Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton

Jurassic Park is one of the most enjoyable, thrilling, and captivating books I have ever read. It is the perfect blend of fantasy, science fiction, and even a little horror. One thing that the movie failed to capture was how smart Jurassic Park actually is. From the seemingly plausible way of cloning dinosaurs that it presents, to the the complex computer system throughout the park, the book is full of unique ways to present it's science fiction ideas. It even manages to strike the reader with almost as much terror and awe in it's descriptions of the dinosaurs(the only thing it's missing is John Williams magnificent score). While it may be more close in plot to the movie than something like The Shining and it's movie adaptation, the general tone is vastly different, the book being a more serious and scientific thriller while the movie, as great as it is, being more of a summer blockbuster. There is something in this book for everyone, and as such should be read by everyone who likes thrillers and science fiction. 

Verdict: Buy it.

Book's Page Count: 464

My Total Page Count: 2168

Foundation - Isaac Asimov

For this post, I am writing a simple and quick 'should you read' type short review for the first book in the Foundation trilogy. In short, yes, you should read Foundation. It definitely isn't one of my favorite books, but I can see how it's ideas have impacted science fiction as a whole. But I have many of the same gripes with it as I have with Brave New World. In both books, the info-dumping and exposition and is horrible and not exactly entertaining. I will say that I did find Foundation to be more enjoyable because I actually liked some of the characters and story arcs, even though they were only around for small portions of the book. It really is the perfect example of a space odyssey. Everything about the book felt somewhat epic and grandiose, and even if it wasn't exactly thrilling, it is a must read, at least once, for people who want to read some of the greatest and most influential science fiction of all time.
Verdict: Rent it.
Book's Page Count: 296
My Total Page Count: 1704

The Shining - Stephan King

This October I decided to reread my favorite horror novel of all time, The Shining(as well as watch Stanley Kubrick's The Shining several times). At this point both the book and movie have blurred into an incredible duo of how horror storytelling should be done, and because of this, and because of how much I absolutely love both the book and movie, instead of writing a review or a summary like I did with the other books on my blog, I am going to write a short analysis on what is likely one of the most controversial and debated topics about The Shining: are there any supernatural happenings in the Overlook Hotel? For this analysis, I will assume that the book and movie universes, while different in lots of ways, are more or less then same. Perhaps they are different timelines are parallel universes, but whatever they are, I will use evidence from both the book and movie to try to reach a conclusion.

To someone who is satisfied with reading a book or watching a movie once and then moving on with their lives the answer to my question might seem obvious; of course the Overlook is haunted! Topiary comes to life, the characters see ghosts, and Danny communicates using ESP. Some people might say that all of the supernatural parts were just the characters hallucinating, but I think that the real answer lies somewhere in between.

One of the most obvious examples of these supernatural occurrences is the topiary that attacks Jack. It can't simply be written off as Jack hallucinating because Danny is also attacked by them, and when Halloran arrives at the hotel at the end of the book, he is also attacked. This is also true with the wasps that attack Danny from the supposedly empty wasps nest. These examples are particularly curious because many of the ghosts seem throughout The Shining are past events that happened in the hotel that are coming back to life. But unless I missed that part in the Overlook Hotel history session, there was no point in time where topiary came to life and attacked people. This is perhaps the strongest evidence that the hotel really is haunted, and really leaves the option of hallucination out of possibility. The Shining is defiantly a mix of hallucination and memories from the characters past as well as supernatural forces.
Another example of an incident that can't simply be boiled down to cabin fever is when the door to the pantry that Jack was locked in was opened by Delbert Grady. Of course you could argue that the loving Danny didn't want his father to stay locked in the pantry, but even if he did let him out would he have left out a mallet for Jack to attack him and Wendy with?
Now that we have established perhaps the most concrete evidence that the Overlook Hotel is indeed haunted in the book, but what about the movie? Kubrick said that the topiary scene was cut because the special effects wouldn't look good, but that doesn't mean that his completely took the telekinesis out of his film. The film is littered with small details, including Kubrick's use of what might look like continuity errors, but are actually small examples of telekinesis that are meant to play with the audience on a more subconscious level. Of course some of them could have been continuity errors, but Kubrick was a very meticulous filmmaker and The Shining has some pretty glaring set changes like a three story tree that moves around the hotel's exterior at different points in the movie, or the table and chair set that disappears and then reappears behind Jack in the same scene. 

