Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake was probably my favorite book that I read during this semester. The concept of the world as we know it ending and starting a new seems so plausible and like it could happen at any moment. The way this book is set up was very intriguing. By starting in the middle of the story and working in back story and leading up to where they started kept it interesting. Throughout the whole book I was kept on the edge of my seat wondering how things got this way. The characters Crake, Jimmy, and Oryx were very dynamic and had so many aspects to relate to that really pulled me into the story. I really felt like I was there with Jimmy experiencing what he was experiencing, tried to work through and understand what is happening and trying to understand how it all relates to his past. I was always looking forward to the passages about his past and his experiences with Oryx and Crake. I loved reading the stories about Oryx's past, and just like Jimmy I wanted to know more about her, understand why she is how she is.
Also there are many great quotes in this novel, such as this one that talks about society, "Human Society, they claimed, was a sort of monster, its main by-products being corpses and rubble. It never learned, it made the same cretinous mistakes over and over, trading short-term gain for long-term pain. It was like a giant slug eating its way relentlessly through all the other bioforms on the planet, grinding up life on earth and shitting it out the backside in the form of pieces of manufactured and soon-to-be-obsolete plastic junk." I found it very interesting because in my business class I was writing a paper about urban development and how it affects the cultures and the environment. This quote seems right on with human society and how we are damaging the world.
I find the different concepts and studies of humans as a whole and the problems with our species to be very interesting this book definitely highlighted many concepts and ideas that I have thought about in the past and presented them in new ways. I have already recommended this book to many of my friends and I intend to read it again when I get a chance.

Snow Crash

I really enjoyed reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, there were so many things to relate to. The whole concept of the metaverse reminds me of current mmorpg's. It seems like it will only be a matter of time before something similar is developed in our own world. We have the power to create it we just need to work out the details. The world is already tied together by the internet, and millions of people have access to it. The only thing we seem to be lacking is making the sensory parts, we have technology that can sense our bodys mostions and apply them in a game, such as with the Wii but it still isn't perfect. I deffinately believe that if a metaverse was created in our world I would join. Yet there are other parts to the story other than the metaverse, yet all of it seems to be tied together. This was one of the things that made the story confusing at first, Stephenson would jump back and forth between the real world and the metaverse and it could be hard sometimes to tell which you were in.
Overall I really enjoyed the characters in the book, especially Y.T. now it may just because I myself am a teenage girl but I found myself wanting to be her. Crusing along on a board down the high way, working with the mafia, meeting the Raven. Y.T.'s skateboard is one of my favorite technologies in the book. You can go anywhere over any terrain as if it is a smooth surface, it is as if it is a part of you as you move, it moves. I cannot wait untill something like this is developed in the real world, I can't actually skateboard but this sounds like something I could manage.

Bable-17

At first when I started reading Bable-17 I was a little skeptical. I was thinking oh great another book where they are going to spend the whole time on a spaceship just drifting through space, but I was pleasantly surprised. Samuel R. Delany brought so much more to the plate than just flying through space.
The first aspect that really sparked my interest were the creatures in the bar. Or, well, humans with cosmetisurgery. I have thought about this concept before so I was thrilled that it was brought up. People have gone beyond just getting simple tattoos, they now are getting horns or tails, or anything else they can imagine being added on to their bodies. I always figured it was a just a matter of time untill this began happening in the real world, and im still waiting. Ill be first in line to get my tail attached....ok maybe not. But the concept seems very plausible and I am glad he decided to include it.
Yet the best part of the book was all of the indepth discussion and theories on language. The theory about language revealing so much about a culture was very interesting. I think it makes perfect sense. They way a group of people speaks dictates the way they think, and if you can learn how a cultures language works, you are indirectly learning how a culture thinks. Such as when Rydra mentioned how some cultures have multiple ways to describe snow where as other cultures may only have one. The more words they have for a certain thing the more important it is in a culture. The whole concept could be taken to many extremes and applied to a variety of things.
Also the other intriguing thing was Rydras ability to "read" people. Sometimes I feel the same way, being able to read what a person is thinking based on their body language and facial expressions. I think that the concept of reading people is very probable. Some people are deffinately better at reading people than others, and the concept that she would have mastered it so well as to form exact sentances seems possible. It is a skill that would be very useful to learn and I am going to start trying to observe and watch people more closely now to try and catch what they are really trying to say, see if I can do it.

