on books 57-60.

i'm done!  i have succeeded!  if only every challenge could be this easy...

here's a brief recap of books 57 through 60:

book 57 of 60: jurassic park by michael crichton

thoughts:

jurassic park is easily still one of my favorite movies (totally nerding out over jurassic world, btw), so i thought it was time to read the book.

sidenote: i hate the adage that the book is always better than the movie.  in fact, i teach a class in comparative studies where my students aren't allowed to make that claim.  the book and the movie are distinct entities created by vastly different artists for incredibly remote purposes.  

after reading the book, i can safely say that the movie was...different. the movie was a traditional translation of the text, meaning some major plot pieces were changed to accommodate the medium, but that the sense of the plot as a whole and the major themes present in the text were retained. 

all said, the book was obsessively entertaining, and i still love the movie.  i consider this a triumphant success!

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book 58 of 60: the davinci code by dan brown

thoughts:

again a book i saw as a movie first.  again a traditional translation.  again entertaining in its own right.

what a delicious and perfectly nerdy read this was.  so much so, that i plan on reading the other books in the series.

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book 59 of 60: after the end by amy plum

thoughts:

dude.  based on the description of this book, i thought it was going to be awesome.  

the description was completely misleading and wrong, but it was still an enjoyable book.  

i plan on reading the second part when it comes out early next year.

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book 60 of 60: talon by julie kagawa

thoughts:

so i've read a lot of YA.  i tend to think that good YA has a lot to say to all age groups, not just teens.

this book had such promise for a YA fantasy novel--a race of dragons hidden within the human world, hunting and being hunted.

yeah.  not so much.  this book sucked.  it was ultimately a piece of dribble that focused far too much on a YA love triangle and a weak protagonist.  

i *almost* culled this one so many times, but i received it as a gift and i felt it was only right to see it through to the end.

disappointing as my last official read of the challenge.

currently reading: 

• #61: the lost symbol by dan brown (more semiotics fun!)
• #62: the martian by andy weir (just started and loving it, if slightly wigged out over the concept)