Blogging for Books: The Martian

Last week I was doing my rounds in the blogosphere when I saw a post from Jessica ,over at Please and Carrots, doing a book review from a site called Blogging for Books.  Naturally I was intrigued. As a blogger you can register with the site, pick a book to be sent to you for FREE- either a physical copy or an e-book. Seriously, what could be better?

Of course I signed up right away, filled out their forms and picked my very first book. The Martian by Andy Weir. I registered to get it as an e-book and had it on my kindle within 20 minutes. Naturally I started reading it as soon as I could.

I finished the novel on Monday night and I was very happy with it- to the point that I had already mentioned it to family and friends before I even finished reading.

The Martian is about an astronaut, Mark Watney, who while traveling with his space crew is abandoned on the surface of Mars during a dust storm. Through his knowledge and expertise, as a botanist and engineer,  Mark must figure out a way to survive until the next mission arrives, almost four years away. 

A good chunk of the book is written in first-person as Mark documents his trials, problems, successes and journey. It has a good mix of input from Earth's perspective, the NASA workers and his fellow crew-mates. 

I really enjoyed all of the scientific aspects of the book- the calculations he made, learning about the different pieces of equipment and what really goes into space travel. I'm not a space expert so I can't say how accurate that all is but it definitely sounded good and kept me reading. As a reader it was nice to have a sci-fi book that was somewhat realistic. No aliens, or way-off-chart issues- everything seemed as if it could be a situation we might see a fellow human in one day (except I hope not because that would suck!)

The book does have a large amount of profanity (I would be cursing too if I was stuck on Mars by myself), so if that bothers you I wouldn't pick it up- but if you like a good adventure story, then this comes highly recommended by myself. 

Enjoy! 

 *Note: I received this book for free in exchange for a review- all thoughts and opinions are of my own*

 

FarFaria + Giveaway!

Taking care of children as a full-time job is something I love doing, but with all the technology out there today it is hard to keep them away. If you haven't figured it out by now, I am avid reader and absolutely adore passing this passion on, especially to the little ones. What better way then to keep them interested than combining books and tablets!

 Introducing:

This beautiful app, I have it on my ipad, it's perfect for kids of all ages (they recommend it for ages 2-9). It has an abundant amount of books (over 700!) and stories (5 new ones added each week!) in an assortment of worlds and categories. I've been using it for the last few weeks with my munchkins and they love the app. I'm a huge fan as well. 

 The two year old uses comfortably.  The four year old can add and search for his favorites quickly. I have the ease of mind that something productive is happening on that screen versus another hour of watching Planes or Frozen (our favorites at the this moment).

There are so many aspects of the app I enjoy, I really like how you can choose to have the story read to you at your own pace, the story's pace, or just read it on your own. Big J can see each word highlighted as it spoken to help with his reading skills. Little J can turn the page with one finger and start it over with one touch on the screen. It also helps him learn his alphabet and aids with his speech.

You can easily search for stories by age level, reading level, or have them sort by newest, top rated and so on. I really like that you put your favorite stories into one area that can be accessed all the time, with or without internet. This feature is useful when we are on the subway and will be very helpful when we are on an airplane.

The whole app is colorful and child-friendly, and a great way to introduce some silly or classic tales to the ones we care about the most.

FarFaria is oh so nicely giving away a 3-month subscription to the app today- and I love giving you all to have the opportunity to share this wonderful creation with your own children, nieces, nephews, cousins or any little one in your life. Enter Away!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*This post is sponsored by FarFaria but all opinions are my own*