Books and Media I’d Take to Mars With Me | The Martian March

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Welcome back to The Martian March! It’s the last day of the month and I’m squeezing in one last silly Martian themed post. One of my favourite parts of The Martian is that Mark relies on his crewmates’ entertainment because he didn’t bring his own. He is stuck on Mars, living off of 70s sitcoms, disco music and Agatha Christie books. I did consider writing a post all about my speculations of what entertainment he might’ve brought…but instead, I decided to think about what I would bring on a Mars mission. So here’s my personal package of books and media I’d take to Mars with me!

If you’re confused about The Martian March, you can find my introduction post here!

Books

Of course, I’m bringing books to Mars. And like every reader going on a trip, I am very tempted to just bring my entire library. I’m not sure how much space is on those data sticks the Hermes Crew has but it’s probably not enough for all my audiobooks and ebooks. So instead, I picked a few favourites and a few new things to read!

Truthfully, I would most definitely take The Martian with me to Mars. But we all knew that so I thought I’d talk about a few other books instead!

The Themis Files Series

This is one of my favourite sci-fi series of all time and I love the audiobooks! If I’m stuck on Mars, I would enjoy having other sci-fi problems to worry about than my own (very doomed) survival on a desert planet.

We Could Be Heroes

As one of my favourite books of 2021, We Could Be Heroes has earned a spot on my Mars list. It’s soft and fun, has incredible characters and a wonderful central friendship. Really, it’s the perfect book for me to have in my virtual back pocket after a long day of trying to science the shit out of my survival.

The Truth About Keeping Secrets

This visceral and poetic exploration of death, grief, obsession and queer love is one of the only books I’ve ever annotated. I doubt NASA would let me take my annotated copy so the ebook will probably have to do. If I’m ever feeling like crying a lot on Mars, this is the book for that. After all, who doesn’t want to read a book about death when you’re about to likely die on another planet?

Cute Mutants series

I am terrible at reading series and being stuck on Mars with free time seems like the perfect way to change that! I’ve been meaning to read the Cute Mutants books for ages now but I guess it takes mentally putting me on Mars for me to actually start them. These queer superhero stories seem like great books to have by my side in dire circumstances.

Dead Djinn Universe

This is a series I’ve actually started and love! The world-building is lush and magical in the kind of way that whisks you away from wherever you are and makes you forget everything for a little while. Which is something I’d definitely need if I was stuck on Mars!

The Poppy War

Listen, I know that voluntarily reading books that are infamous for causing people pain seems like a bad idea. That’s probably because it is. But hey, if I am stuck on Mars, I might as well tick these books off my TBR. Considering that I have absolutely none of Mark Watney’s skills I am most definitely dying on Mars, so what’s a little extra emotional pain beforehand?

By the way, I wrote a post all about the books I’d recommend to the Martian characters! If you’re interested in that, you can click here.

Media

My Mars entertainment package wouldn’t be complete without some other media! My main sources of joy besides books have been TV shows, podcasts and music. I also love my Switch but I doubt I could convince NASA to let me take video games on a Mars mission, so my Animal Crossing island has to stay home.

Critical Role

Critical Role would be my number one media recommendation for Mark. He played DnD in high school, he’s a nerd, and he needs Critical Role. This actual-play DnD series is one of my favourite shows of all time. The storytelling is wonderful, I love the cast and all of the characters. And the best part: the campaigns are long, we’re talking 500+ hours of entertainment here. If I’m stuck on Mars for an indefinite amount of time, I’d want something long, fun, and good!

Any Crime Show Ever

I thought about specifying this to one of my favourites (namely Criminal Minds and Bones) but honestly, I don’t care. One of my prime coping mechanisms in times of stress is to binge crime shows or shows vaguely adjacent. Right now I’m watching Person of Interest! I don’t particularly care which of these shows I bring with me to Mars, as long as it has more than three seasons and doesn’t get awful after season five, I’m good.

Dear Hank and John

When thinking of entertainment to bring, I immediately thought about podcasts. I love Dear Hank and John, it’s one of my favourites! It’s the perfect mix of funny and existential and always brightens my day. Admittedly, I’d also get a kick out of listening to the Mars News segments while on Mars myself.

The Ologies podcast

Continuing the podcast trend, I’d love to bring the Ologies podcast with me! It’s a science podcast where each episode focuses on a different field of science and interviews an expert! It’s funny and wonderful and would probably be a good reminder of my love of science when I’m sitting on Mars, frustrated that I have to do chemistry.

Taylor Swift’s Entire Discography

Yes, I am bringing every Taylor Swift song ever. Including the stolen ones because I need reputation with me on Mars. Should I make it to the point where I have to drive a Mars rover across the planet to hopefully get rescued, I am going to be blasting Taylor Swift as I do it. Watch me.

Let’s Chat!

And that’s my very chaotic personal selection of books and media I’d take to Mars with me! I never claimed that it would be a good selection (though I do consider everything on here to be qualified Good Stuff). If I’m stuck on Mars with my shitty science skills, I might as well have some good media with me! I sincerely hope you enjoyed this mess of a post.

Thank you so much for reading!

🚀 What books would you take to Mars?

🚀 What other entertainment would make it to the red planet with you?

I hope you have a lovely day,

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