The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Our winning group read for July 2021 is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Please discuss here and remember to use spoiler tags as needed, as everyone may start at different times and reads at different speeds.



Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian--while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

Yay!! I just ordered this on audible :)

I have to admit that I probably wouldn’t have picked up this book on my own…not my typical genre…but that’s why you participate in a group like this to try new things. Just finished the first chapter and I am intrigued! Looking forward to it!

I’m now 28% of the way in. Very different and enjoyable!

Carol wrote: "I’m now 28% of the way in. Very different and enjoyable!"

Glad you're enjoying it, Carol. I expect this to be a popular read. I read The Martian by this author and while I thought the story was good I did not love it as much as other people did. I felt it was a bit too bogged down by science and math at times which disrupted the flow of the story. I'm curious to see how this story compares, but not really interested in picking it up at the moment. I look forward to seeing everyone's thoughts on it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought it was even better than The Martian! Hope y’all enjoy it too!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with such a unique story line. I was rooting for the main characters, anxious for them, couldn’t wait to see how things unfolded. As some have noted there are some scientific/technical parts of the book, more so as it goes on, but I could skim those and pull out the important parts and it did not take away from my enjoyment or understanding of the storyline. I wouldn’t normally pick up a book in this genre but I’m so glad that I did!

Finally a really enjoyable sci-fi read! I didn't have to have pen and paper to write myself a compendium while reading it - always a good sign. I did not mind the science and math so much - not that I understand it but hey, it is sci-fi - it should contain stuff hard to grasp ;-)

I'm 44% through and I love it! so unique. I'm a little bored but also excited and worried.

I'm about 60% through it now and really enjoying it. I love Rocky's character and I'm really hoping they make a movie out of this book. I enjoyed The Martian and the movie was pretty good for that book as well.

Finished the book and loved it!

JoJo_theDoDo wrote: "I'm about 60% through it now and really enjoying it. I love Rocky's character and I'm really hoping they make a movie out of this book. I enjoyed The Martian and the movie was pretty good for that ..."

I also hope this will be a movie! OMG, it is such an excellent book!

I literally sighed after it was finished. I couldn't move on to anything else the rest of the night.

And I love the ending. Tied up nice. I HATE when books don't do that.

New discussion begins here!

Not sure how this one snuck by the 2 year guideline, but I hope you all enjoy it!

I'm happy--I just read this this year and it was a 4 star read for me (very good, but for me not as good as The Martian). This is a fun book to discuss, and I wasn't a member when it was on here 2 years ago :).

I just finished this on audible! I really liked it, loved how it came full circle in the end. 3/5 stars for me. Don’t think I would reread though

Probably my favorite read last year.

Listened to this book on audible early this year and I think that’s the way to go. Really enjoyed it. The orator did a great job. I would never have read this book due to the technical jargon and math involved in some sections. Other sections made me laugh out loud. I’m usually a reader but for this one I highly recommend listening to rather than reading. Enjoy!!

This is the daily deal on Audible today. $5.99 here in the US.

I’m 60 pages in and I’m quite intrigued. Will see where the story will take me… 🙂

🚨 SPOILER ALERT 🚨 CHAPTER 12 🚨



I am LOVING the book so far but I’m a little confused on how Rocky knew to say “Eridian name for…” before Ryland told him our name for his star was Eridani or anything? Maybe I missed where he tells him? Like I said I’m really enjoying the book that just threw me and took me out of the story. Had a hard time getting past it

I’m on page 200, the overwhelming amount of technical details makes me skip pages. It’s taking me too long to read, and I find it slow, but I do like the story so I keep on reading… hope it worth it?!

Marinka wrote: "I’m on page 200, the overwhelming amount of technical details makes me skip pages. It’s taking me too long to read, and I find it slow, but I do like the story so I keep on reading… hope it worth it?!"

It's worth it :)!

Ok!! I’ll keep plugging in! 🙂

Marinka wrote: "I’m on page 200, the overwhelming amount of technical details makes me skip pages. It’s taking me too long to read, and I find it slow, but I do like the story so I keep on reading… hope it worth it?!"

I'll be curious to see what you end up thinking of this one, Marinka. That's how I felt about The Martian. Everyone else seemed to love it and I enjoyed the overall story well enough, but all the technical details were a slog to get through. I chose not to read this one because I didn't want to have to wade through all of that for the story again. It just wasn't worth it for me.

