Discussion: What are your favorite celestial stories?
Yesterday’s solar eclipse was the topic of discussion at workplaces, online, and in news broadcasts. Here in Colorado, we got to about 65% of totality; every 10 or 15 minutes between 11:30am and 1:30pm I popped outside with my glasses to check it out.
I’ve always enjoyed astronomical events and have read plenty of books — both fiction and non-fiction — that are either about or set in space.
A few of my favorites are:
Rocket Men by Robert Kurson
The Pre-Astronauts by Ryan Craig
The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the backdrop of the Great Comet of 1811 in War and Peace; Tolstoy used it to great effect and it has stuck with me
I know this is a bit of a niche topic, but I’m curious if you have any favorite celestial books. Let us know in the comments!
I really enjoyed both The Martian and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. (His second book, Artemis, wasn’t as strong, I thought.)
Oooh, this is very exciting! We're planning an episode about Outer Space for our upcoming Strong Sense of Place podcast season, and I'm on the hunt for great books set in space. I'm excited to see what everyone shares. I think my husband/co-host Dave will be very interested in your nonfiction recommendations, Jeremy!
I have a few novels to share:
The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick - This story is both tender and explosive: There are (actual) ghosts and emotional hauntings, a love story, moving family relationships — set in France, Ireland, and Antarctica. The main characters are a French chef and an Irish scientist on an astronomy mission in Antarctica, waiting for a comet to pass over head. Each chapter is framed by the arrival of a comet at different periods in time. It's very cool and beautiful, and although it's been years since I read it, I think about it from time to time.
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley - I love all of her books (favorites: The Bedlam Stacks [magical realism set in Peru] and The Kingdoms [time travel in an alternate-history Britain]). This one is sci-fi melded with her trademark humor and deeply romantic relationships — it takes the 'fake couple' trope from romance novels and spins into something magically different. A male ballet dancer from Earth is resettled in a colony on Mars and hijinks ensue. The sci-fi bits are smart and interesting, the characters feel real — loved it.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel - Station Eleven is one of my all-time favorites, and this third book from the author is set in the same universe as that book (and her second is The Glass Hotel). You don't need to have read those to enjoy this one, but it's fun to feel the little tickle of 'Hey! I know that character.' I don't always love time travel stories, but I feel like this is a time travel story for people who love them AND people who don't. The setup is tasty: At different points in time (including characters on moon colonies), three different characters experience an unusual *something* — the sound of violins, a whoosh of hydraulics, disorientation. It's mysterious to them and to us, and then the threads start to come together. The descriptions of Vancouver, the colonies, what life might be like on Earth in 2203 are all fantastic. If you want to be transported, this is a good one.
Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton - This is a gorgeous novel about the apocalypse with a 78-year-old antihero Augie in the Arctic and a woman astronaut named Sally on a mission to/from Jupiter. I don't want to give away a *big surpise*, so I'll keep it brief. The chapters alternate between Augie and Sully's experiences, and eventually, their two plot threads connect, delivering thrilling action and quiet, meaningful moments. (You can hear me talk about it here, if you're curious: https://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/2021-09-27-arctic/)