David used to work in Ottawa, but moved to Toronto to be closer to his dying mother, who has been mostly taken care of by his sister. His new job is with a PR firm and he is thrown into the fire immediately to help with a NASA campaign. Some love, some don’t, his idea of a “citizen astronaut” campaign. People can enter to randomly be selected to go up to space, as long as they can pass the training requirements. But the people at NASA who matter love the idea and it’s on. There will be one winner from the US and one from Canada. But someone (in the DC office of the PR firm) have specific ideas about who they think should win the “random” draw. And the random person in Canada? Definitely not what anyone expected!

This was fun! Fallis’ books are humourous and this was definitely that. And I loved L Percival, Canada’s winner. There were interesting “side” stories for both David and L Percival. The PR guy in DC was horrible! But, I suppose, for the humourous slant of the novel, it makes sense to have some over-the-top characters. I really should read more of Fallis’ books (I’ve already read the political ones with Angus, but no others -- yet.) ( )

What an adorable light read. The story is full of engaging characters, ones that you'll love and ones you'll want to throttle. In my books, that is the sign of a well written book. I was invested in the characters and their quirky, very Canadian journey. ( )

Terry Fallis' writing just gets better and better. Landon Percival is the new quintessential Canadian character. Meant to be satirical, I could still see all of this happening. I thoroughly enjoyed this story--a fun, fast read which I will recommend to others. ( )

humour in literature is difficult. at least, i have a hard time with it on occasion. terry fallis is a funny guy. i have met him and enjoy him, so it was easy for me to imagine him telling me this story. but, on the page, i sometimes got a bit tired of david stewart (main character) being so prone to pratfalls and one-liners. for me, this served to detract from a great story. overall, i had a lot of fun with this quirky novel. some moments, i laughed out loud but overall, i was more taken with the heart of the story - 71yo Landon Percival. she's all sorts of awesome-sauce - than the humour being attempted. i loved the premise and while teetering on the outlandish, it was fascinating to imagine it all. a couple of complaints: a) product placement totally distracted me. do i care that it's a macbook air or a ford fusion? not at all. these moments totally jarred me out of the fictional world. b) the use of the word 'bitch' towards one of the female characters - a strong, driven female executive. sure it was used in a self-deprecating way, but really, is that necessary in this day and age? and then, the almost end...was a bit too...convenient. i wasn't sure one aspect of the story was really necessary? but i do't want to lob a spoiler here, so i will leave it at that and hope i remember it, should anyone ask. heh. seems, between this book and The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, senior citizen heroes may be the new thing in literature. it's kinda cool! ( )

For David Stewart, former assistant to the minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency, his new employer, PR firm Turner King, may as well be a different planet. How appropriate then that he ends up playing a major role on the firm's latest account: NASA, which is looking to revive interest in the space program. David is something of a space buff himself, so he devises a plan to get the general public on board: have a contest for one Canadian and one American to join the crew of the space shuttle and take part in a mission to the International Space Station. It's an incredible idea, and it will take all of David's resources to pull it off successfully.

This was exactly what I needed when I picked it up. It's very fast-paced; I could barely put it down over the two or three days I read it (on the bus). David is an amusing protagonist and narrator, very generous with the self-deprecating humour while playing the straight man to some of the more eccentric characters such as Landon Percival and Crawford Blake. Those who have read Fallis's earlier books will recognize Landon as sharing some characteristics with the delightfully forthright Angus McLintock -- so if you were disappointed not to see Angus in this book, never fear. And in a would-have-been-laugh-out-loud-had-I-read-it-at-home moment, Fallis slips in a nod to CNN correspondent Ali Velshi, who successfully defended The Best Laid Plans in the 2011 edition of Canada Reads.

What I really liked about this book was the enthusiasm Fallis, also a space enthusiast, brought to the subject of space travel. The technical details he brings in during the shuttle launch and the mission itself are fascinating and made me want to read more about the space program myself. I also liked that Fallis took his work in a different direction from his previous two books. Actually, as much as I liked those other two books, this may be my favourite of his works so far. Recommended for space enthusiasts who want something cheery, fun and just a little bit wacky for their weekend reading. ( )