Wishlist: Packing for Mars

I watched The Daily Show from Monday last night and loved Jon Stewart's interview with Mary Roach, regarding her newest book, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void.

Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can't walk for a year? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 4,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations -- making it possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA's new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Packing for Mars takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

While I wasn't blown away by the previous book by her I've read (Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife), the conversation with JS about this one was so hysterical, I am going to have to read it.

Wishlist: Unpacking My Library

I saw this book at my favorite local bookstore before Christmas. But I was restricting my purchases that day to books for other people only, so I passed. I'll have to go back and get it for myself soon, as a belated present.

Unpacking My Library: Architects and Their Books edited by Jo Steffens

What does a library say about the mind of its owner? How do books map the intellectual interests, curiosities, tastes, and personalities of their readers? What does the collecting of books have in common with the practice of architecture? Unpacking My Library provides an intimate look at the personal libraries of twelve of the world’s leading architects, alongside conversations about the significance of books to their careers and lives.

Photographs of bookshelves—displaying well-loved and rare volumes, eclectic organizational schemes, and the individual touches that make a bookshelf one’s own—provide an evocative glimpse of their owner’s personal life. Each architect also presents a reading list of top ten influential titles, from architectural history to theory to fiction and nonfiction, that serves as a personal philosophy of literature and history, and advice on what every young architect, scholar, and lover of architecture should read.

Check out the unpacking my library website, too.

On a side note, this book reminded me a bit of a post I did about books architects own. I'll have to check to see if the books I listed are in this book.

Wishlist: Wendy Evans Joseph Pop Up Architecture

Thanks to Laura for alerting me to this article in NY Times about Wendy Evans Joseph Pop Up Architecture, "one of the very few architectural monographs in the form of a pop-up book." How could I resist adding it to my wishlist after that description?

Wishlist: Rampant

Via Scalzi's Big Idea column, I'm adding Rampant by Diana Peterfreund to my wishlist.

Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns . . .

Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.

Or not.

Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student . . . an attraction that could jeopardize everything.

Presenting Lenore reviewed this in March and had an author interview when it came out in August. I'll be honest, even though she raved about it, the cover made me not at all interested (I know! I'm so judgmental.). But the new cover is awesome and really caught my eye.

If you are interested, check out the author's page, which has an excerpt.

Wishlist: xkcd Volume 0

The webcomic xkcd has released their first collection, xkcd: volume 0. Even though I've probably read most of the comics in it, I'd still like to have it - its just such a funny, sweet, weird, nerdy comic!

My wishlist kept growing, though, when I visited the xkcd store and saw all the t-shirts and posters they had for sale. I know I am outing myself* as the biggest nerd ever, but I just love this tee:



* Or not, as my friends and family are either a) already aware of this fact, or b) even nerdier than I am, and therefore unable to judge.

A Maybe Wishlist Book: The Sartorialist

Do you read the The Sartorialist blog? I do, and I really enjoy it. Scott Schuman - aka, The Sartorialist - has just published his first book of man-on-the-street fashion photographs - also called The Sartorialist - and I am very tempted to get it. I read a critical review on Amazon, though, that said that all of the book's content is from the blog. That makes me much less likely to buy the book, to be honest. Then again, looking at a photo on screen is a lot different than looking at a book.

Wishlist

I can't remember where I heard about this one (a book blog, I'm sure), but it sounds wonderful:

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet which will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question the meaning of being "human." When the lone survivor of the expedition, Emilio Sandoz, returns to Earth in 2059, he will try to explain what went wrong.

Via Archidose:

Three Little Pigs by Steven Guarnaccia starring piggy Le Corbusier, Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright. Its not on Amazon (yet!) but does seem to be available at Unica Home.

Update: Its now available on Amazon: The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale

Wish List: Graceling

I know, I know! I can't believe I haven't read Graceling yet, either. I can't even link to where I heard about it first because I have heard about it everywhere.

If you, like me, are eager to read this book, I have wonderful news. Bookluver-Carol's Reviews is hosting a giveaway! So click on that link, enter to win and let me know if you win! Good luck! (FYI, it closes 5/15 so enter soon!)

For those of you who can't wait, you can buy Graceling on Amazon.

Wish List: Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Series

Sometimes, when I hear about new (to me) authors, who have been around for ages, publishing multiple NY Times bestsellers, I think, Where have I been? Fortunately, someone comes along and educates me and now I have a whole bunch of new favorites and new books on my ever-growing wishlist.

