Book & Movie Reviews

I have a lot to cover so these will be brief. I'll start with book reviews. Under the Dome by Stephen King was, of course, fabulous. A mysterious force field appears over a small town in Maine (I'm never going to Maine - bad stuff always happens to those poor people) and no existing technology or weapons can remove it. This creates the perfect environment for the shady people trapped under the dome to create chaos and take control. This isn't the first time King's told us story of what bad things can happen to a microcosm of people, but the point of this book is very clear: together we are responsible for horrible atrocities and it's only when we're alone and thinking independently that we put an end to these things. He's not even talking about taking pity on someone much less showing kindness; he's talking about tapping into the base humanity we all have to stop what we know it wrong. It's over 1,000 pages but well worth the read.

The Dude Abides by Cathleen Falsani explores the gospel of the Cohen brothers by analyzing each of their movies. This is a very interesting book for anyone who's a fan of their movies.

I really loved On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. Between the world we know and the magical world is a place called The Edge where people have very individualized magical ability. Rose and her two young brothers live here. Their parents are gone and Rose is trying to keep the family going by herself when a mysterious man shows up one day and demands that Rose become his bride. Around the same time a large group of vicious hounds invade The Edge and try to destroy everything in it, leaving Rose no choice but to join forces with the stranger. This complex plot kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. I definitely recommend this to anyone interested in urban fantasy.

Now for the movies. Pirate Radio is a great movie that was fun to watch, and when you left the theater you were whistling the tunes. Definitely rent this one when it comes out on DVD.

Sherlock Holmes was a fun movie and I enjoyed watching it, but it could have used about 20 minutes of editing in the middle of the movie. I would have liked to have seen more of Holmes' deductive powers of reasoning in action throughout the movie instead of saving it all up for the end. But I definitely recommend it.

Up in the Air starring George Clooney is about a man who lives most of his life traveling the country for his work. He avoids getting close with anyone, including his family, until he meets a woman who lives the same kind of lifestyle. It's a great movie that explores why we need to have connections with people to give our lives meaning. Definitely see this one as soon as you can.