I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Amazon.com:
An SF novel about vampires . . . Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth . . . but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire, and they are hungry for Neville's blood. By day he is the hunter, stalking the undead through the ruins of civilisation. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn. How long can one man survive like this?

This was kind of like a zombie book. These vampires are nothing like the Twilight vampires. They are mindless killers much more like the Dawn of the Dead zombies.

I saw the movie a while ago and it was okay. I like Will Smith and I found the story interesting enough. I figured I'd give the book a read and see if it was better than the movie.

Actually, it was much better than the movie. Hollywood made a lot of major changes to the script - almost so many that you wouldn't necessarily connect the movie with the book if they didn't have the same title!

As much as I really enjoyed the story, I found myself a bit disappointed because of the twist at the end. If you read it you will know what I mean. I really liked the beginning and Robert Neville's struggle being the only man left on earth. That was fascinating. I would have enjoyed 300+ pages devoted to Neville's struggle to keep sane in his bizarre situation. I really enjoyed the last half of the book and wanted to see how it was going to play out. The book has 317 pages so I was really geared up for a good, long read. However, when I hit page 170 I discovered that the story had finished. The rest of the book includes a variety of Matheson's short horror stories. In fact the horror stories are quiet good, but I had wanted more of I Am Legend. Oh well.

If you like horror or zombie stories, you'll enjoy this one. I Am Legend was published in 1954 so I think we can consider it as one of the first books of its kind. Even just for that, you can feel like you are biting into a bit of horror story history.

Enjoy.

3.5/5 Stars

Shakespeare and His Dramatic Acts (Dead Famous) by Andrew Donkin

Amazon Product Description:
You've probably heard of William Shakespeare... He is dead famous for: - writing a few plays - having a bit of a way with words - creating characters like romantic Romeo and murderous Macbeth. But have you heard that William: - did a seven-year vanishing act - nearly had his head chopped off by the Queen - nicked an entire theatre? Yes, even though he's dead, William's still full of surprises. Now you can get the inside story with William's secret diary, find out the news of the day in the Shakespearean Sun and prepare to be amazed as the curtain is raised on Shakespeare's most dramatic acts. Dead Funny - Dead Gripping - Dead Famous

Well, I'm on a bit of a Shakespeare roll right now. We've been studying Much Ado About Nothing in lit class and I just went to a university lecture on Romeo and Juliet so I'm interested in anything that will give me some insight and any useful resources that I can pass to my students.

If you haven't read a Dead Famous book, you should. They are a lot of fun. This was my first in the series and I think I will probably pick up a few more. If the others are like this, I can say they are filled with interesting facts and funny cartoons. It takes history and makes it an enjoyable read. It is a quick 176 pages and you will enjoy most of it if you are interested in Will and the time in which he lived. I highly recommend it for anybody who is studying the plays.

BTW, I felt this book had the potential to get 4 or even 5 stars, but it got away from what it was doing well and created filler to make up quite a few pages. For example, I don't think the book needs a lot of the play summaries (especially the history plays) and it shouldn't have wasted so many pages on the authorship question. That said, the good stuff is great and well worth reading. With a little more effort, Donkin could have made this fabulous! Anyway, you are still going to enjoy it- especially if you are one of my lit students.

I'm going to give this book 3.5/5 stars.

Shakespeare by Bill Bryson

Amazon Product Description:

William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself.

Bryson documents the efforts of earlier scholars, from today's most respected academics to eccentrics like Delia Bacon, an American who developed a firm but unsubstantiated conviction that her namesake, Francis Bacon, was the true author of Shakespeare's plays. Emulating the style of his famous travelogues, Bryson records episodes in his research, including a visit to a bunkerlike room in Washington, D.C., where the world's largest collection of First Folios is housed.

Bryson celebrates Shakespeare as a writer of unimaginable talent and enormous inventiveness, a coiner of phrases ("vanish into thin air," "foregone conclusion," "one fell swoop") that even today have common currency. His Shakespeare is like no one else's—the beneficiary of Bryson's genial nature, his engaging skepticism, and a gift for storytelling unrivaled in our time.

As you probably know, I love Shakespeare and I've also been reading a few Bill Bryson books. I guess that makes a book about Shakespeare by Bryson a complete no-brainer. In fact, I have ten books sitting on my desk just begging to be read and, you guessed it, this was my first choice.

There is just something about Bryson's style that is very relaxing and enjoyable to read. You just sit back and take it easy with one of his books and before you know it several hours have passed by and you've polished off the entire book.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. Bryson gives us a pretty good introduction to the study of Shakespeare. Actually, he spends a lot of time talking about what we don't know about Shakespeare, but that's okay. The various mysteries of Shakespeare's life are quite interesting in themselves.

My favourite part was Bryson's discussion of the common words that were introduced to the language by Shakespeare and I would have gladly read more about that topic as Bryson seems to have a very strong knowledge of the English language (which he explores in his other books). I also liked the final chapter which attempts to put to rest the authorship question. I, like Bryson, get a bit annoyed by people who suggest that Shakespeare did not write his plays. It's just nice to hear it in the common sense manner in which Bryson writes.

This book will appeal to Shakespeare students or enthusiasts and would be a good starting point for somebody planning to take a course in his work. It has also made me want to watch Shakespeare in Love again as Bryson mentions a lot of the people who lived at the time and many of them came to life as characters in the movie.

I believe that I saw a copy at Best Eastern at The Mall, so any of my lit students who are interested could check there if they like.

Also, I would like to tell you that I found several copies of Rome and Juliet (you know...one of the best films ever made) at a movie shop in Kiulap - the one that is tucked away in the courtyard near Hua Ho. It's $6, but it is so worth it!

I'm giving the book 3.5/5 stars. I just felt like I wanted more. Bryson clipped this one to around 200 pages and I really wanted to hear him tell a few more stories and explore his ideas and opinions on more topics. For example, in one paragraph he asked the reader to imagine how it felt to be one of the people in the crowd watching Shakespeare live and even seeing him acting in the play. I would have enjoyed it if he explored that sort of imaginative idea a bit more.