that changes the lives of these seemingly normal but extraordinary characters? This is the story of how unexpected love can rescue you and bring you back to real life, in a world that you won't want to leave, with characters that you will come to love.

I love it when the first new book of the year is a clear five star book. Always makes me think it's a good omen for my reading year ;)

"The Collected Works of A. J. Fikry" (also published as "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry") is a lovely unassuming book. The plot hardly matters at all - what's important is the various characters and their interactions. It's probably much too slow-moving for some people, but it was just right for a cozy winter read, and stands a good chance of being an instant favourite.

I especially loved all the bookish details throughout, and the small descriptions A.J. wrote about some of his favourite short stories.

It is not a literary masterpiece, but it is a solid comfort read, and I have a feeling I will love it for it.

Title: And All the Stars
Author: Andrea K. Höst
Genre: Science fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 247
Date read: December 2012, January 2015, January 2022

And All the Stars is the story of an alien invasion. Madeleine has skipped school in order to paint her beautiful, androgynous cousin, Tyler. However, this put her in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time to be targeted by the mysterious onslaught of an alien invasion.

In a world gone mad, Madeleine has to trust the odd group of people, fate has thrown her way, and together with them try to find a way to rid the world of the alien invasion without getting possessed themselves along the way.

To might delight, And All the Stars turned out to be "Tomorrow, When the War Began" (John Marsden) meets "The Host" (Stephenie Meyer) - two of my favourite novels with regards to both atmosphere and plot. What I assumed at first would be a fairly straight-forward science fiction novel, threw me with its twists and turns and managed to surprise me more than once.

There are three things I especially appreciated about this novel:
1) The characters. Both the characters and the relationships between the main characters turned out to be a lot more complex than I had anticipated, and Madeleine's transformation from being self-sufficient to having to trust and rely on other people was very well done and believable. Madeleine and Noi, Madeleine and Tyler, Madeleine and Fish, Noi and Pan... None of them were left for the reader to think up themselves, but eloquently described through their interactions.

2) The atmosphere. This is where the comparison to "Tomorrow, When the War..." is most apt. It was just as thrilling, and left me just as much at the edge of my seat. I found myself imagining only too vividly what such an invasion would be like.

3) The fact that it - in spite of my original fear - turned out to be a stand-alone novel. There are so many series being published these days, that a true stand-alone novel is a rare treat.

For these, and many other reasons, And All the Stars blew me away. I can't remember when I've last had this strong a reaction to a novel, and it's well placed to be labelled my "Best Read of 2012".

Reread in 2015: Not quite as blown away by this as when I first read it, but I'm going to leave it at 5 stars just the same. A very, very good read :)

Reread in 2022: I'm going to downgrade the rating to 4 stars because for some reason it took me ALMOST NINE MONTHS to finish it this time around. Granted, some of that was a SERIOUS bout of corona fatigue that made me not want to read anything at all, but still - no 5-star book should be that easy to put down for that long.

I don't even quite get why... the plot is good and is right up my aisle, but something about the writing kept me at a distance, and I never got fully invested in the characters or the plot... and since I'd already read it before, I didn't have any urgency to see what happened next. But to be fair, I think that's got a lot more to do with my headspace while I was reading it, rather than the quality of the book itself.