Tag: Andy Weir

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2020) Nominees Round Up, September 25 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Cheshire Crossing by Andy Weir; Narrated by Sophie Amoss, Brittany Pressley, Kristen DiMercurio & Full Cast
Penguin Random House Audio / Ten Speed Press
Publication Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-0593102879

With a heel click, a hop through the looking glass, and a quick flight toward the Second Star on the Right, the heroines of Oz, Wonderland, and Neverland come together in a saucy, world-bending adventure perfect for those who wonder what happens after happily ever after.  Identical diagnoses of dissociative psychosis land teenaged Wendy Darling, Alice Liddell, and Dorothy Gale at Cheshire Crossing, a boarding school where their magical travels can be celebrated…and studied. Alice is not anxious to be anyone’s “science project,” much less return to Wonderland, and makes swift use of Dorothy’s slippers to escape to Oz with a reluctant Wendy in tow.  Chaos quickly ensues as the girls — and then their villains — skip between the magical realms, bringing together some unlikely allies along the way. 

Continue reading Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2020) Nominees Round Up, September 25 Edition

#AA2019 Nominees Round Up, March 14 edition

The Authentics by Abdi Nazemian, narrated by Kyla Garcia
Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication Date: December 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1538512227

Daria Esfandyar and her best friends call themselves “the Authentics” because they are all trying to be who they really are inside, whether or not it is considered cool or acceptable.  When a school assignment prompts Daria to take a DNA/ancestry test to surprising results, she suddenly doesn’t feel so true and real. As she investigates her family’s history, Daria also contends with her mother’s planning of a grand Iranian-American sweet sixteen party (which she doesn’t actually want) and new developments among her friends.  Along the way she also falls for a somewhat forbidden boy.

Continue reading #AA2019 Nominees Round Up, March 14 edition

What Would They Read?: Abby from NCIS

NCISI have watched and loved NCIS from the show’s beginning in 2003, and my favorite character has always been Abby Sciuto.  She’s smart and funny and not afraid to be herself, even if “herself” isn’t what people expect when meeting a computer and science expert. Someone as accomplished and confident as Abby surely has developed her own taste in reading, but if she were to ask me for book recommendations, this is what I’d offer her:

The Martian by Andy Weir (2015 Alex Award) is a science-packed story about a failed Mars mission. Abby would understand the science behind Mark’s attempts to get himself back to Earth, and she might even have some other suggestions for things he could try in order to survive on the red planet.

Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby (2008 Schneider Family Book Award) chronicles the life of Joey, a 13-year old who is missing out on a lot of things because she is deaf and her mother will not let her learn sign language. She meets a man who is teaching a chimp to sign, and through them Joey is able to find her voice. Abby’s mother was deaf, so Abby and Gibbs occasionally communicate using sign language.  That, and the science aspect of this story, would appeal to Abby.

pink_wilkinsonPink by Lili Wilkinson (2012 Stonewall Honor Book) follows Ava as she trades in her anti-establishment goth persona for a “good girl” look involving lots of pink. Ava finds it difficult to maintain her good-girl guise, though, just as Abby felt uncomfortable when [temporarily] forced to follow a strict dress code at work.

3:59 by Gretchen McNeil features a science whiz named Josie who gets trapped in an alternate universe and has to use her knowledge of physics to return to Earth. The complex science discussed in this book, along with the paranormal/mystery aspect, would definitely appeal to Abby.

The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden takes place in a post-Katrina New Orleans, and in addition to a setting which Abby would love, the paranormal elements would appeal to her love of all things Gothic. Continue reading What Would They Read?: Abby from NCIS