"Extinction" by Douglas Preston (2024)

 

I have never read Douglas Preston before. Probably because he belongs in the group of best-selling American authors are so ubiquitous that the sheer volume of their titles puts me off - just like Tom Clancy, James Patterson, Michael Crichton, Clive Cussler or David Baldacci I am aware these people are very successful but their body of work is intimidating and I wouldn't know where to start. However, since I started New Year very strong with my reading and for a change was focused on some recent titles published in 2024, the choice fell on the latest Preston. I am glad it happened, because it was a fast-paced thriller that I could not put down.

Since this is my very first introduction to Preston, I can't say how much this novel is representative of his style but it was a solid entertainment. "Extinction" is happening in a luxurious mountain resort in Colorado, where big company "Erebus" has re-reconstructed some long-extinct animals like wooly mammoths - the wealthy visitors are invited to visit the park and gaze at the animals from the safe distance. Kind of Jurassic park. When unexpected (and very brutal) murder happens, agent Frances Cash is invited on her very first case and most of the book is about her overcoming all sorts of obstacles & misogyny - in fact, her constant struggle with authorities around her (even though she HERSELF is an authority) almost completely takes over the book and sometimes slows down the story. It all does tie up neatly towards the end and while I found it hard to put the book down, I have feeling too much time was wasted on agents manoeuvring administration/bureaucracy. The payback was that I learned about the real-life company that does de-extinction - their name is "Colossal" and they have fascinating web site. 

"Nosferatu" by Robert Eggers (2024)

I must confess something strange here, the original 1922 "Nosferatu" is one of my all-time favourite movies even though its a horror - I always loved silent movies and old black & white, pre-code movies - I just think they are wonderful, inspired and original as opposite to what came afterwards and looks dated. It might be strange to genuinely love horror movie, but it is what it is. It is a hypnotic quality, that creeps on you like a nightmare that will haunt your dreams for the rest of your life. Same for "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari".

I also like director Robert Eggers a lot. At first his movies were disturbing, repulsive and strange but eventually I realised this is actually good, someone who dares to be original and who is not dumbing down his movies for commercial success - everything I have seen from him so far was excellent. So I was not even surprised when I found out he will direct new version of "Nosferatu", since he is a but unhinged, it makes a perfect sense and better Eggers than someone else who might make a musical with product placements advertising in them. 

As soon as I heard that this new "Nosferatu" arrived in the cinema, I went immediately. I was so determined to see it and to enjoy it properly, that I even went by myself - this was too important to be ruined by someone talking trough the movie or asking me to explain everything. On top of it, I decided it must be seen in recently renovated little art cinema Lab 111 that has creepy atmosphere like of the ex sanatorium (the building itself was a hospital and pathological lab with its mortuary), where I even got myself a free film poster while waiting for screening to start. 

The movie was, thanks God, excellent - its basically a story of "Dracula" stolen from the original but the names were changed as Bram Stoker's widow refused to allow it for the movie. And if you loved the silent original, there is much to enjoy here, since Ebbert is excellent filmmaker and he obviously love 1922. version - for this movie he even developed a technique to replicate how the human eye perceives colour under moonlight by excluding red and yellow tones - the result is a total moonlight and it looks very good. Visually, the movie is spectacular and very effective - it is a thrill to see Nicholas Hoult (in Jonathan Harker-kind of role) walking trough the night with the snowflakes slowly falling around him or how he approaches the castle of his new client who wants to purchase a new property in Germany. If there is one thing to complain, it is that director might have been too respectful to the original - the story is what it is, it never was very deep or complicated or multi layered, it was just a basic skeleton of Dracula and nothing more - you could probably explain it in a few sentences. And Eggers does not dare to add anything new to it - he does include some sex scenes here and there (ugly and disturbing as they were) but that's it. Than again, even the original was always more about the atmosphere and feeling than the story. I wish that I could love it more but its still just a affectionate tribute to the 1922. original, not Eggers best movie - so far that was "The Lighthouse". 

p.s.

Almost forgot to mention the most important:

This is a very original Nosferatu - unlike the bald original and 1970s version (sadly dated now, but Klaus Kinski was excellent) or later glamorous Hollywood vampire, this vampire is a creepy undead creature who actually has something from the historical Romanian Vlad the Impaler although the director makes conscious decision not to show him clearly - he is mostly in the dark or far away or in the corner of the screen. Makes the monster more effective this way, as we fear things we cannot see clearly. 

