From Your Bookshelf: The Martian (Tiny Navajo Reads)

From Your Bookshelf is a series I started in order to connect with other book lovers and share stories about a book they love. It is an extension of my From My Bookshelf series, and you can learn more about it – including how to get involved – here. 

The second From Your Bookshelf post is from Ashley from Tiny Navajo Reads. She talks about this story of survival, and the impactful effect of audiobooks. 

I am a big fan of audiobooks. They are one of my favorite ways to read a book and enjoy, while also feeling like you can do something else at the same time. For me, I generally listen to audiobooks while I’m at the gym or driving long distances because if I don’t I will fall asleep.

I also enjoy having a book being read to me. When was the last time someone read you a story or a book? When was the last time you could just sit down or laid down and let someone narrate you into a story? It’s probably been a while, and the last person who may have read to you was your mother or father as they read you a bedtime story. For me, I know that was the last time someone physically read to me was when my mom would read to me. That’s been about 20 years now.

This is why I love audiobooks, I can have someone read to me and I can enjoy letting someone else “do the work” of reading and still enjoy the story. And to me, the audiobooks of some books are even better than the physical book. This is especially true when it comes to The Martian by Andy Weir.

I’m not totally sure how I ended up buying The Martian from Audible, especially as I had the physical copy already, I must have been getting ready for a long drive or something. Anyway, as I started listening to The Martian I fell in absolute love with the narrator! Andy Weir had written the main character of the book, Mark Watney, to be hilarious to begin with, so that helps the narrator, but R.C. Bray brings Mark Watney to life in such a way that makes me want to actually meet and know this character.

Now, Mark Watney is one of my absolute favorite characters! He’s hilarious and for man that is stranded on Mars, it’s probably a good thing that he has an excellent sense of humour. He’s also a character that has a strong sense of survival, as he figures out not only how to make the food that was left behind last for a long long time, but he also figures out how to grow himself some potatoes! Yay for potatoes!

Throughout this whole book, Mark goes through good times and bad times, and he does lose his top a few times, who wouldn’t when you’re stuck on Mars? But what Andy Weir does is show Mark Watney pushing forward in order to survive. And you can hear it in R.C. Bray’s voice as well as he brings Watney and the other characters to life. It’s my belief that the audiobook has done its duty in bringing the characters to life when I haven’t even touched the physical book. If you’re ever in need of a good laugh and want to just relax a bit, then I completely recommend listening to The Martian.

You can find Ashley on Twitter, and be sure to check out her book reviews and recommendations on Tiny Navajo Reads.