All posts tagged: Annihilation

Annihilation and Southern Reach

Published by

I read Annihilation about a year ago. It was a great first read to get me back into books after having my second daughter. A short book (only 200 pages or so) and a great page-turner. I loved it… although it’s a bit bizarre. OK. A lot bizarre, especially toward the end. But I enjoyed that it was unlike anything I’d read before… a cast of all female leads, an unearthly terrain, a mystery with an unforeseeable solution, and a layered writing style that kept me wanting more. So, for this month I read Authority, the sequel to Annihilation and the second in James VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy. I had hopes of finishing Acceptance as well (the final book in the trilogy), but as I type I’m still less than 100 pages into it… thanks to Authority. It was a bit of a drag to be honest. I blew through Annihilation but Authority left something to be desired. It’s set at the Southern Reach; the headquarters of the Area X initiative where we follow a new protagonist and interim director …

Questions, Questions, and More Questions

Published by

I finished Annihilation yesterday. Before I started (the day before yesterday), I told my husband, “I think you would like this book.” So when I finished, he asked if I thought he would like it. I responded, “ummm….” and he responded, “WOW! That’s a glowing recommendation.” But here’s the thing, I really liked this book. I couldn’t immediately recommend it to him because I have no standard of comparison. It’s very different from any book I know that he really likes. It reminded me of a book I read a long time ago, but I honestly can’t remember what book it was (mom brain). The way I found to describe it to him was it’s like if Jurassic Park was not about dinosaurs, but just about some unknown creepy stuff. Descriptive, I know. I loved that the narrative was told through the biologist’s journal. I love that at the end you’re sort of free to decide where the rest of her story goes (and, spoiler alert, the second book in the series does not pick up with her …

March Book

Published by

We’re very excited about this month’s read! In March, post awards season, we like to pick a book that’s been (or will be) made into a movie. Did you notice that of the nine 2017 Best Picture nominees, five were based on books: Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion, and Moonlight? Well this year we’re getting ahead of the game and reading a book that’s being made into a movie as we speak and set to be released in September of this year. The book is the first in Jeff VanderMeer‘s Southern Reach trilogy. In fact, Katherine C. read it earlier this year and said it’s a can’t-put-it-down, unlike anything she’s read, must-read! And, well, that’s a pretty big sell so we couldn’t resist. This month we’re reading Annihilation. Annihilation was released in 2014 and describes a team of four women (bonus points for Women’s History Month) who set out into an area known as Area X. All you have to do is read the dust jacket and you’ll be instantly hooked … “Area X has been cut off from the rest of …