"Silo" - TV series and the book

For a while now I am really enjoying TV series "Silo" based on the Silo trilogy of novels (Wool, Shift, and Dust) by author Hugh Howey. Since I was not familiar with the novels, this was all new for me and must admit the series are very gripping. At least the first season - the second season started to feel stretched and not really necessary, as the episodes unfortunately felt bloated. But OK, at least the start was sensational and fresh, so I recommend it even though producers later obviously wanted to extend the story forever and ever and beyond. What is interesting is that the series are based on the book but uses the literary plot only as a frame - many more characters are added to TV show and script writers really went out of their way to make it a little bit different. In a way, it reminds me on "Game of Thrones" that was also based on the best selling novels, hopefully it won't end up the same way - at least this books are finished and there is an end to it. (I enjoyed "Game of Thrones" but not enthusiastic anymore about the unfinished volume, whenever it comes). 

So far TV show has two seasons. Which cover first part of the "Silo" novels, titled "Wool". A peace of wool is what you get, if you ever dare to say it loud that you want to get out of Silo, where thousands of people live underground in fear of some kind of apocalypse outside - with this peace of wool you have to clean the security camera showing the empty world above, destroyed by radiation and supposedly nuclear wars. The premise is that thousands who live in Silo don't even remember what actually happened hundreds of years ago and any memory of the previous world is strictly forbidden - so called "relics" are collected and destroyed. Everybody lives separated on  144 floors and a spiralling staircase runs down the center - almost as in a hierarchy, professions are divided by their importance and while headquarters are on top, lower levels are reserved for mechanics and such. The equilibrium is destroyed once the inhabitants start questioning what is truth, what is reality and is it actually really so dangerous outside. The series are genuinely exciting and since the second season is ending this weekend, I could not resist to check out the book. 

Now I must mention that youtube is full of video clips where people comment and guess what will happen in the next episode - its a bit strange, as there are actual novels on which the show is based, so basically all you have to do is to read the damn book, but there is a difference between the TV show and the books so I guess people simply enjoy not knowing. Or they hate reading so much and rather sit for hours on youtube and elaborate on their theories, instead of taking a book and finding it all out.

I don't hate reading, in fact I love it. So I took the first novel titled "Wool" and just like "Game of Thrones" it felt at the same time familiar and different - in both cases novels and TV series compliment each other, while much more characterisation was given in the books. One thing I can immediately say is that reading the novel feels exciting but I am not constantly creeped out and scared like while watching the series - there is something about the foreboding atmosphere and darkness on TV that freaks me out, while reading don't feel as disturbing. There is much, much more in the novels of course and I intend to finish the novel before the last episode comes on this weekend. Two more volumes to go, might give it a try. 

"The Girl in the Mirror" by Sergio G. Sánchez (2022)

A perfect example of the TV series that start very good and than along the way completely loses the plot and you find yourself wondering how did you ever came to this point, "The Girl in the Mirror" (or as in original Spanish "Alma") is a supernatural thriller series that grabs you from the first episode but later sucks out all the energy from the script and from the audience. It is a pity since it could have been much, much better if only Sergio G. Sánchez (its director and screenwriter) kept a better focus on whats important, instead of stretching the story across 9 episodes to the point that we are all exhausted and can't wait for the darn thing to finish. 

The story itself is quite interesting: after a horrible bus crash where almost all of her classmates die, Alma wakes up in a hospital with total amnesia and only trough the patience and support of her parents and close friends, tries to remember what actually happened that particular day. Even while she is in hospital, Alma is aware of a disturbing ghostly presence that no one else can see except herself. 

Now, the beginning is actually genuinely good - there is a strong story that has to do something with immortal ghosts & demons that are trying to posses the human form. We are told bits and pieces about it at the introduction of each episode. And we as the audience are also aware there are some demons involved in a bus crash and this all has to be somehow connected. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on this, Sánchez gets really distracted with personal drama of each supporting character and before you know it, suddenly you find yourself in the middle of some teenage drama with kids agonising about their trivial issues - it makes you want to scream "wait! what about the demons?"  but sadly it is what it is - a teenage drama pretending to be something else, a supernatural thriller. 

