Warm Bodies

I am addicted to reading end-of-the-world tales.  The idea that this greedy world we live in no longer exists due to an all-governing power, plague or natural disaster is thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

In Warm Bodies, a combination of natural disaster and epidemic plague have destroyed the world.  Now the majority of inhabitants are zombies.  The small number of human survivors live in abandoned sports arenas of large, desolate cities.

This particular tale is told from the point of view of a zombie named "R."  He meets Julie when he kills and eats her boyfriend.  Suddenly R's life is turned upside down.  He starts seeing his victims memories and somehow starts feeling his emotions.  R decides to spare Julie and takes her back to his zombie home.

Yes, the book perpetuates the stereotype of mindless, grunting zombies in search of human brain, but at the same time, the author goes to prove that maybe there is much more to zombies than meets the eye.  I actually started to sympathize with these zombies and their personal battles with the state of world in which they "live."

This book is much more meaningful and poetic than you would accept a zombie tale to be.  It's not about gore, horror and eating brains.  It's about human love and emotion and how precious those things are when everything around you is falling apart.  The zombie R becomes a lovable creature as the story progresses and you find yourself rooting for him.  What does that say about humanity?  In every zombie there is a trace of human emotion and perhaps in every human there is a mindless grunt and blank stare.

The Host

I didn't know what to expect from the author of Twilight, but this looked like it had potential since it claimed to be a dystopian novel, one of my favorite genres. 

In the end, I loved, loved, loved this book!  It is so much better than the Twilight series!  It's kinda sad, really, that all the Stephanie Meyer hype is over that famous vampire trilogy, when this one is by far more superior.  The Host was published in 2008, but is virtually unknown of by the masses.  The only reason I found out about it was by googling Stephanie Meyer and coming across a list of her publications.  Meyer's writing style is much more mature and easier to read in The Host.  Instead of making me want to gag with her romantic love triangles, Meyer portrays the relationships in The Host with true emotion and sentiment. 

As with all dystopian novels, this one opens with a bleak look at the destruction of human life as we know it on planet earth.  In this case, alien life forms from the planet Origin take over earth by inserting themselves into human bodies, or "hosts."  Their intention is to take over the world by doing away with the violence of humans and instead live in happiness.  They are kind aliens and only wish to bring peace to planet Earth.  However, to do so, they must eliminate all humans and use their bodies to survive.

As sci-fi as this sounds, it's actually sweet story of human kindness and how much we are willing to sacrifice for the ones we love. Wanderer is the alien soul that inhabits the body of a Melanie.  Wanderer discovers that the former human inside of her is somehow still alive.  The former Melanie's brain still functions as a separate entity from that of the alien Wanderer.   As Wanderer relives Melanie's memory and starts to actually communicate with her, she realizes there could be a glitch in the system, not to mention the possibility that there could be humans that actually exist free of alien soul inhabitants.  Following Melanie's instructions inside her head, Wanderer starts on an adventure into the unknown in search of human life.  She does not have the intention of killing them or taking over their bodies.  In fact, she doesn't even really know why she's so interested in the human thoughts in her head or why she's actually listening to them.


I don't want to give away too much, so I recommend you read this book as soon as you can.  It's a fun read!  I felt connected to the characters in that way where you don't ever want the book to end.  I want to get into my on Monday to drive to work and still hear the story of Wanderer and Melanie! 

This should have been made into the trilogy that made Stephanie Meyer famous.  As unrealistic as it is, that character development made it much more believable than Twilight. 

The End of Harry

I just finished the Harry Potter books.

It was a great journey.  Once I started in August of 2011, I couldn't put them down.  Yes, there was about a six week break between when I finished book one and started the rest of them, but after that it was non-stop.  In the span of four months, I covered the seven exciting years of Harry Potter and his dear friends Hermione and Ron. 

I loved the relationship between the three young characters.  They showed so much loyalty to each other, it made me cry in every book.  They were all just so sweet and lovable, I want to be best friends with them too.  One of my friends who actually read the books when they came out, commented that everyone should have Harry in their life.  I agree.

Movie: Water for Elephants

This movie made absolutely no sense to me.  I've even read the book and was still totally confused throughout the whole thing!  For one, the storyline was very loosely based on the novel and speaking of the storyline -- it was so jumbled and disjointed I was left scratching my head as to what just happened.  And I'm sorry to say, but Rob Pat and Reese had zero chemistry.  I didn't feel the love; Not to mention the anger or any other human emotion.

