Atmosphere

★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10

304 pages

What’s it about?

Joan Goodwin is a solitary, young, astrophysics professor when she applies to join NASA. Women are finally being admitted to the space program, but it is still a man’s profession. When she is chosen from thousands of applicants she can hardly believe it. She finds a full life among the other astronauts, and in the process Joan discovers herself.

What did it make me think about?

Space exploration and also how far women have come since 1980.

Should I read it?

Well, I am on vacation with a limited number of books so when I discovered that this story was about space exploration, and also a queer love story, I was not as excited as I should have been. I am so very glad that I did not have any other choices. I am sure I would have gotten to it sooner or later- but this was a great vacation book! The space part was fascinating and I had no trouble rooting for the love story. I have always been a “love is love” believer, but wasn’t too sure I would relate to their love story. I was wrong! This is a page turner so if you are looking for a book that teaches you a few things and also is just a good story- look no further. I have read a few novels from Taylor Jenkins Reid and this is my favorite by far. I highly recommend this!

A passage I marked

“It would be easy to make the case that humans are ill-equipped to be in space. Whatever led to our design, it was not meant for this. But Joan sees it as the exact opposite. Human intelligence and curiosity , our persistence and resilience, our capacity for long-term planning, and our ability to collaborate have led the human race her. In Joan’s estimation, we are not ill-suited at all. We are exactly who should be out there. We are the only intelligent life-form that we know of in our galaxy who has become aware of the universe and worked to understand it.”