Bookish Thoughts

The Passage , by Justin Cronin, is a beast of a book.  It's a sprawling, epic story told in 766 pages. And when I was halfway through it, I learned that it's only the first novel in a planned trilogy. Which...I can see where the story is going in the next book. I definitely think there's enough plot left to keep things interesting for two more books. But the last thing I need right now is another epic series. So, The Passage . The only thing I knew when I started it was that it was about vampires. I mentioned this to my boyfriend's mom when she loaned it to me, and she was quick to say that they aren't really vampires. They don't have a lot of the classic "vampire" characteristics. But the thing is, every vampire legend picks and chooses the bits of the legend they want to use. Bram Stoker's vampires couldn't cross running water and had to sleep in the soil of their homeland. Anne Rice's vampires absolutely could not change t...

I view American Gods  as a summer book. Most of it takes place in the winter, but I always seem to read it in the middle of summer, when the days are hot and endless. The first time I read it was shortly after my 18th birthday, in those long, lazy days between high school and college, swinging in the hammock my dad no longer owns. The last time was shortly after I moved to Virginia, in the aimless days between accepting a position at a new company and actually starting work. I'm sure I read it, or at least parts of it, other times in the middle there. This time, the days are long and hot, but they are filled with work and other life stuff. The book still transports me to those endless summer days that are mostly a thing of the past now. I wonder, when they adapt the story for HBO, how the new gods will change. Will Netflix have usurped Television, or will she just be another aspect of the same god? Will Apple, Google, and Microsoft be brothers, constantly bicke...