I’ve seen Martian the movie, while I did enjoy it, I don’t think I could read the book. I feel that it would be a tedious read 🤷‍♀️
Same with Stephen King, love the movies but can not read his books 😆

I enjoyed the movie as well. But, the book kept talking about potatoes and how much soil/water was needed to grow so many potatoes in so much time, etc. Even my one line description sounds boring. lol I can deal with a lot of details (even love Stephen King!), but this was just too much math/science for me. It felt like reading a text book. 😴 I prefer when nonfiction reads like fiction, not the other way around.

I loved both The Martian and Hail Mary.
I feel like in both books while the math and science text pages can be a chore, it’s worth pausing to read them, even if you don’t understand a single printed word. I feel as though it calms the books, brings a sense of how slow time must be for both characters. I think it’s highlighted more in The Martian with the diary type headings, but we’re really truly just reading the highlights of their journeys.

The math and science is truly all they have to do. Ryland does at one point make a passing comment about how much time he has, during the final act of the book. Yes, the math and science pages are boring, but I think truly Andy Weir knowingly includes them because they do add something to the book.

I'm sure he includes those passages for a reason, Christopher, and the book are popular so so he's certainly doing something right. For me though, it just detracts from the story. I can understand the math and science. I just don't find it interesting. So, it slogs the whole thing down. It clearly works well for a lot of people and I'm in the minority here, but the style doesn't work for me.

I’m with Kristie on this! While I enjoy science and all it has to offer, the over abundance of mathematical details and descriptions are just too much. Do they contribute to the story, probably, if you are someone who is into complex formulas and equations. To me it doesn’t, but that’s just me. I keep reading for the sake of finding out what happens..
The read is actually easy and enjoyable if you remove all the scientific mambo jumbo.

I have finished this book, finally!
I’m giving 4 stars because the story was fantastic.
I didn’t enjoy the lengthy scientific stuff so once you skip that you should enjoy the rest 🙂

I am 80% through with the book. I just find the science information interesting. Also I have read The Martian and Andy Weir does give out science information in that book too. However the amount of information, both science and math, are not at the level of this book. I have learned from The Martian that this information is important and helps highlight the mistakes of our main character or an issue that will occur.

The math and the science were integral to the story and what he was doing. My main complaint on all of that potato planting stuff was that Weir made a mistake--he should have had his character plant some of the legumes because they are nitrogen fixing which would have helped build the soil, etc. However, that's because I know about legumes and nitrogen fixing from both my biology studies AND gardening, so anyone who knows much about gardening organically should know this.

Marinka wrote: "I have finished this book, finally!
I’m giving 4 stars because the story was fantastic.
I didn’t enjoy the lengthy scientific stuff so once you skip that you should enjoy the rest 🙂"

I agree! The research and story were interesting but there was Too.Much.Science for me.

That's interesting, Annie. I definitely did not catch that. It's always a little strange when you know more about a subject you're reading about than an author might know. This happens a lot to people who read fictional stories in their field of expertise.

I read this book and had mixed feelings. I really enjoy Andy Weir's books, I think he is so creative and imaginative in where he comes up with these ideas. Strangely though my rating wasn't about the book actually, it was more about the narrator for the Audible version (to clarify, I had no objection to how he narrated it!) In my head the character sounded differently and I had trouble reconciling the two - sometimes to the point of distraction. Had I read the book, I would have had no issue.

Totally agree with the movie suggestion - I bet it would be really good (loved both The Martian book and the movie adaptation).

Just finished the book and I loved it! I loved the problem, the solution, the characters.. rocky is my favorite! I laughed and cried with grace and rocky, I felt sad and happy for them at every new adventure or problem they had to deal with. The ending was really beautiful and satisfying to me, it made me tear up.
Even though I couldn’t understand all the science stuff or how the ship worked all the time, it wasn’t a problem to me. It was worth it. I’m glad I read this one :)

Sarah wrote: "I read this book and had mixed feelings. I really enjoy Andy Weir's books, I think he is so creative and imaginative in where he comes up with these ideas. Strangely though my rating wasn't about t..."

It's terrible when the narrator brings a book down. I read this in print and liked it, but not as much as The Martian.

I'm just here to say that I'm halfway through and I've already teared up thrice, and cried once.
(I only ever tear up twice or so with the whole of The Martian, for comparison's sake.)