(no subject)
I have taken to reading, more so lately than I have in a long, long time. So, I decided, hey, if I'm going to be reading all these books, why not write about them? You know, little book reviews and such? It sounds like a good idea to me.
I've read plenty of books in the past, and I hope to try and remember them so that I can review them, so for now, I'll just work on my current books, what I've read, etc. In another post, I'm going to do a 'sticky' and a list of all the books I've read so that you don't have to leaf through my posts to find what you want. I'm also going to leave these public, as I like to share my reviews of books with the world. A good thing should not be kept a secret, and you should not have to wander into a bad thing on your own without forewarning. Or something educated sounding.
This post, in particular, is to not only make an announcement, but also to recommend me some books. To be honest, I tend to be picky about what genre I read, and lately I have been soaking up Clive Cussler's books. I've also taken a fondness for Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I enjoy reading certain classics, and I've been known to re-read books. So, suggest away.
And yes I've read three of the four Twilight books. No, I will not read the fourth, and no, I probably will not be writing a review for them. I don't think you guys would want to hear what I have to say about them, and I want my reviews to remain positive and as helpful as they can be. I will also be writing a review for movies that are based off of books, as I already have a few in mind.
That being said, I should probably get on with my reviews, which will be under a cut, in case you don't want to be spoiled. I will more than likely talk, in detail, about these books.
Sahara is pure genius. Clive Cussler manages to capture just about everything an action/adventure lover could ever want. It starts out with an intriguing, vague piece of history in the prologue that leaves you saying "What the eff?" and leads right in to the main plot, a toxin that is poisoning the citizens of Africa and spreading rapidly from the Niger river. What I enjoyed most about this was the description that Cussler uses to describe everything and everyone, from the main characters to the vehicles they use (and Al Giordino and Dirk Pitt commandeer several different vehicles.) I can literally feel the heat from the desert as Pitt and Giordino fight to save millions from plague and dictatorship. The inclusion of the slave mine was amazing. I never would have thought to show that side of a poor country before, but Cussler did, and for that I praise him. And boy, if I thought I loved Giordino before, I was smitten with him after his dealings with one of the mine 'wardens', Mileka, a bitch with a whip. The way Cussler made his character is absolutely fabulous, and Pitt and Giordino seem to complement each other perfectly.
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Eva Rojas, though. I thought she was a little too 'helpless' for my tastes, but then again, if we had a book full of heroes and heroines, it would get rather dull. We had to have a few victims and weaklings that needed saving. I did, however, love the description for her. Red hair, pale, thin, determined, absolutely fit the book. As much as I love Penelope Cruz as an actress, I KNEW that Eva wasn't supposed to look that way when I watched the movie before I read the book. And her attitude, it fit a doctor in the book. She wasn't out to save the world with a hand grenade and a machine gun, she was doing her best to fight a disease. Not blowing up a mountain, or kicking some serious ass with an automatic machine gun. Now that I think about it, she offered a good balance to the book full of macho men saving the day.
I think my favorite part of the book was the mine scene. The way Cussler captured the emotion from his characters, determination, anger, sadness, defeat. And everything tied in together, the disease, the U.S.S. Ironclad Texas, the plane, it wasn't random, it was connected. I read one Cussler book before, Raise The Titanic!, and while it was terrific, I didn't give it as much of my time as I did Sahara, and I will definitely be revisiting that one before I post a review for it.
After reading the book, it is EXTREMELY difficult to look at the movie objectively. A movie I once watched all the time has been destroyed for me because of the writer's and producer's lack of ability to relay the amazing book into a movie. They completely messed it up! I can understand cutting a five part book short, and I even understand changing a few other details, such as the cannibalism, because they wanted to make sure the movie stayed within the PG-13 guidelines, but so much was left out of the movie that was key in the book, that it's almost as if the movie was a totally new creation, having nothing to do with the book. If you can get yourself to look at it in that light (which for me is difficult now), then you can enjoy both. The movie isn't terrible, it has the right amount of explosions, drama, humor, and romance in it but it is completely off from the book. And I love Steve Zahn to pieces, don't get me wrong. He was brilliant in the movie, but he is not Al Giordino. Al Giordino is protective, witty, black haired, buff, daring, and not all of that was present in the movie, which is sad. To see my favorite character butchered in such a way is a downer when watching a movie recreation. The movie that once got five stars from me now only gets three. That's a step up from me, because immediately after I read the book it only got one and a half.