After 9 episodes (each of them feeling longer than the previous one) you come to the end of the season and - voilà! - you realise that nothing is explained, the main story about the demons was lost somewhere along the way and we are hurling towards the second season. Which feels like a cheat, since you invested so much time and effort to follow everything to this point. In a way, very similar to Spanish supernatural series "30 Coins" ("30 monedas") that also started good and went on too long, until I decided not to continue with second season. The best thing about it is a stunning location of Asturia in the Northern Spain that actually looks sensational. 

"Where the Dead Brides Gather" by Nuzo Onoh (2024)

First book read in 2025 and honestly, I would never ever found this if not for Goodreads where it got recommended to me and the title intrigued me enough to give it a try. It is also nice change of pace for me, to read something completely new and current instead of perpetually trying to catch up with classics or something I missed before. This was such gripping and enjoyable read that I finished the book in one week - started it on December 30 and would probably finished earlier if I had not forgotten my e-reader at home yesterday - so today I took my time in the middle of the day just to finish it.

As the title says, it is something about the place where dead brides gather. I won't go into any explanations or descriptions of the novel itself, because personally I dislike when others do it - it is enough to say this is a horror novel with a twist: its written from a completely unusual, original perspective of Nigerian authoress Nuzo Onoh who is an excellent storyteller. While the story itself is obviously combination of horror and fantasy, she frames it all in a very interesting African place and casually mentions wedding traditions, slaughter of sacrificial animals, eating breakfast while sitting on the straw mat, wearing traditional Bubu kaftan, etc, etc - the newness and originality of it all appealed to me a lot and this was such refreshing change from what we usually see, that it helped me to realise how my reading (and probably not just reading but movies, music, etc) is almost totally focused on world of West Europe and US - the world is so much bigger and there is so much talent and inspiration around! Not only this was a great read but it reminded me to open my eyes and ears a little bit more towards other voices and other parts of the world.

"“Amina-from-Enugu,” Mmuọ-Ka-Mmuọ said in her rumbling voice. She was the only one in the great hall still wearing my mother’s face. “Tell us, child, what did you discover about the bride known as Gisèle-from-Paris?”

A sudden silence descended in the hall at her words and all the guardians now watched me with an intensity that filled me with panic. My heart sank to my heels. An unpleasant feeling washed over me—Gisèle-from-Paris! What can I say about that horrible Ghost-Bride?

“Gisèle-from-Paris smells rotten like spoiled meat,” I said, my voice a low mumble.

“Is that all?” Mmuọ-Ka-Mmuọ asked.

“She speaks in a garbled tongue I can’t comprehend, unlike the rest of the Ghost-Brides whose languages I easily understand. She’s also the only bride that laughs. I don’t like her laughter.”

“Anything else?”

“Her eyes are different. They’re blue, while everyone else has silver-grey eyes. Also, she can’t fly like the rest. A vile green fume oozes from her body. It stinks. Nobody else sees it or smells her horrible odour, but I do and I hate it. I know she’s a Repentant, but I still don’t like Gisèle-from-Paris. She makes me want to run away from her.” I lowered my head, suddenly ashamed to have spoken so uncharitably about a Ghost-Bride, even one as unpleasant as Gisèle-from-Paris.

The sound of loud clapping and cheering snapped up my head. All the eight members of The Great Council of Guardians were applauding with great fervour, their cascading faces shimmering with blinding intensity.

Huh?

“Amina-from-Enugu, you have exceeded all our expectations and proved yourself a prodigy beyond par,” Mmuọ-Ka-Mmuọ boomed, beaming at me with immense pride. “You have encountered one of the cursed brides from The Wastelands and smelled her true corrupt soul. We deliberately let Gisèle-from-Paris into Ibaja-La to see if you would detect her. And while the rest of the brides only saw the visible signs of her difference, you saw the vile truth of her corrupt essence, hence your inability to comprehend her tainted words."