I was so bored with this movie, I paused and started it three times over three days.  It was like a drag trying to get through it.  Usually with movies (or books) like that I just give up and stop wasting my time.  However, I was intrigued enough with how hot Rob Pat looked as not a vampire, and I loved Reese's 1930's costumes.  As for any other character, they weren't even developed enough for me to remember who they were or what their role was in the story.  I liked Rosie the Elephant too.  I mean, who wouldn't?  She was great. 

I'm not surprised this movie was so bad.  I never expect much from books-turned-into-movies, so I wasn't even really disappointed.  The one thing that bothers me about situations like this though is that I wish the movie people would at least try to stick to the actual book's storyline as much as possible.  I mean, come on!  It's already there!  The script is already written!  How difficult is that?

Looking back at the year

2011 was a good year for reading.  I joined a book club and read a ton of books for that and on my own.  It also helps that I have a bit of a commute every day and am able to "read" a lot of books by their audio versions. 

I have described on this blog many of the books I've read this year, but as it turns into 2012 I want to emphasize the favorite books I read in 2011:

(In no particular order.)

1.  Madame Bovary
There is something so thrilling and scandalous about this book that it was like one of those guilty pleasure harlequin romance novels you can't stop reading, but way better.

2.  The Hunger Games Trilogy
By far, this is my favorite series of books EVER.  As in, they beat all decades worth of favorite books.  I'm going to read them again in 2012 and probably every year following.

3.  Water for Elephants
I love period pieces and this depression-era circus tale delivered.

4.  The Help
The four women who read this audio version made the story come alive.  I was truly touched by this book, and many times it made me cry.  I love love love this book.  It's up there in the all time favorite books EVER category.

5.  The Harry Potter Series
I mean, what can I say about Harry Potter?  After more than a decade of his popularity I finally partook in the mania.  Once I started with the first one, all thoughts of reading other books went away.

6.  Gone with the Wind
Okay, I know I said Hunger Games is the favorite book EVER, EVER.  But here's another one for that category.  I made it a mission to read this gigantic novel in 35 days or less, and it wasn't difficult to accomplish that.  Loved this book.

7.  Honolulu
I'm fascinated with historical novels about different cultures.  This was a great book.

8.  Racing in the Rain
I am not a dog person.  In fact, I strongly dislike dogs.  That being said, I really liked this book even though it was narrated by a dog and was all about this dogs relationship with his owner!  It was very creative and well-told.

9.  The Paris Wife
I loved reading about one of my favorite 20th century American authors, Hemingway, and the beginning of his writing career.

10.  Mini Shopaholic
Okay, this one is not part of some great literary fame, but the Shopaholic series has definitely been one of my guilty pleasures for the past ten years and I will always love Becky Bloomwood and her antics. 

I'm looking forward to what 2012 brings for my reading library.  I have a stack of books on my bedside table just itching to be devoured, and I can't wait! 

The Gone With the Wind Project: Part 3

Done!  In exactly thirty days. 

I was so carried away with this book, I just couldn't find time to write about my progress as I was reading.  Every spare moment I've had over the last month I've read this book.  The story of Scarlett and the fall of Atlanta during the Civil War captured me like no other book has done.  I really don't know how to describe this book other than a blissful sigh and a "wow."   Gone With the Wind is a beautiful masterpiece of American literature.  After all Scarlett goes through, you know in the end she will somehow always get what she wants, and therefore hope is not lost.

Here are some of my notes and underlined quotes from my reading:

Day 9:
The war is ravaging Georgia now and getting closer to Atlanta where Scarlett lives with her sister-in-law and Aunt.  I actually sympathize with her when she runs away from the hospital during her lunch break.  As self-centered as she may be, she does seem to see through the lies and stories about how great this war is.  This is giving me a new perspective on the Civil War.  I never really studied up on anything about the Southerner's perspective of the war.  I didn't realize how proud they were and how much they hated "the Yankees."

