Life of Pi New York Times Review and Response

New York Times review on Life of Pi by Yann Martel:http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/books/taming-the-tiger.html?pagewanted=1
I totally agree with this review. This book is made very interesting by the fact that it is about a boy who gets stranded in the middle of the ocean on a boat, not to mention with a tiger. It is a normal survival story, but the real twist in the story is found when the reader learns more about the main character, Pi Patel. The review hit on a point in the book that is very interesting. Pi is a boy who believes he can practice three religions all at the same time. Throughout the book, he finds out what it means to be Christian, Hindu, and Muslim. And as if that were not enough, he is very educated in the sciences because his father owns a zoo in Pondicherry. It is interesting to see him struggle with his multiple religions and with science as well. Although I am not yet finished with the book, I would reccomend it to people who like slow-paced books. It doesn't start off very interesting, but it's turning out to be a great book.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Before I read this book, I had watched the movie. Although there were some aspects of the book that I liked more, overall, I liked the movie better. In this book, the main charachter, Robert Neville, is the last human survivor on earth after the entire human population has turned into vampires. This evolution that the humans went through was because of a gene that they always had. These vampires cannot go into the sunlight and are repelled by garlic. Every day, Neville goes out and kills a few more vampires with wooden stakes. Neville thinks that he is the only human survivor on earth, but is surprised when a woman comes to his house. She doesn't look like a vampire, so he begins to trust her. The next night, though, she left unexpectedly, leaving a note behind. It said that she was part of an elite clan of vampires who was sent to spy on him. Read the end of the book to find out what happens next! I liked the movie more than the book because the book has vampires in it, which is something I can't relate to. On the other hand, in the movie, it is an epidemic that turns the people into zombies. Although this is a bit farfetched, I think the movie really conveys the message that humans will be the cause of their own destruction. In the book, it is just a genetic mutation, and I don't really think it conveys a message at all. Either way, it was a pretty good book that I would reccomend.