The Stars my Destination

As far as sci-fi goes Ive never read a book in the genre. Ive seen a lot of sci-fi movies and TV shows but that was the extent of my knowledge. I enjoy the adventure and the creativity of new worlds but I'm not a big fan of all of the being on a space ship for chapter upon chapter, which thankfully this book didn't have. In the beginning it starts out on a spaceship but he finds a way out pretty fast. The main character Gully Foyle is interesting to say the least. At first he was easy to identify with, the feeling of mediocrity, nothing makes him special or stand out, until he becomes possessed by revenge, and that is when I thought he took a turn for the worse. I honestly didn't like the character that much, it was interesting to follow his struggle but I didn't like him as a person in the least bit. For me to really enjoy a book or novel I need to be able to relate to a major character in the book and that's what I thought this book lacked.
Yet I really enjoyed the concept of Jaunting. It reminded me of apparating in Harry Potter. Yet all of the government regulations and rules and defenses they had to make for this new mode of transportation were very intriguing. I loved how much detail Bester went into about all of the ins and outs of jaunting. Especially all of the new defenses people had to put up against it such as labyrinths and having only certain spots they can jaunt to, in the governments attempts to regulate it. Also the concept that they can only jaunt certain distances made it interesting, its not just like you can poof anywhere in the world, you have to make jumps.
I feel like the concept of all of the new rules and regulations is a lot of what sci-fi is based upon. It is just an exaggeration of our own governments and what we could turn into.

Anansi Boys

Before now I had never read anything by Neil Gaiman, I was familiar with some of his stories and movies such as Coraline, and I was curious to see what all the hype was about. After reading Anansi Boys I was sold, Neil Gaiman is well...pretty amazing. His stories have a different approach than most. Its hard to place what exactly it is that gives him his flair, but it works. He creates these new worlds that are, on the surface the same as ours, but once you really dive in you realize there is so much more. The way he presents the concepts make them see completely plausible and they could really be going on in our world and we just never noticed. The characters are very dynamic and each have their own set of distinct characteristics that make them special, well all except for Fat Charlie, or at least that's what he thinks. He comes off as a very average guy but he transforms into more than he ever thought he could be. He had the qualities all along he just never realized it.
What was also interesting about the characters is that they are black. Which I didn't realize until it was mentioned in class and I was already 3/4th's of the way through the book. I probably would of gone the whole book thinking they were white if someone hadn't told me. It was very interesting how Gaiman never mentions it. Once you find out, it fits and makes sense, but its hard to realize on your own. In most books the characters are white unless you are told otherwise, and so apparently I assume that in all books the characters are white. Especially since they lived in the UK it seemed to make sense.
But on another note I enjoyed Gaiman's God concept, and how they rooted from African stories. The concept of all of the gods as animals is very interesting and gives them unique qualities. I enjoyed how every god possessed the qualities that makes their animal unique, the strengths and the weaknesses. After reading this I realized that I will have to read the book "American Gods" by Gaiman as well to see how he expands on the concept. It is a unique way of viewing gods that I don't hear about very often.

Lyra, Lyra, Lyra....

This week I read the "Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman, the second book in the His Dark Materials series. I had read the first book "The Golden Compass" a little while back and I didn't enjoy it that much, I couldn't really put my finger on why I didn't like it but the second book was definitely an improvement.
I think what really bothered me about the first book was Lyra, something about her character just really bugged me. I never really enjoyed her, she just kinda got on my nerves, and there wasn't another character that I enjoyed either to make up for it. But in "The Subtle Knife" we are introduced to a few new characters and a few new worlds, that really helped to mix up the story. Will is from a world that is quite similar to our own world. Will quickly became my favorite character, he kept Lyra under control and wouldn't stand for any of her craziness, and he himself was very dynamic. Having to become very mature at a young age to take care of his mother, Will is no ordinary kid. I was very sad to see his father die after all of his searching throughout the story. I can understand why the author did it but I really enjoyed the character of Dr.Grumman or Parry or whatever his name is. He had the wise old shaman feel to him, of a man who knows far more than the average person about the world in which we live.
Also in "The Subtle Knife" the concept of other worlds that was just introduce in "The Golden Compass" is greatly expanded upon. We come into a world similar to our own, and the world of Cittagaze. The concept of the spectors was quite interesting, how they only feat upon the adults. I loved how that tied into the other aspects of dust that are explored and how it only settles on older people, which would explain why they only "eat" adults.
The book ended on a major cliffhanger which is frustrating because I have to move on to a different series and I really want to continue reading to see what happens. Roger finally realizes what he must do and then Lyra up and disappears. I have a strong feeling her disappearance has something to do with Mrs.Coulter but I suppose I will have to wait to find out. I really enjoyed this book much for than the first in the series and I can't wait to start reading the final book of the series "The Amber Spyglass".