"Cher: The Memoir, Part 1" by Cher (2024)

Initially I noticed with some cynicism how this memoirs came hot on the heels of Streisand's own autobiography - but than found out that both ladies have been preparing their story for a long time, so it just looks like coincidence. This has to do more with publishers than subjects themselves. Another thing is, this is not the first time Cher publishes her memoirs: back in 1998 there was a slim volume titled "The First Time" where each chapter talked about certain anecdotes from her life - a bit disappointing and reserved glance at life that must have been much more substantial. This two-volume autobiography is much, much more detailed and definitely involved some ghost writers as lady herself confirms that she is a lifelong dyslexic - still, it has her recognisable style and speech, though probably edited and cleaned up. 

The start of the book, that deals with her childhood and upbringing is a bit long-winded (I just couldn't remember who is who in a large, dysfunctional family full of strong women and inconsequential lovers, husbands and partners who drift in and out of the story) and although it obviously means a lot to her, it kind of drags for casual readers like me. But once she meets Sonny Bono, the book just explodes and everything starts happening - early days as back up singer on Phil Spector classics, chart topping success with "I Got You Babe", jet setting life of the 1960s, casual name dropping (Bob Dylan, Mama Cass and Joni Mitchell come in and out of the story), TV show that cemented their fame but ultimately destroyed their private life and the early attempts to break into acting - the book ends just when Cher for the first time gets a nerve to move to New York and seriously give acting a try.  

I enjoyed the book a lot - was planning to leave it for 2025 but one day got stuck at work as my replacement did not show up and had to continue extra shift trough the night until the morning, so while waiting there, I started reading it and it was in many ways even more interesting than Streisand. While Streisand's achievements were more spectacular, her book is somehow too exhausting, detailed and humourless - she still clings to the old grudges and remembers who discouraged her decades ago. Cher does not dwell on that - she casually mentions some incidents where auditions almost went all wrong but owns her decisions. What I got from these memoirs is how subjective the whole notion of success is - what appeared as a glamorous life of a wealthy TV superstar (who also happened to have big hits as a music artist) was genuinely less achievement for Cher herself, who noted what her friends and contemporaries were doing at the same time - Copolla with his "Godfather", Carole King, James Taylor and Stevie Wonder were at the peak of their powers and while Cher's own TV show had eclipsed even "The Wonderful World of Disney" which no one has been able to do earlier, the TV comedienne personae did not really bring her respect. I expect the validation will come in the next volume, where she finally turns to acting - though I must note that simple fact that she always took great care of her looks, somehow overshadowed everything else. No wonder that the first time people actually paid attention to her acting happened when she appeared on a screen without make-up in "Silkwood" - the glitzy, Bob Mackie dressed showbiz image is simply too strong and it might be the one thing people will remember about her. 

"The Greatest Nobodies of History" by Adrian Bliss (2024)

Subtitled "Minor Characters from Major Moments", this irreverent, funny, witty and surprisingly intelligent little book presents ten chapters about some interesting moments in the history, but as told by unknown "witnesses" instead of famous people. So the story about Diogenes is told by some anonymous complainer who could not stand the stench coming from the famous Greek philosopher, The Plague is interviewed herself, the story of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves is told by his “Groom of the Stool”, ancient old oak is the main protagonist in the story of Charles II (who was hiding in his branches), the horse is the main character in the story of Buffalo Bill tour of Europe, etc, etc. As you can see, it is a completely unusual approach to history of the world and as such it caught my attention immediately. 

The best of all is the story titled "The Master’s Ferret" and its told from a point of view of a beautiful Ferret who works as a model - at the very end of his short life (ferrets rarely live past six), he is send by his agent to Leonardo Da Vinci who uses him as a model for his painting A lady with the ferret" (humorously called "Ferret with a Lady" here) and later buys a ferret from its agent, to set him free in the nature (where he is immediately eaten by a badger). It is a beautifully written, gentle and affectionate story about basically shallow and superficial model (who just happen to be beautiful ferret) who achieves immortality trough a peace of art. 

"It was on the job, flushing a family of rabbits out of their twisting burrow in the woods, when I first realized I was unbelievably good looking. “I must be immortalized,” I whispered to myself as I preened in her terrified, twitching eyes. With no time to waste (ferrets rarely live past six), I parted ways with my handler and traveled to Milan with nothing but my outrageous good looks and a dream, and, because I was so breathtakingly beautiful, it wasn’t long before I was scouted by a modeling agent. Signor Serragli was the best in the business and had a whole host of animals on his books." 