Today's addition, via John Scalzi's blog Whatever, is Carrie Vaughn and her “Kitty Norville” series, "in which a lycanthropic radio host has all sorts of wild adventures."

There is even, to wet your appetite, a link to the first Kitty story, Doctor Kitty Solves All Your Love Problems, as well as an excerpt from the newest novel, Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand. Enjoy!

Wish List (3)

More books to put on my wishlist! Maybe I'll go pick one of these up this weekend with the gift card I got for Christmas.




84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, from the Book Lady's Blog

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and had been looking forward to it since many of you recommended it as similar to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. ... I’d recommend it for anyone who loves books and bookish people.

Sounds like a nice book to read, you know?

The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones, from The Literate Housewife Review

I cannot recommend this novel enough. It is a wonderful way to learn about the origins of Islam through the eyes of a complex and strong young girl and then woman.

I will probably get this one at the library instead of buying it, as I have read as many negative reviews as positive ones. But the concept intrigues me, and it's a somewhat controversial book, so I want to see what that's all about.

Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers, from Pop Culture Junkie

I have no idea how to express my feelings about this book. It's powerful, emotional, important, and really spoke to me.

I actually read the first chapter of this book online, thanks to the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. I, alas, did not get the book, though, when I requested it, and actually kind of forgot about it until I read Alea's review.

Buy 84, Charing Cross Road on Amazon.
Buy The Jewel of Medina on Amazon.
Buy Cracked Up to Be on Amazon.

Wish List (2)

More great books that I learned about from my fellow bloggers.

Aurelia by Anne Osterlund, from Presenting Lenore

Recommended for anyone who likes their princesses with some backbone to go along with their whalebone corsets.

Sounds like a fun read. Awful cover, though.

Seeing Venice: Bellotto's Grand Canal by Mark Doty, from Bermuda Onion

Reading the essay and seeing the painting makes me want to go to Venice so I would recommend this charming book to lovers of art and Italy.

This ones seems especially apt since who know how much longer Venice will look the way Venice does? (Example: NY Times article on recent floods.)

Artificial Light: A Narrative Enquiry into the Nature of Abstraction, Immediacy and Other Architectural Fictions by Keith Mitnick, from Fantastic Journal (via Bookslut)

This last reaction sets the tone for Keith Mitnick's adult relationship with architecture; troubled, anxious, occasionally nauseous. ... This is a fabulous book - strange, eccentric and intelligent. For once the over familiar claim that preconceptions will be challenged rings true, and architecture seems new again.

From the review, this one sounds challenging but worth it. And it's got a lot that seems up my alley: architecture! Dark humor! the Jersey Shore!

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, from Presenting Lenore (I'm beginning to think we share similar taste in books!)

I love the creativity and world creation of his Thursday Next series and the premise of this one - A brilliant new novel about a world where social order and destiny are dictated by the colors you can see - sounds highly original.

This one doesn't come out until July 2009, but I had never heard of this author and it sounded so good, it inspired me to pick up The Eyre Affair, the first "Thursday Next" Novel. It's on my TBR shelf (aka my bedside table) so I am hopeful that I will be able to get to it soon.

Gemma Bovery by Posy Simmonds, from Shelf Love

Posy Simmonds has created a marvelous graphic novel in Gemma Bovery, a fresh, sharp, modern take on Flaubert’s Madame Bovary.

Phew, that's quite a lot of reading to be done! And quite a range of topics and styles, too.

Wish List

Between the public library and my library, there are more books to be read than I will ever get to, and yet I am constantly adding to my wish list. Here are three new books that I want to read, courtesy of other great book bloggers.


Fledgling by Octavia Butler, from Shelf Love:

This is what the best science fiction and fantasy can do. It forces us to question our assumptions and look carefully at the very roots of our morality.

The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik, from Pop Culture Junkie:

So besides the fact that I felt like those characters were very real to me, this book was just funny. Your everyday, can't help it funny! That's just who they were. I loved that and found myself laughing often while reading this

.
Paper Towns by John Green, from bookshelves of doom:

Okay, first of all, thumbs up. No reservations at all. ... Paper Towns is melancholy, laugh-out-loud-funny, downright sad, often hopeful and always thoughtful.

Enjoy!