Smoking pipes and furry feet

As a big fan of the Lord of the Rings movies I was very excited to read the hobbit. I had attempted in the past to try and read the Lord of the Rings trilogy but I couldn't get into it. There was a lot of walking and talking...and it didn't move fast enough for me. This book had a bit of that but the characters and great environmental descriptions kept me reading. I love fantasy novels, they are the books that I have loved all my life. Starting with simple fairy tales about princesses to stories of epic quests and massive battles.
The hobbit incorporated some of my favorite elements of fantasy stories. Such as the wise old wizard or sorcerer , Gandalf in The Hobbit, these dynamic characters are always my favorite. They posses such a feeling of mystery and power, and all of the other characters put a strong amount of trust in the wizard. He has a great knowledge that everyone assumes he posseses much more information than themselves on matters and tend to go along with what he says. They are often the character who sends the main character on his journey or adventure. Gandalf sets Bilbo on his adventure with the dwarves, he also later on in Lord of the Rings sends Frodo on his quest to destory the ring. In other books such as Harry Potter, the wise old wizard, Dumbledore, is encouraging Harry in his adventures and before his death leaves Harry his finally quest to destory the horcruxes. Characters such as Harry, Frodo, and Bilbo set off on these adventures that are much larger than themselves but due to the large amount of trust they have in the wizard they overcome all obstacles to complete the quest.
I also loved all of the different fantasy creatures that were incorporated into The Hobbit. Dwarves, wizards, goblins, hobbits, elves, and the list goes on. Tolkein created a completley different world than our own and completley immersed the reader in it. Which is one of my favorite aspects of fantasy and reading. It gives you a world to escape to when you need a break from your own. A good book in my mind can do that, help you escape from everything that is going on and run away into the book. And The Hobbit does that, you run away with Bilbo Baggins on his amazing adventure with the dwarves.

Fantasy Response

Mythical creatures
Talking animals
Adventure/quest
Hero/warrior
Fantasy world, forest
Gatekeeper
Treasure
Battle, conflict
Destiny, purpose
Magical elements
Traditions
Hero learns from adventure
Emphasis on the elements (ice crystals)
Humor, satire
Details about environment, setting the scene

-Deanna and Robert

Now I can't stop thinking about sheep...

When I first looked at "A Wild Sheep Chase" I was a bit skeptical. For one it was theoretically in the horror category, and I am not a big fan of scary books. But once I got to reading it I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't scary, and it somehow managed to hold my attention. The book more had the tone of a mystery, adventure book. I kept wondering when they would actually get to the point of the story. I had always wondered in the past why authors don't ever say when the character takes a shower or eats or goes to the bathroom, I guess we assume they do that but why not put it in? After reading this book I found out why no one puts it in, NO ONE CARES! Honestly I feel so much of this story is wasted and dragged on by silly things the author doesn't really need to be explaining. Such as the character drinking a beer then eating peanuts, then ordering another beer, getting the beer and more peanuts, drinking the beer and eating all the peanuts, and repeating this silly cycle. It happens a lot in the book and I found it really just slowed things down and dragged them out more than necessary. At first the book was kinda confusing, it jumped around a bit much. It would go from real life, to flashbacks, to letters, to who knows where, chapter after chapter. But after awhile it settled down and I had a pretty clear idea of what was going on. There were a lot of interesting characters in the book and I thought they were all pretty well developed. The main character was a little odd and despite being in his head I never really understood him. The chauffeur was probably my favorite character he threw in a bit of comic relief and a different twist on the book. Once I got to the end of the book when things started pick up I was just so anxious for something big to happen but there never really was to big of a ta da. I guess it was more of a mental weird twist. I think I would have to reread the book again to fully grasp some of the concepts that are going on. It is definitely an interesting read and something that I wouldn't have normally picked out for myself but I am glad I read it and it will be a book that I will read again in the future.

Mmmm Vampires

So I'm sad to admit I'm one of those crazy kids that has gotten into the vampire fad. Watching "True Blood", reading the Twilight series, I got sucked in. So when I found out we were going to read "Interview with a Vampire" I was very excited. I had tried to read it about 5 years ago but I couldn't get into it, Anne Rice has a different way of writing than I'm used to reading. But this time around I was determined to finish it. I stumbled across the same issue as the first time reading it, Anne Rices writing style. She writes things in a style that's very different than what I usually prefer. It is solely based on conversation, and there is lots of back and forth creating almost a rhythm. But once I got past that, I found it to have a great story and well developed characters. Claudia was one of those most interesting characters of the book, I was always curious to see how she would change while not changing at all. I think that is the most intriguing thing about vampires, even though you don't see any physical changes taking place on their bodies, mentally and emotionally they are always changing. They attain so much knowledge of the world and of people, which helps some of the oldest vampires to have great wisdom. But back to Claudia, in her unique situation not only is she attaining more knowledge but she is also maturing. Its almost impossible to wrap your head around the idea of forever being trapped in the body of a 5 year old. The concept of child vampires or young vampires seems to occur in other vampire stories as well. Such as in Twilight in the last book of the series the main character gives birth to a half vampire, half human child. But I digress, The other character I really enjoyed was Armand. The old, wise characters are usually one of my favorites in any type of book or movies, such as Gandalf, Dumbledore...etc. So I was immediately drawn to Armand since he is one of the oldest vampires, the oldest one we meet in the book. I wish I could have seen his relationship with Louis develop more and I feel it could have turned out very different if it wasn't for the destruction of Claudia and Madeline. I am also glad that this book stayed with just vampires, many books or series that start out about vampires start branching into other mythical creatures, such as werewolves or shape shifters. It was nice to see a book that stuck to just vampires, I'm curious to see if they can maintain that in the other books in the series. After reading this book I definitely want to start reading the other books in the series. And hearing that her writing only gets better I'm feeling very optimistic about them. I am very curious to see how the characters continue to develop.