My Goodreads stats for 2024

 

"The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead (2016)

This novel was highly recommended everywhere online (even by Annie Lennox herself) so it made me intrigued enough to check it out. It was not exactly easy read as it deals with the days of slavery in US and in the beginning I was constantly getting flashes of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Roots" as this type of narrative generally deals with poor, illiterate slaves and their cruel white masters - with thousand and one variation on this story - but what makes this particular novel different is the uniqueness of its author's talent: this is the very first time I had encounter Colson Whitehead and he does magic here, adding his own special touch that reminds me a little bit on Toni Morrison. You see, what is special here is that Whitehead adds his own ingredients, which are almost fairy tale and fantasy combined with hard, realistic facts. In this book, the underground railroad is not a network of secret routes and places where slaves escaped to freedom but a real, genuine underground railway with the tunnels where carriages transport slaves across the borders. It is a bit confusing at first and I wasn't sure how will I like this toying with the reality, but eventually it makes sense and it works just fine.

The main protagonist here is Cora, whose mother escaped to freedom and never went back - Cora eventually joins another slave in his escape from the plantation and the novel follows them as they are running from place to place, trying to avoid a slave catcher Ridgeway and his companions. Along the way Cora encounters all sorts of people - some helping, others not - and changes her identity once the slave catchers are on her trail. Interestingly, the novel also makes it clear that white people could have also been lynched if found that they hide runaway slaves. Because Cora is never fully explained and I find her more like an symbol than real character, her catcher is actually better represented and there is a very memorable character of a little black boy Homer who unexplainably stays close and faithful to him. Even though I had my doubts at the start, it turned out into a really good read. Quite excellent. 

"Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare" by Lyttanya Shannon (2024)

 

I started actually listening to the podcast about this story - but podcast have 6 long episodes and even though I was intrigued, I got stuck on the second episode and thought, perhaps watching a full documentary all at once might be better idea. There is literary no difference between the two, except that podcast is a bit longer and more elaborate - the timeframe of a 82 minutes documentary suited me just fine.

So far, I have never heard of "catsfishing" - which probably means scamming somebody online - I have been lucky in that sense, since we live in a interesting new times where people still learn how to behave in a virtual world and have to decide for themselves whom can they trust. Yes, I did lost some money by ordering products online that were never delivered (or if they did, they wee nothing as on the pictures) but this was not a trauma, more a lesson how to behave in the future. What happened in "Sweet Bobby" was far more malicious and devious. 

The main character here is cheerful, 30-something radio presenter Kirat Assi who just ended her long term relationship and is now floating around aimlessly, feeling that her family and acquaintances expect from her to start her own family - she constantly talk about this while her voice gets more and more panicky, to the point that we are painfully aware of social expectations in Punjabi society. One day, out of the blue, she gets contacted by a handsome cardiologist from a very good and well known family who shares some friends with her - apparently everybody in Punjabi world is somehow connected - and she accepts his friendship on Facebook - with time they share close online friendship that eventually grows into a full-blown love affair, even though they never met in a real life. In fact, they did met once briefly in a nightclub, but Bobby was a bit reserved, which Kirat explained to noisy surroundings. Their online chats developed in a discussions about raising the family together, selecting babies name's, wedding dates, etc, etc - it went on for years and each time they were supposed to finally meet, Bobby would come up with another fantastic story. Most of us would give up on this imaginary "fiancé" long ago, but Kirat is all about validation from her Punjabi world and it looks as she would feel truly satisfied, fulfilled and happy only once she wears a bride dress and gets some children like all her acquaintances - she constantly talks about biological clock ticking and how she is afraid that she might miss her chance - her best chance is now this handsome stranger online (who accidentally, has a wealthy background, nice house, good job and looks like a good catch) . Of course it all eventually gets untangled towards the end and I won't spoilt the ending here - I just have to say that during the documentary, it was nobody else but Kirat herself who appeared a bit deranged, because of her intensity, gullibility and obsession with the wedding - we see photos of her as a little girl already "dressing up" as a bride, so it all gets a bit heavy, this nagging feeling of what women are expected to do to confirm their place in the society. There is a wound and emptiness here that I don't think bride's dress could ever solve. 

