The Martian--Andy Weir

I hope I am not the only one who thought of this:

(aliens from outer space) instead of this:

(humans on Mars) when reading the title of this book. Honestly, I thought the book was literally about aliens, and I did not want to read about that.

This was a mistake. I started reading some really great reviews, and eventually I read an article on a blog that I get updates from (Modern Mrs. Darcy. And in answer to your question... Maybe. Maybe I started following this blog originally because of my name, and maybe not. Who can really say?) that basically said this book was completely unexpected, and really good.

So I put this one on my list of "books to potentially read but most likely won't get to list," and pretty much forgot about it.

Then, one fateful day at the movie theater, Jeremy and I were watching the previews for some show and the trailer for The Martian came on, starring Matt Damon, whom I love. And... I was hooked. The trailer was really intriguing, and The Martian shot up to the top of my reading list; I picked it up the next time we were at Barnes and Noble.

I am so glad I did, because this is my absolute favorite book that I have read in 2015 (Let me check... I have started keeping track of the books I read... yep. Definitely #1) so far. I won't be surprised if this keeps its position because, well, it is October, and also I have been trying to clear off my kindle of old books that I bought on a whim (or got for free. Both are nice, but bog down my reading list).

Anyway!! Enough about the story behind how I got this book and actually read it... Let's talk about The Martian itself!!

This book is set in the not-so-distant future, where the third mission to Mars is taking place. The crew lands on Mars just fine, and as they are going about their work, an unexpected storm arises, and they are told to abort their mission. As they are making their way back to the ship, one of the crew members, Mark Watney, is lost and presumed dead. The rest of the crew takes off without him, assuming he is long gone.

Well... he isn't.

Watney survived the accident, and has to continue to find ways to survive. I don't want to give away too much plot, but here's a hint: Watney is on MARS. No food, no water, and no equipment--except those things left by his crew. And, at his BEST guess, Watney figures it will be about four years until the next manned mission can make it to Mars. The story is told by Watney, who records his experiences dutifully in the mission log, so if he perishes and NASA eventually makes it back to the landing site, they will know what happened to him.

Weir did a lot of research on this novel, and you can tell when you are reading it. And Weir has an awesome writing style that discusses difficult concepts and science simply, without it feeling like he is "dumbing it down" for us normal folk.

The main character, Watney, is hilarious! Despite being left alone on Mars, he finds humor in every situation and since conveniently he is a Botanist and an Engineer, he is able to come up with a lot of logical solutions. In the reader's discussion questions in the back of the book (yes, I read them. I am a nerd), one of the questions asks what your favorite "Waney-ism" is. There are a lot to choose from.

This story is amazing, and part of what makes it so amazing is how real it feels! In fact,when Jeremy and I were talking about it the other day (P.S. we now have two copies and have proceeded to push this book into anyone's hands who will read it) I told him that although I know that Watney is a fictional character, I have to keep reminding myself that this didn't actually happen. Part of the reason this book feels so real is that it does encompass the vision of NASA. In fact, when the movie was being created, NASA supported the filming, and actually took Andy Weir and the producer of the movie on tour to show them plans for NASA. So a lot of this stuff is where NASA sees their program in a few years (minus, you know, the losing a crew member and leaving him to die on a lifeless planet).

This book just grabs your attention and just keeps you hooked until the very end. In fact, true story: I was on the last few chapters of The Martian and was planning on finishing it before bed one night. Jeremy had some funny videos he was looking at on his phone, and couldn't stop laughing. I had to get up, and go lock myself in the bathroom until I finished. It was that good.

I really cannot recommend this book highly enough! READ THIS. Or, if you are still hesitant, go watch the movie (I have yet to see it), and THEN read it! Then tell me your thoughts, because this was so great!!!