Pride and Predjudice and Zombies

I must say this book is definitely in my last of favorite books. While I was reading it I couldn't stop talking about it to my friends and family, informing anyone who would listen that they should read it. Before I read it I had seen the Hollywood version of Pride and Prejudice with Kiera Knightly and had quite enjoyed it, so I had pretty high expectations of the book. The concept of adding zombies into such a classic seemed a bit odd to me and I was skeptical,but after reading a few chapters all my worries went away. The two fit together hand in hand as if it were originally intended to be written this way. The two authors blended almost seamlessly together taking an old world and transforming it into something new. Only a few times did I find myself thinking or noticing something that seemed out of place.
As for the characters themselves I found myself in love with the main character Elizabeth and was cheering for her and Mr.Darcy all throughout the book. A few of Elizabeth's sisters really peeved me but I suppose that was their purpose. The major problem I had with them was the long drawn out search for Lydia. The whole situation was a bit silly with the cover up marriage and all of the issues with Wickham. But lets just say im glad he got what was coming to him. A few of the characters I think were altered in ways that made them less appealing to me such as Mr.Bennet, he used to come off more as an intelligent man with little patience for his wife, but in this novel he was just a silly man obsessed with his daughters training and had little patience for his wife. Yet I did like the change in Lady Catherine, making her into a world renown zombie killer with a big ego was a marvellous addition to her character as a whole, and I think the fight made her confrontation with Lizzy in the end much more enjoyable.
As far as zombies and fighting goes, in not so into the first. I suppose im alright with them and the whole concept I just never really understood what the big deal was with them. I think it definitely added an interesting dynamic to the book though. I loved the idea of all the girls being fighters. Especially because usually it is the men that do the fighting. It also made the book a bit more guy friendly. I love when romance and normal day things from our world are tied in to things from others worlds, things from fantasy and monsters.
Overall I really enjoyed the book, and will probably reread it in the future...once I make all my friends read it first.

Response to Zombie Question

I never have really understood what made zombies so popular. Im not really in the bandwagon on that one. They seem to just represent the people that wander around mindless and souless in their human bodies. Also they are there supporting the threat of a terribly disease that could possibly overtake our world at some point. It almost seems like it could actually happen at some point. A terrible disease that causes bodies to reanimate or to destroy you, causing you to become one of them. They are also a creature that one doesn't feel to strongly toward and can be used in humorous slaughter. Such as in Pride and Prejudice or in many other zombie movies or books such as Shaun of the Dead, my favorite zombie movie.

Frankenstein...huh?

Well to start off Ive been familiar with the story of Frankenstein just as many people are. Ive seen many a movie variation or other spoof. So when I started off reading and it started with the letters I was thrown off and found myself wondering "What does this have to do with Frankenstein?". But I read on and got into the main story, finding myself once again slightly confused. (Now it may seem as if I'm just a very confused person but usually I'm a bit quicker to catch on) the story within a story, within a story threw me off a tad, but once I caught on to the rhythm and style of the story I started to get moving. When it comes to older books I'm always a bit speculative, the old style of english and writing tends to slow me down and doesn't help out my overall reading experience. Trying to get past that though I once again kept reading on, I found the characters to be quite dynamic, especially Dr.Frankenstein himself.
I loved the part where he arrived at school just to find out that he had been reading all the wrong books. Finding myself relating to this silly situation that I have had a similar experience. Thinking one moment that you are a hotshot ahead of the game only to find out what you have been doing has no real application. I continued on, overall I was enjoying the book but tripping up at least once a chapter finding myself confused about whats going on or which character is talking or who Frankenstein is talking to. My overall opinion of the book is that it has a great story, with some great sections that sparked my emotions, whether having a quick giggle or finding myself sympathizing with the characters. But the style of writing and just the way the story was presented was often leaving me confused, which ruined the overall reading experience for me. It isn't a book I would recommend to just anyone, if you aren't used to the style of writting you will find yourself having to go back and reread many a time, which often leads to frustration and ruining your desire to read on. Later on I would like to try and reread the book and hopefully catch on to the things I missed and have a better overall understand of the book.