Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

I know. You're all too young for that reference. Here's a little help. And here's a little reality check: this book has nothing to do with the Brady Bunch. (Or Steve Buscemi.)

This book is about The Martian, a.k.a., Mark Watney and his struggle for survival on the red planet—which, incidentally, you can see in the night sky this week. How serendipitous!

Martian, Martian, Martian!

Originally self-published, The Martian became a bestseller when author Andy Weir offered a Kindle version at the lowest possible price and people began downloading it like crazy.  A week later he was offered a movie deal, and we all know how that turned out.

But what did you think of the book? It's a classic survival tale, but instead of taking place on a desert island a la Robinson Crusoe or Castaway, our hero is stranded on another planet. We'll talk about how that twist changes things up when we meet for our last discussion of the year. We'll also talk about the potential assignments below, so come prepared to offer your ruminations on one or more of them.

Assignments

Option #1: The Hab
Mark Watney spends a lot of the book (and over a year of his life) in this structure. So... what does it look like? Use your mad research skills and your mad reading comprehension skills and create your best representation—2D, 3D (4D?)—of Watney's home away from home away from home. No pictures from the movie! We only want pictures (or models) that come from your mind.

Option #2: POV
The Point of View (POV) shifts multiple times throughout the narration. Identify the various points of view that are used to tell this story and discuss why the author may have chosen to tell the story in this way. How does each POV affect the overall story? What about the individual storylines? Could they be told from different POVs? Why or why not?

Option #3: Space Oddities
A couple of times in the narration, Mark refers to something scientific sounding (medium flexible sample container) and then provides a simpler title for the object ("Ziploc bag"). Look around your house and find some everyday, ordinary items that most people would be familiar with. Come up with scientific sounding names for each of these items, and bring your list of items to our discussion. You'll give us the scientific name, and we'll try to guess what the everyday item is.

Option #4: Survivors
What is is about Mark Watney that makes him a survivor? What particular qualities help to get him through his 549 Sols? Think about the rest of the Ares 3 crew: Lewis, Vogel, Johannsen, Beck, Martinez. Do you think any of them would have made it? Why or why not?

Option #5: Lights! Camera! Action!
We know this book has been made into a movie. From having read the novel, what do you think the major challenges would be in translating it to the big screen? What adaptations might need to be made? What, in particular, might a director, actor, or screenwriter need to think about in the process of turning this book into a movie?

All right. That's enough to start. Happy reading and I'll see you on Wednesday.

The Count of Monte Cristo...

... is a really long book. So what I have to say to you is: Read, Forrest, read!

Seriously. If you haven't yet finished, do your best to get there. But even if you haven't finished, come to group tomorrow ready to chat. There are a lot of topics we can cover regardless of whether or not everyone (or anyone?) has finished. (And I, myself, am struggling to get there, just so you know.)

I'm going to post assignments, as usual, but the main priority is to read. If you haven't finished reading, let the assignments wait. We'll have plenty of time to think about them and discuss them tomorrow.

Potential Assignments

Let it Go?
Vengeance. Forgiveness. Vengeance. Forgiveness. Like a game of “she loves me, she loves me not,” Dumas alternates between these two themes throughout the book. In your opinion, where does he ultimately land? Support your claim with evidence from the book.

Tick Tock Goes the Clock
There are stories within stories within stories in this book, which makes the linear timeline somewhat difficult to follow. Choose a character other than Dantes and reconstruct his or her timeline from 1815 forward. 

Symbols, Motifs, and Themes
See a symbol? Notice a motif? Have an idea about a theme the author seems to be riffing on? Name it and explain it to the rest of us.

Isn't it Byronic?

There are so many references to Byron, particularly with the idea that Dantes—as Monte Cristo— possesses the traits of a Byronic hero. But what does that mean? Spell it out for us. With or without references to Alanis Morrisette. 

All right. That's it, folks. Happy reading, and I look forward to seeing you all in about 30 hours.