That's all I have for tonight. I have more books and more to say, but alas, the tortures of homework are beckoning me forth and I must defeat them!
I've read plenty of books in the past, and I hope to try and remember them so that I can review them, so for now, I'll just work on my current books, what I've read, etc. In another post, I'm going to do a 'sticky' and a list of all the books I've read so that you don't have to leaf through my posts to find what you want. I'm also going to leave these public, as I like to share my reviews of books with the world. A good thing should not be kept a secret, and you should not have to wander into a bad thing on your own without forewarning. Or something educated sounding.
This post, in particular, is to not only make an announcement, but also to recommend me some books. To be honest, I tend to be picky about what genre I read, and lately I have been soaking up Clive Cussler's books. I've also taken a fondness for Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I enjoy reading certain classics, and I've been known to re-read books. So, suggest away.
And yes I've read three of the four Twilight books. No, I will not read the fourth, and no, I probably will not be writing a review for them. I don't think you guys would want to hear what I have to say about them, and I want my reviews to remain positive and as helpful as they can be. I will also be writing a review for movies that are based off of books, as I already have a few in mind.
That being said, I should probably get on with my reviews, which will be under a cut, in case you don't want to be spoiled. I will more than likely talk, in detail, about these books.
Sahara is pure genius. Clive Cussler manages to capture just about everything an action/adventure lover could ever want. It starts out with an intriguing, vague piece of history in the prologue that leaves you saying "What the eff?" and leads right in to the main plot, a toxin that is poisoning the citizens of Africa and spreading rapidly from the Niger river. What I enjoyed most about this was the description that Cussler uses to describe everything and everyone, from the main characters to the vehicles they use (and Al Giordino and Dirk Pitt commandeer several different vehicles.) I can literally feel the heat from the desert as Pitt and Giordino fight to save millions from plague and dictatorship. The inclusion of the slave mine was amazing. I never would have thought to show that side of a poor country before, but Cussler did, and for that I praise him. And boy, if I thought I loved Giordino before, I was smitten with him after his dealings with one of the mine 'wardens', Mileka, a bitch with a whip. The way Cussler made his character is absolutely fabulous, and Pitt and Giordino seem to complement each other perfectly.
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Eva Rojas, though. I thought she was a little too 'helpless' for my tastes, but then again, if we had a book full of heroes and heroines, it would get rather dull. We had to have a few victims and weaklings that needed saving. I did, however, love the description for her. Red hair, pale, thin, determined, absolutely fit the book. As much as I love Penelope Cruz as an actress, I KNEW that Eva wasn't supposed to look that way when I watched the movie before I read the book. And her attitude, it fit a doctor in the book. She wasn't out to save the world with a hand grenade and a machine gun, she was doing her best to fight a disease. Not blowing up a mountain, or kicking some serious ass with an automatic machine gun. Now that I think about it, she offered a good balance to the book full of macho men saving the day.
I think my favorite part of the book was the mine scene. The way Cussler captured the emotion from his characters, determination, anger, sadness, defeat. And everything tied in together, the disease, the U.S.S. Ironclad Texas, the plane, it wasn't random, it was connected. I read one Cussler book before, Raise The Titanic!, and while it was terrific, I didn't give it as much of my time as I did Sahara, and I will definitely be revisiting that one before I post a review for it.
After reading the book, it is EXTREMELY difficult to look at the movie objectively. A movie I once watched all the time has been destroyed for me because of the writer's and producer's lack of ability to relay the amazing book into a movie. They completely messed it up! I can understand cutting a five part book short, and I even understand changing a few other details, such as the cannibalism, because they wanted to make sure the movie stayed within the PG-13 guidelines, but so much was left out of the movie that was key in the book, that it's almost as if the movie was a totally new creation, having nothing to do with the book. If you can get yourself to look at it in that light (which for me is difficult now), then you can enjoy both. The movie isn't terrible, it has the right amount of explosions, drama, humor, and romance in it but it is completely off from the book. And I love Steve Zahn to pieces, don't get me wrong. He was brilliant in the movie, but he is not Al Giordino. Al Giordino is protective, witty, black haired, buff, daring, and not all of that was present in the movie, which is sad. To see my favorite character butchered in such a way is a downer when watching a movie recreation. The movie that once got five stars from me now only gets three. That's a step up from me, because immediately after I read the book it only got one and a half.
That's all I have for tonight. I have more books and more to say, but alas, the tortures of homework are beckoning me forth and I must defeat them!