Current Reading Update: Mid-July
I had planned to post this before the Movies Watched Update as it helps that one make more sense, but apparently I forgot that part of the plan. Here are my books read since my last update, though!
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 – Another preview of the “books and movies I analyzed in class and will be blogging about later”. Though short, I really enjoyed this book and its pacing is definitely ahead of its time. The only difference between this book and a modern one is that if it were published in the modern day it would be twice as long. This is a pretty functional novella and while I wouldn’t mind expanding on some of the ideas, it doesn’t need it, either.
Pierre Boulle’s Planet of the Apes – My first “full” experience with this story (I had only seen parts of the movies before this). The novel is a fascinating story that examines animal cruelty, bestiality, ableism, dehumanization, and a few other interesting topics that forces you to think about them without spoon- feeding you a solution.
Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park – I’d watched the movie before, but this is definitely the first time I’ve read the book. This is another one where the novel is really dense and covers a lot of ideas. At first I thought it was going for a “Seven Deadly Sins” vibe, but who lived and who died didn’t really match up with that. It’s definitely some very interesting science.
Update on Neil Gaiman’s American Gods – I’m not into this as much as I thought I would be. In all honesty I think it was over-hyped; a lot of people talk about this as being the best thing ever. In reality, it is filled with really interesting concepts, but at the moment I’m at the point where I’m wondering if the current narrator is going to be killed and a more interesting character that’s been introduced is going to take over as the protagonist. I’m currently wondering what’s Shadow’s motivation, seeing as how even he doesn’t seem to know. I actually anticipate the TV show being an improvement on this, but I’ve been advised multiple times to finish the book first. If I haven’t finished the book by the end of August, though, I’m going to start the show.
Insomniatic 