Nearly everyone has read and loved The Martian – including me! Finally. I won’t review it, because, as of right now, there are 236,949 ratings on Goodreads alone (thanks for the recommendation Maria Helena). You don’t need to know that I’d give it 4.5 out of 5, even though I would. What I loved about this book is how very different Mark Watney is than me. He is relentlessly optimistic*. The Martian did what the best books are supposed to do, it completely took me outside of my own head and transported me to the most foreign of all places. I loved it.
In lieu of a review, I’ll provide you with two of my favorite quotes. If they don’t make you at least smile, this book is not for you.
01. “He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.”
LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.”
and
02. “LOG ENTRY: SOL 381 I’ve been thinking about laws on Mars.
Yeah, I know, it’s a stupid thing to think about, but I have a lot of free time.
There’s an international treaty saying no country can lay claim to anything that’s not on Earth. And by another treaty, if you’re not in any country’s territory, maritime law applies.
So Mars is “international waters.”
NASA is an American nonmilitary organization, and it owns the Hab. So while I’m in the Hab, American law applies. As soon as I step outside, I’m in international waters. Then when I get in the rover, I’m back to American law.
Here’s the cool part: I will eventually go to Schiaparelli and commandeer the Ares 4 lander. Nobody explicitly gave me permission to do this, and they can’t until I’m aboard Ares 4 and operating the comm system. After I board Ares 4, before talking to NASA, I will take control of a craft in international waters without permission.
That makes me a pirate!
A space pirate!”
You can’t really go wrong reading about a space pirate who colonizes Mars. Pair this book with potatoes. Because what else? Try these delicious scalloped potatoes from Gimme Some Oven.
*He is what I imagine Kate would be like if she was an astronaut stranded on Mars.
flannel and folklore 
So I broke my movie rule with this one. A good friend’s mom was in town and wanted me to see it with them and I just couldn’t say no. I thought the movie was great – both of those quotes were in it – and usually that would stop me from reading the book because I pretty much know what will happen and there’s no suspense. But I think I’m going to read this one anyway because I’ve heard so much how funny the narrator is. There might be some great lines the movie missed.
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Mark is hilarious. It’s well worth the read, even though the movie and book are very close!
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I’m sure Mark would have given just about anything to be able to eat scalloped potatoes, rather than just plain ones.
Space isn’t usually my thing, so I was surprised by how much I liked this book. And, it’s still going strong in the blogosphere!
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I love that it is. I just read the publication story recently and it’s fascinating! I love space books that are character based, so I don’t know why I didn’t pick this one up sooner.
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Haha – YES! I love these quotes and loved Mark Watney and loved how he was so sarcastic and optimistic at the same time. And, how he always made fun of the pencil pushers back at NASA while he was busy being a badass on Mars. And, you obviously have to go with potatoes for this one!
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There really is no other option than potatoes, even though mark never wants to eat them again.
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I’m so happy you read it and liked it! So many great quotes, but the two you picked were two of my favourites.
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I loved the whole book. It’s definitely one of my recent favorites. I just saw the movie Thursday and it was great.
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I really liked the movie too!
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LOL, oh man, I love the quotes you chose. I also love Mark Watney.
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Me too! He’s the type of person I would like to know.
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I STILL haven’t read this (but I saw the movie).
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Yes! Those quotes were great. I just finished this book maybe a week ago, scrambling to finish reading it so that I could then go out and see the movie while it’s still in theaters. I enjoyed it, especially once we started getting the perspectives of the people on Earth into the mix. I loved Watney’s narration, but it made the story even better to know the reactions of the other people to his actions and circumstances.
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I loved both the book and the movie. Mark Watney is such a great character. I listened to it on audio, and the narrator did a fantastic job providing the voice for him.
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I haven’t read this one YET! I might be watching the movie before I do …
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