The Martian by Andy Weir

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him & forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded & completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—& even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—& a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

This book was my book club read for July by first time author Andy Weir.  We are reading a different genre each month to give us a more rounded reading structure.  This month's genre was Science Fiction.  The choice is not my normal cup of tea (which says a lot for the book club, yay!) but I have to tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed the story.  I was sucked in from the first sentence on page one through the last sentence.  It was a bit "techincal" however, what else would you expect from a NASA mechanical engineer/botanist character?  I mean, he's been left alone on Mars and no one knows he's there!  His ingenuity is as thoroughly entertaining as his sense of humor.  Believe me, a lot of things do not go his way.

Need another carrot?  Hollywood has made a movie out off this book which will be shown at theaters later this year (November or December).  I urge you to pick up a copy even though it may not be your preferred genre.  It truly was an awesome read and I don't think that you'll be disappointed.