My personal favorite example of this is Ullman's impossible window.

Besides these somewhat obvious examples, there are countless more small examples of lights turning on and off and furniture rearranging itself.
For the scene where Jack is let out of the pantry, there is really no evidence that Danny would want to let his father out because there relationship is much more cold and distant in the movie than in the book. This makes me confident that it was Grady who let Jack out.
Finally the most obvious example of a supernatural presence that is featured prominently in both the book and movie: the shining. Danny is able to communicate with Halloran telepathically in both versions of the story, and really can't be explained by anything but supernatural powers. Of course this isn't a fact and everyone will interpret The Shining in different ways, but i'm convinced that the Overlook Hotel is indeed haunted.
If you are like me and like exploring every little detail, I highly recommend checking out the YouTube channel Collative Learning as it goes into much greater detail on aspects like the moving furniture and was also where I got the pictures used in this analysis.
Book's Page Count: 688
My Total Page Count: 1408

Bioshock: Rapture - John Shirley

I have read quite a lot since last updating, finishing the books that I was reading as well as completing several others. First I finished Brave New World and Bioshock: Rapture. Since I already did a post about Brave New World, I will focus on Bioshock: Rapture in this update.

Let me start this off with a quick summary of what Bioshock is. Bioshock was a 2007 video game created by Ken Levine and Irrational Games. It was gained high appraise by gamers and critics alike, being a smart, fun, and, above all, new take on the First Person Shooter genre. It departed from the regular tedious, gritty, and repetitive FPS genre by being incredibly a stylistic game with compelling stories and charterers that really hooked the player. To this day it is one of my favorite video games of all time, so you can probably imagine how excited I was to read this "prequel" (I say prequel in quotation marks because certain  revelations that are made in the sequel games go against what happens in the book) to the game. And I think I'll just say that I'm kind of happy this book isn't canon in the Bioshock franchise.

The Story: The entire plot can basically be summed up in one sentence: it's a long boring build up to the game. Now granted, a lot of interesting stuff happens in this book that would be enjoyable to read if it weren't thrown together so sloppily. Every plot point is preceded by unnecessary build up, such as calling characters, places, and other things from the game by acronyms (Ace in the Hole=A.I.T.H.) for literally no reason. Also, getting to the next part of the book just feels routine, its a really hollow book. Like I said, plenty of interesting stuff happens in the book, but the execution is done so poorly that it is hard to care. However, I must say that if you don't count to entire Bioshock franchise and stop after the first game, the continuity between the book and the game is well done.

The Characters: I would say that the characters are the highlight of this book. It was interesting to see some of my favorite characters just talk, without constantly worrying about being attacked by a Big Daddy or a splicer like they are in the game. This lets the reader see how characters got to be like they are in the game. Almost every character gets at least some character development. The standouts are Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontaine, the two mysterious antagonists from game. They actually have pretty good character arcs, and the Shirley did a good job of capturing their distinct personalities. The rest of the cast was, understandably, a bit mixed. The characters that were important to the game got development, and the ones who weren't were either used to move the plot along or die a violent death. However I still think that the amount of well written characters outweighs the weaker ones, and were the highlight of the book.

Style: The dialogue, settings, and overall style of Bioshock: Rapture seems to me what a ten year old boy thinks adults talk like. There is also unnecessary cussing and violence, which isn't always a bad thing, but it seems less mature than the video game, and more edgy, which is perhaps my least favorite style in any type of media, written or not. It's really unfortunate, because the original game was the perfect example of a serious yet stylistic game, and the book can't quite replicate it.

Conclusion: People often say that the movie is always better than the book (which I strongly disagree with) but I do think that in this case, the game is better than the book. People say that if you win a bronze medal in the Olympics, you are happier than someone who one silver. I feel like that about this book. It was based off of a great video game and could have been a great book. Parts of it were really good, but in the end it couldn't quite live up to the same level of excellence as the book. I would recommend you to check this book out from a library if you have played Bioshock. Someone who hasn't played the game will likely not have any interest in reading this book, but for die hard fans, it is still somewhat enjoyable.
Final Verdict: Rent it.
Book's Page Count: 432
My Total Page Count: 720