On to the next....

All day my brain has just been totally buzzing! I finished two amazing books last night and while it is bitter sweet to put them back on the shelf for safe keeping I was not disappointed.

First, I know I have been raving since Christmas about The Historian, but I promise to you, for very good reason. If you get the chance - pick it up. It was awesome in a way that I haven't ever experienced before. The closest thing to feeling this way about a book would have to be the Harry Potter series - you dont want to put it down until you finish. Of course this is much more adult but there really is something timeless about the good vs evil theme. This had an interesting element though of time running out vs endless time. Truly, just wonderful.

The image onthe cover is of the real life Vlad Tepes:

He doesn't look as scary as he is portrayed in the novel but he really was one awful dude - yeah the actual person Bram Stroker's Dracula was based on -- not a very nice guy. Anyway, I am really excited for this to hit movie theaters because Kostova said (and I quote) "Something I feel certain about is that Dracula should not be played by a familiar face because it's just not that scary; there's not the true strangeness you'll need in a figure like that with a famous actor." Now Sony just needs to get their butts in gear and get this thing produced!

One major image from the book I just have to share (by image I mean there are no pictures, I found this only after searching it in curiosity). This is St. George battling "The Dragon"

The other book that I finished World War Z didn't even compare to The Historian  but it was still really good because it got me thinking about modern warfare and possible future crises that we are sure to face, as a nation, and eventually as man kind.

Some of the most interesting "interviews" that stood out to me, were those of secrecy and corruption - all the people who were committing horrendous acts of violence and horror against other (non infected) human beings and blaming it on the fear of death by zombies...it didn't seem that far fetched to me. In fact I have a mind to believe that such things are already happening all over the world and the only thing that would change in the face of a crisis is that the rich dont have to pretend they are doing nothing wrong, they just get to do it, because who is going to stop them?

Other things I really liked (which also didn't seem far fetched) were about the will to live. There was a military department called DeStRes - The Department of Strategical Resources which among other things found itself occupied with the need to improve morale among surviors of the zombie war. People would just go to sleep at night with no physical problems and will themselves to die in their sleep. So the DeStRes people would travel all over the place to film survivors in action, taking a stand, then make movies out of hte footage and show them at refugee camps - suddenly those over night death numbers started falling. Really cool.

And I know I am rambling on now but there was one more really cool bit about (North or South?) Korea and how everyone thought before WWZ broke out, that they were planning an aggressive military attack on another country. To prepare they were building underground tunneling systems and cities where they would retreat after beginning their attack. Then suddenly, without attacking, everyone just disappeared. Somehow they knew something was going to happen. The interview is taking place after the majority of war efforts has come to an end and the interviewee is discussing how no one knows where the entrance to the tunnel system is so no one can tell this entire underground population "come on out it's safe now!" But the even creepier part is, what if they did find the entrance and opened it up to have millions of zombies come pouring out after the world has worked to overcome the majority of the zombie problem.

Overall it just really had me thinking about how various governments, populations, social classes, and individuals handle world wide crises and in a lot of ways World War Z is a best possible outcome type of result - especially when compared to "Dawn of the Dead."

Since there are 2 open spots on the night stand now I have picked up The Expedition of Humphry Clinker and for book club The Abstinence Teacher. I also am ready to wrap up The Romantics  - I can't take any extra wedding stuff right now. The girls and I spent hours working on oragami bouquets today, don't get me wrong I love to help and I love crafts but this wedding can't come soon enough, I'm ready to celebrate already...mmmm mmmm mmm wedding cake.