Something old(er than 3 years)
Mitas recommends Annihilation (as well as the 2018 movie and the 2014 book of the same name). Starring Natalie Portman, the movie frankensteins the structure of the book in such a way that the axiom “the book is always better than the movie” might not apply; they might be too different. It’s close.
In both, a strange presence has radically disrupted the DNA structures of all organisms in a radius creeping larger every year: Kodiaks straight out of the DnD Monster Manual mimic the voices of their prey, gargantuan crocs with mouths like sharks, plants that grow into the vivid shapes of people, make for far more than unforgettable scenery.
An all women-recon squad sallies into the mouth of the beast, only to slowly lose their minds, their bodies and eventually their selves on the other side.
“My favorite part was all the death,” Mitas said of it.
The movie takes an action-ified bent on this. Portman, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, and Jennifer Jason Leigh play researchers with mixed military backgrounds, venturing in armed to the teeth, only to find their capabilities no match for the horrors within Area X.
The book burns slower. The characters are depersonalized - VanderMeer doesn’t give them names - and the team’s only guns start the mission, supposedly, locked away. The mystery, and the characters, unravel more slowly, and the reader is dragged through the mind of the Biologist and the horrors in Area X. A Nebula and Shirley Jackson award winner, Mitas and I aren’t exactly cutting edge in recommending the book.
Compare the two. We watched the movie first, then read the book. What order will you choose?
Something new
Read Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel. It’s a beautiful literary spec-fic piece about “being a still point in the ceaseless rush” written entirely during the pandemic of 2020. ESJM’s experience of the pandemic is clearly present in what’s written, but interestingly it’s not her first book set during a pandemic. I would love to ask how her own life relates to Olive Llewellyn’s. The fictional author is on an interplanetary book tour when a pandemic slowly takes hold of society.
This book spoke to me, I think speaks to everyone still recovering from 2020. I copied a section of it and made my boss read it. It articulated perfectly why I chose to take a leave from my teaching job in 2020 and 2021. Here’s a slice.
“We knew it was coming and we were breezy about it. We deflected the fear with careless bravado. On the day reports broke of a cluster in Vancouver, which was three days after the British Prime Minister announced that the initial outbreak in London was fully contained, Willis and Dov went to work as usual, their sons Isaac and Sam went to school, and then they all met up for dinner at their favorite restaurant, which was crowded that night.
…
“We knew it was coming but we behaved inconsistently. We stocked up on supplies—just in case—but sent our children to school, because how do you get any work with the kids at home?”
What have you been reading lately?
Something borrowed
Wicke and I have been thinking lately about nuclear catastrophe—not that we’re planning on causing one but you never know. I’ve been sinking my teeth into Chernobyl, and I have a lot, a lot, more to say about it, but I took out two outstanding books from my library1 about them.
Svetlana Alexievich won a Nobel Prize for Voices from Chernobyl. It’s a collection of monologues by scientists, liquidators, soldiers, refugees and fallout victims. There are some truly harrowing, vivid portraits, oceans of despair and beautiful images of resilience—surprising levity. The prose reads like poetry, like meditations perfect for rainy mornings.
Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy by Serhii Plokhy is a more clinical account of the disaster, but pieces of it are written with a touch of narration. I think this is an effective tool; it helps hold attention and gives the events around Chernobyl some added gravitas. While I wish the book had lingered a little longer on the exact science of why Chernobyl happened, Plokhy’s close examination of the before and after, the political elements thereof, will probably interest most folks.
Something viewed
Taika Waititi and Reservation Dogs will break your heart. Episodes of it read like short stories, stand alone, and lean on one another. It’s a silly, joyful account of growing up on a reservation in Oklahoma in the modern day. The main characters constantly struggle to embrace their culture and reject it; their ultimate goal is to run away to California, but of course on the rez, nothing’s that easy.
The very best episode is S1E6. You could watch just that and be perfectly happy. I streamed it on Hulu, and if you can access it, you won’t be sorry you tried it.
Thanks for reading this far. We hope you enjoy what we’ve put together.
shout out to the incredible Ocean State Library system.