Day 16:
I have such torn feelings about Scarlett.  I don't know whether to hate her her because she's so selfish and self-centered or commend her for being so strong and brave while trying to save and rebuild her family plantation.  I wish she would just see how perfectly matched she is with Rhett Butler, who is also self-centered and arrogant, and stop getting mad and yelling at him.  It's an interesting twist that she rushed into another marriage of convenience to Frank Kennedy and I can't wait to see how that is most certainly going to fall apart. 

Page 200: 
"It has been hard on Scarlett, not going anywhere.  She's just a baby....There, Scarlett, don't you fret.  People won't talk when they understand.  We know you loved Charlie."
 This is when I first realize how loving, and kind, and unselfish Melanie is.  Even when Scarlett is being horrible and wanting to go out to parties instead of mourning her dead husband for the appropriate amount of time, Melanie defends her.  I don't understand where Melanie's strength and undying love for Scarlett came from.  Throughout the whole book, Scarlett was so awful to Melanie!  Yet, Melanie stuck by her side even through Scarlett's many scandals.

Page 380:
"Was Tara still standing?  OR was Tara also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia?"

Page 959:
"I'll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara.  I can stand it then.  Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back.  After all, tomorrow is another day."

I think that's all I can say right now.  I love this book and I don't know why I waited so long to read to it.  I practically want to start right from the beginnging and read it all over again!

The Gone With the Wind Project: Part 2

Important!:  I have never read this book or watched the movie.  I don't know anything about what happens in this story, so please don't spill the beans! 

Day 1:  32 pages
Day 2:  37 pages

Wow, I am really right on track with this project!

Day 3:  18 pages
I have to admit I'm not really in the mood for reading right now, but I'll try to get through a few pages before The Husband gets home and I start dinner.  I do really like this book so far.  Starting chapter 5!

(Page 77)  The lingo of Mammy and the other slaves slows up my reading.  I can hardly figure out what they're saying that I have to actually mouth it out loud to myself.

(Page 83)  Scarlett is a poor deluded girl with her crazy ideas about eloping with Ashley tonight!  I can't believe it.

Day 4:  19 pages

Day 5:  36 pages
I'm already way behind in my reading, but it's hard to get even thirty pages in on a weekend.  I know that might sound backwards, but I actually have more time to read during the week.  Anyway, so far I love this book.  The characters are easily relatable and the descriptions are beautiful.  I love this time period and love reading about thel lives of people who lived during that time.  Scarlett is quite humorous in the way that she lets her imagination about Ashley Vilkes carry her away.  It seems that teenagers have not changed since 1861.

Day 6:  7 pages  (EEKS!)

Day 7:  3 pages!
 I ordered my own copy of Gone With the Wind from Amazon and it arrived today!  Yay!  The page numbering is all off, so I have to re-do my personal reading chart.  According to the this new book, I should be up to page 241.  I'm only at page 166.  Yikes; way behind.   This is truly sad.  I know I shouldn't, but I'm counting on my many hours on a plane tomorrow to catch up.

I can't believe Scarlett was so stupid to rush into marrying Charles just to get back at Ashley and all the gossiping girls.  I mean, didn't she think things through for one second?  Now she's moping around and hates her life because she's not only married to a man she despises but is a sixteen year old WIDOW?  Sorry, but it's kinda her fault so I have no sympathy for her.  It seriously sounds like a miserable, hopeless situation.

Day 8:  91 pages
So I was able to catch up, but I'm still not where I should be.  Sigh.  I could have probably read a lot more on the plane, but my eyes get so dry on planes and it's hard to read for long periods of time without having to take time to rest and doze off once in awhile.  I should be at page 272 and I'm still only at page 258.

Things are starting to get very interesting with our dear Scarlett O'Hara.  She is causing quite the scandal in Atlanta by breaking the rules of mourning and starting to flirt with boys again.  I don't really agree with her actions since the custom at that time was to mourn the loss of your husband for several years, but I'm also glad that Rhett convinced her to not care what everyone else thinks and to start thinking for herself.  Is she ahead of her time?  A feminist in her own right?  I'm not sure about that because she still is very selfish, spoiled and immature.  Melanie is far too kind to Scarlett.  I actually want to cry because Melanie is so loving and unselfish and giving towards others.  Even when the rest of the town refuses to receive Rhett Butler, Melanie continues to take him and show him kindness and respect!  She is the complete opposite of Scarlett O'Hara and I love her.  Scarlett just needs to give up her ridiculous ideas of Ashley Wilkes and move on with her life already.