On the other hand, its interesting to note that "catsfishing" itself at this point is still not officially a crime. So police actually did not react when Kirat came to them with her story. Even though her life had been destroyed by malicious intent, there is still no law against it - this is where getting this story out in the public might help. 

"Wicked: Part I" by Jon M. Chu (2024)

Back in 1995 I read excellent novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maguire - it was the best seller that made his name and he even continued with similar type of turnings famous fairy tales upside down ("Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister", "Mirror, Mirror") though nothing ever matched the impact of the first book, which posed a very interesting question: what is the difference between good and the evil - as the "Wicked" suggested, it is really just a point of view. So here we have a character firstly dreamed by L. Frank Baum in his now classic children novel, than again re-framed as the man character of 1995 best seller, than staged for a 2003 Broadway musical and now we have Hollywood movie version that apparently breaks the records of popularity (the day I went to cinema, it was bursting with audience clearly enjoying themselves).

First, let's get on with the elephant in the room - the book upon which the musical and the movie were based in a relatively simple, 500+ pages long novel. Nothing in it suggest that it must be a two-part saga with each part being more than two hours long. The only explanation behind this is a corporate greed and desire to sell more tickets, more merchandise, etc. Why on earth are we accepting this ridiculous length of the movies is another question - in the past, it was possible to watch a perfectly satisfactory movie that would go for an hour and half. Friend suggested that moviegoers should get free blanket and a pillow, but since I always snore first half an hour, this would be disastrous for me - I would snooze as soon as the movie starts. (I caught myself snoring during "Wicked" only once - with my eyes open!) So yes, dear reader, the movie was designed as a two part extravaganza and the second part is scheduled to be released Christmas time next year. With, no doubt, accompanying T-shirts, sunglasses, lip balms and the whole shebang.

It has been long time since I read the novel so to be honest, I remember only the impression - the story was centred around unlucky and green skinned Elphaba and her popular, fashion aware and blonde roommate Glinda & how Elphaba opposes The Wizard of Oz who eventually proclaims that she is a dangerous enemy. The movie obviously had a whole team of people tailoring the script so everything is bigger, louder and more exuberant than I remember - this is not necessarily bad thing because it works perfectly for a musical. The first thing that struck me was how similar to Harry Potter it is - I would even dare to say that Harry Potter, Mean Girls and Glee paved the way for the success of this movie, as it basically combines elements of all three movies - magic school, wizards, spoiled brats, student fraternities, outsiders, etc. Everything looks amazing, there is a lot of dancing, singing, flying and all sorts of tricks not possible to do on the stage - so yes, it is a perfect musical for the modern age. With this, I also mean to describe a impeccable cellophane and not much music beneath it - I know this is a musical but I could not remember one single song from it, as they all blend into some strange combination of sameness. I could see that people are singing and was aware there is a music in the movie, but nothing caught on. Not a single song. 

Cynthia Erivo is cast in the main role and she is good - I have already noticed her in "Widows" and "Harriet" (and as a Blue Fairy in "Pinocchio") - she can do things but to be honest, her main task here is to display various shades of sadness and misery - she is green skinned outsider and as such sulks in the background, yearning to belong somewhere - anywhere. Having only Elphaba in the movie would be a bit too morose so fortunately the script adds someone completely different and this is pop starlet Ariana Grande who is actually genuinely brilliant as goody two shoes Glenda - she kicks the heels, waves her hair and is so entertaining and funny in her knowing, exaggerated bimbo-ism that her pinkness and cheerfulness is perfect contrast Elphaba's teenage angst. I suspected deep inside that movie's success also has to do with basic simplicity of the story - two teenage girls sharing the room in a magic school and Glenda helping Elphaba to became popular by giving her make-over and teaching her how to use make up. What is actually much more interesting but its not discussed at all is how Elphaba is ostracised for her steadfast opinions while Glenda stays silent in her conformist role and ends up being proclaimed "Good Witch" - I am genuinely curious will anybody else notice this, because it is clear that Elphaba suffers her fate only because she is standing outside and dares to oppose the authorities. Glenda is good only because she does not stand up to anything, all she wants is her own comfort and safety.