I know that I said I would read "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" next... I am reading it, I promise. Let me tell you a brief little story first. 

I got a Kindle for my birthday, and I have previously mentioned my slight addiction to the device... well, nothing has changed. I love my Kindle. Addiction is the proper word. So, I have all these books on my Kindle and I wanted to read one. I chose a short one so I could justify finishing a book in a day or two before jumping back into P&P&Z. I remember when "Ur" came out, it was released only for the Kindle... and it was by Stephen King. Of course I had to check it out. 

Let me tell you a little bit about this book without giving too much away:
The idea is that an English professor gets called out for being behind the times and still loving books (with good reason! Books rock... but so does the Kindle). So, he buys a Kindle and, before they had different color Kindles, receives a pink one in the mail. There is a special setting in the Kindle that allows him to read books written by authors in parallel dimensions. So, in our little dimension, Ernest Hemingway died in 1961. In a different Ur, he may have died in 1964. During those extra years, he wrote other books. The English professor, Wesley, now has access to all the books that could have been written. Ur Local, Wesley discovers, allows him to read his local newspaper... but only future editions. Of course there are Paradox Laws that have to be followed. I mean, there are laws for everything these days. I will let you read this for yourself to find out what happens.

Now, let me tell you what I liked about this book:

• Stephen King just has the most original way with words. Each time I read one of his books, I am pleasantly surprised. 
• I love how he ties in things from his other books. Does he have a book that doesn't reference another in some way? I really don't know. I would have to read them all twice to make an educated guess. 
• It was short and fairly direct but still engaging.
• Speaking of the way he writes, I loved this sentence so much: "They moved to the door, the hems of their coats making loathsome liquid chuckling sounds." So awesome. 

What I didn't like about this book:

• It was a shameless advertisement for the Kindle. 
• There was one part in particular where he basically writes a mini instruction manual for the Kindle. 
• I feel that the Kindle plugging was just so ridiculous that it should be mentioned twice. I brushed it off as amusing, but I can see how it would get annoying fast. 

 So, those are my thoughts. I really enjoyed this book and was reminded how much I love Stephen King. I would recommend reading it if you have a Kindle because I don't think you can get it elsewhere. 

I recently gained access to a Kindle. I have been very anti-kindle in the past because I just love books so much. I will review the Kindle in a following post, but let me just sum up my thoughts on the kindle in one word: Addiction. I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I am totally addicted. There were 53 books on the Kindle that I managed to get my hands on, and I chose a book that interested me, that I had read before, and that I knew I enjoyed. If you haven’t figured it out by the title of this post, it’s “The Lost World” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. You may know Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for his Sherlock Holmes stories, but let me tell you, “The Lost World” is definitely worth the read.

I had remembered the basic concept from when I had previously read it, but had forgotten a good portion of it. Honestly, the last time I read it was in middle school. As I normally do with books I read, I’m going to tell you what I liked about it and what I didn’t like about it. Before I lose you, I’m going to sum up the story:

This is an epistolary story (where the story is told in the form of letters… a.k.a. epistles). A fickle woman says she wants to marry a man of adventure, so our main character, Malone, a writer for a newspaper, decides he is going to become a man of adventure. He encounters Professor Challenger, gets a black eye, and volunteers to go to South America with Challenger in search of pterodactyls. Along for the ride are two others: an outdoorsy hunter type named Jon Roxton and a professor, Summerlee, who wants to prove Challenger a fool. Off they go into the Amazon. Let me be brief: anthropoid apes, betrayal, dinosaurs, poison darts, volcano, dinosaurs, no escape, prisoners, marshes, dinosaurs etc. They return to London with an insane sounding story. I won’t tell you the end though, because I like it a lot and I want you to read it.

Now, onto the things I liked and disliked. Let’s start with the positive.

What I liked about “The Lost World”:

• Dinosaurs
  
• I love the camaraderie between the four men who go adventuring. 
• I love Gladys’ choice at the end
• I love Challenger and his wife
• Dinosaurs
• When things happened in this book, I was all attention. I may not know much about the iguanadon, but by George, I was enthralled!
• I’m fascinated by what the people of the early 1900’s thought about this book. Did they think it was real? I mean… is it real?
• It’s interesting to see how ideas and perceptions have changed since this book came out. A good anthropological study.
• Did I mention dinosaurs?

What I disliked about “The Lost World”:

• Everybody seemed so optimistic all the time. Just once, I wanted someone to have a total breakdown. There were some definite points that came close, but they just did not quite get there. 
• Anthropoid apes. It’s not that I have a problem with them from a literary point of view, I just don’t like them. Then again, you’re not supposed to like them. To quote an awesome movie, “Get your stinking paws off me, you damned, dirty ape!” [Planet of the Apes, 1968]
• The story took a little longer to start than I wanted it to. 
• There was no sequel, though the ending totally sets it up for one.

Before I become too long winded, I can safely say that the good of this book clearly outweighs the bad. I love the way SACD writes, and would recommend any of his books to you. Like a good mystery? Check out Sherlock Holmes. Like dinosaurs? Welcome to the club… and read “The Lost World”.

I saw a list for some awesome sci-fi and fantasy movies coming out this summer. The more recently released ones I am working through… ones like “Thor” and “Priest”. Since I mentioned Thor yesterday, let me tell you about “Priest”. It was released yesterday, Friday the 13th. Now, I love Paul Bettany and was really looking forward to this movie knowing that it would be questionable at best. I mean, the previews hinted at a Matrix+Blade combo. Definitely a “must-see”... 

Let me just say that I rather enjoyed this movie and this is why: 

The movie turned into a great drinking game idea. Each time the movie strongly reminded me of another movie, I drink. Which movies was I reminded of? Let me tell you. (I love lists)

Lord of the Rings – Brad Dourif + Karl Urban + a cave troll = unmistakable connections

Batman Begins – Bats and batmobiles

V for Vendetta – There were orchestrated explosions and Karl Urban might as well have been V. The society and structure of government is also similar. 

Pitch Black – Might actually be the same movie only some people can survive the sun. 

Pirates of the Caribbean – The scene where Elizabeth is captured by Captain Barbosa and treated to a feast. That scene was almost exactly duplicated. Lucy even takes and conceals the knife from the table. 

I Am Legend – The vampires look quite similar. Similar concepts too, an infection like a disease.

Wild Wild West – This definitely might be considered a modern day sci-fi western.  

Planet of the Apes – Turns out this movie is totally futuristic with all our cities destroyed, so this is like a post apocalyptic world only instead of apes, there are vampires.

The Book of Eli – There must be a trend with movies with a strong religious connotation. Both of these movies are post-apocalyptic. 

Aliens – …except take the aliens and make them vampires and instead of another planet, make it the future. 

Underworld – Actually, this might be a sequel… a super futuristic sequel where the lycans are dead. 

Let me just be clear, I really enjoyed all the movies I just listed so this was like a mediocre version of the combination of them all. It was entertaining and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again… but not in theaters. 

I wish they had further explored the sacrifice required of Paul Bettany’s character to become a Priest as well as what it took to become a Priest. Maybe if they had spent less time wandering around caves and more time exploring the story the move itself would have done better. Also, it was a little presumptuous to leave it wide open for a sequel assuming it would rock the box office.