Monday, May 2, 2011

It's Monday, what are you reading?



It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

Hosted by: Book Journey



1. Porno by Irvine Welsh

I finished rereading Trainspotting (review out this week) the other day and I've just begun the sequel. Taking place 10 years after Trainspotting Porno follows Sick Boy as he returns to Scotland after a failed venture in London. 

       "Sick Boy taps into an opportunity, which to him represents one last throw of the dice. However, to realise his dream of directing and producing a pornographic movie, Sick Boy must team up with old pal and fellow exile Mark Renton and a motley crew that includes the city's favourite ex-aerated=water-salesman, 'Juice' Terry Lawson."

I thoroughly enjoyed Trainspotting so I cannot wait to get into this book good and proper!






This is for my honours research into my upcoming zombie thesis, and so far it is proving very interesting. It looks not only at Romero's zombie films (the focus of my paper) but at his entire filmography and the stylistic traditions that have become such an important part of his films, specifically those relating the literary naturalism. 

"In placing Romero's oeuvre in the context of literary naturalism, the book explores the relevance of the director's films within American cultural traditions and thus explains the potency of such work beyond 'splatter movie' models. The author explores the roots of naturalism in the work of Emile Zola and traces this through to the EC Comics of the 1950s and on to the work of Stephen King. In so doing, the book illuminates the importance of seminal Romero texts such as Night of the Living Dead (1968), Creepshow(1982), Monkey Shines (1988), The Dark Half (1992)."




3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Graeme-Smith (and Jane Austen)

I've put off this book for quite some time since I'm not Jane Austen's greatest fan but I decided that I might as well give it a go since it has zombies in it and all. Plus I need to know once and for all whether this craze of classics + monster mash-ups are all they're being hyped up to be. 

" As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton and the dead are returning to life! What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.




4. Gospel of the Living Dead by Kim Paffenroth

Another text for my uni studies, the author Kim Paffenroth is a professor of Religious Studies in America who is possibly one of the best horror theorists/writers out there. 

"This volume connects American social and religious views with the classic American movie genre of the zombie horror film. For nearly forty years, the films of George A Romero have presented viewers with hellish visions of our world overrun by flesh-eating ghouls. This study proves that Romero's films, like apocalyptic literature or Dante's Commedia, go beyond the surface experience of repulsion to probe deeper questions of human nature and purpose, often giving a chilling and darkly humorous critique of modern, secular America."






5 comments:

  1. Sounds like a cool topic: Zombies. Was Trainspotting a movie a few years back? It sounds familiar. Anyway, here's mine:

    http://bookbelle0819.blogspot.com/2011/05/its-monday-what-are-you-reading.html

    I'm going to follow your blog also.

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  2. Yeah it was made into a film in the mid 90s starring Ewan McGregor. Great film, great book!

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  3. I'm interested in your take on Pride and Predjudice and Zombies. I'm pondering whether to read it or not for a long time now. Here is my Monday post.

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  4. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to think of it so P&P&Z will definitely get a review as soon as I'm done. I'm hoping that I'll be pleasantly surprised

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  5. I'm not a Jane Austen fan either but I liked the zombie parts of PP&Z. Last week was all about finishing textbooks and relaxing with manga. Come see what I read.

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