The Hobbit

The Hobbit is another novel that I find intriguing for the fact that it brings a sense normalcy and perspective in a world so exotic and diverse in comparison to our own. We are able to experience this through the eyes of a fairly relatable character, Bilbo, who is quite warm and friendly. We learn his quiet backgrounds but watch him embark and discover the diverse world he lives in, so therefore we are also experiencing it through him.
This background roots and sets us up for being able to properly understand the values of family lineage and birthright.
These certain circumstances allow Tolkein somewhat of a commentary onsocial issues; I know it is very subdued, but I do feel like he is putting somewhat of an importance on it. He gives us an earth without a universal stabilized government and we are able to see oppression and evil alongside innocent races. Some are more developed than others and they are all varying in terms of priorities (some want to take over the planet, while others want second breakfast.)
I also found it interesting, but predictable, about the corruption of men.

A Wild Sheep Chase

It is obvious that Japanese culture, for being another developed nation, is far from our western culture. That is part of the reason I want to go to Japan; to experience I completely different culture shock.

There are certain minute differences (although many huge ones) that attract me to Japan, and those are very apparent while reading Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase.

Horror literature/genre I feel represents so much about a culture. It is a representation of what a certain nation or group of people consider terrifying; something that actually is supposed to scare them. That means that inside one story, there has to be relatable elements that bring about a fearful/excited reaction deep within our brain.

What I find to be amazing/different about Japanese horror and A Wild Sheep Chase is the larger emphasis on the physical existence of spirits. In western culture, ghosts are usually only whispers of reality. They don't exist and that is why we consider them scary; because they are fragments of what is physical in this world.

We put ghosts and monsters into one category, but it seems in Japan that this line is somewhat blurred.
Also, I feel the idea of terror in terms of the genre seems more about the experience of being frightened, instead of seeing something scary. The scary elements in these Japanese horror stories are very subdued in comparison to their gory western counterparts.

So a sheep is scary? I feel like that takes more effort. And we all love effort.

Interview with the Vamprie

When we think of vampires, we think of cold heartless beings that lay dormant during the daytime in a coffin, waiting for the nighttime to come so they can drain the life our of their next meal. These beings seem to have no existence; nothing to show or even no idea of what is beyond their isolated castle walls.

This is why I found Interview with the Vampire to be so intriguing; it brought about a new thought process in what it means to be a vampire. Here we have Louis, a once normal man, who is suddenly thrown against his will into an immortal life that he didn't choose.

What was so interesting about Louis was that we were able to follow him on his mental thought process into finally accepting and discovering his new vampiric way of life, while still maintaining his human traits. We see him struggle with the ideas of good and evil and how they cross paths with his new ways of survival.

Humans struggle with this moral debate when it comes to living off of animals, but there is a disconnect there that is not available when your food comes form your own species.

What was also interesting about the new world that opened up to him, was the complexity of it all. The secretive yet highly sophisticated network of vampires taking their existence somewhat mundanely brought me that same fascination of when I read Harry Potter and found out about this hidden wizard world.

Monster Island

Zombies are an interesting topic as they are not something that has had much history in literature and human folklore. They are a fairly recent development in the timeline of humanity; something to pop up along side with our ability to control our environment. We now can genetically modify food and life to fit our modern needs; but at what costs? The development of the zombie reflects our worries in possible side effects of these modern convinces.

If you look at almost any zombie book or movie, it is usually a post apocalyptic situation where a virus has broken out from some sort of hi tech research or medical facility in a highly populated city or town. This virus infects life and creates what we know as zombies; the living dead. The protagonist is usually someone adjusting to life in this new world, struggling to rearrange the priorities in his or her life and survive.

What I found interesting about Monster Island was although it did include the typical "avoid/shoot the mindless zombies so I can survive for the next hour" it did contain something more. We are confronted with the idea that there is a new breed that still latches onto its former human self; one that can manipulate and control other mindless beings to its own advantage. Along with this whole intelligence jump, there is also the struggle of going to another continent, which is something that I haven't seen in this genre. The book takes the idea of survival to another idea and you begin to see how much the world has changed. Cultural gaps become apparent and the influence of the post apocalyptic world makes it that much more interesting.

I did get the feeling after reading deeper into the book that the idea of the zombie strayed too much away from what we consider it to be. I felt like the book became more supernatural instead of classic zombie, but hey, you always need someone to push boundaries.