minority report by philip k. dick (1956)

this short-story by philip k. dick was the base for the movie minority report, starring tom cruise.

anderton has founded a company named precrime, which, by means of propheciey, knows when a person will commit a crime in future and then collects them and takes them to jail, before they can really do something. when he meets his new associate and future successor, witwer, who he instantly dislikes, he is confronted with the fact that he himself will become a murderer.

a paranoid, dark dystopia, where people are being punished without evidence, without a trial and without being guilty. very thought-provoking and absolutely fantastic. i loved it!!!

question: is being aware of the prophecy and trying to avoid it what makes the prophecy come true?

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i am number four movie

yesterday i was at the cin again, watching i am number four...

i still had the story in mind and was excited to see how they turned the book into a movie. it was quite fun, very close to the book. and alex pettyfer is a cutie =)

i think it's weird how some books are pushed like this one (book and movie out at the same time - even the german book is already out, otherwise that's taking years...) i mean they just made us make the book a bestseller! 

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adjustment team by philip k. dick (1954)

after seeing the adjustment bureau (which is great) at the cinema, i went on research for background of the story and here it is: philip k. dick's short-story adjustment team (20 pages):

ed fletcher's bureau lies in sector t137, an area that has to be adjusted today. at 8.15 am the dog should have summoned an incident, which should have got ed earlier to his job, so that he could have been adjusted too. but the dog missed the right time... now ed is late and he stumbles right into the middle of the adjustment.

dick was a big sci-fi-author, he wrote for example the novel ubik, upon which the movie vanilla sky is based (there is also a spanish version, abre los ojos, which apparently is even better...)

you can download the story free on kindle or as pdf.-file (if you don't mind some serious tipping-errors and 2 pages missing).

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xvi - xvi by julia karr (2011)

julia karr has delivered a really great dystopian novel as her debut, set in a very realistic, commercial and dark world and with an exciting plot.

when a girl turns 16 (sex-teen) she gets tattooed xvi on her wrist. now she's fair game. every girl wants to be 16, wants the attention and wants sex. but nina is not like them... she lives with her mother and sister in cementville, near chicago. when her mother is murdered, she tells her that nina's father is still alive ans that she must find him. soon nothing is as it seemed to be. 

according to her website, karr's working on a sequel, truth, a spin-off-novel, cinderella girl, and some other stuff. i can't wait to read these too... =)

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the caster chronicles - beautiful creatures by kami garica and margret stohl

this is the 1st book of the the caster chronicles-series by author-duo kami garcia and margret stohl.

ethan lives in gatlin, a small southern town. over the last centuries nothing has happened and the inhabitants want to keep it that way... when a new girl, lena, comes to his school, they have an instant connection and he feels that she is different. but she is the niece of crazy old man ravenwood, the towns abominated anchoret, who never leaves his house.

the story is pretty cool, although sometimes only slowly developing. but the writing is good and it's quite thrilling, so you keep reading... i think the real story has only begun. i will definitively read the next book, beautiful darkness, and wait for the 3rd, beautiful chaos (there will be at least a 4t).

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the unit by ninni holmqvist (2008)

this is the new ethic-thriller by swedish-author ninni holmqvist.

dorrit is 50, has no family and therefore is expendable. she is brought to an institution, where all expendables come at that age. there she can spend the rest of her life in luxury and do whatever she pleases, but she will have to take part in physical and psychological tests and donate her organs. but then the unexpected happens and she falls in love...

this book kind of reminded me of ishiguro's never let me go, it's written with the same implicitness that is almost scarier than the story itself.

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movie adaptions

i looooveeee movie adaptions of books i read or plan to read... fortunately these are not rare.

lately i saw following movies at the cinema:

small world, based upon the homonymous novel by swiss-bestseller-author martin suter.

konrad lives with his childhood best-friend thomas, who has inherited a fortune from his father. when konrad accidentialy sets a fire in the house, and becomes more and more delusional, he's diagnosed alzheimer. but the more he forgets the more strange things he remembers from the past.

absolutely great mystery-novel, the alzheimer-part is researched just great!

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never let me go, based upon a novel by british-japanese-author kazuo ishiguro.

kathy h. has been a carer for almost 10 years, but now she will become a doner. she tells us from her childhood at hailsham, the years in the cottages and finally from her time as a carer. we slowly begin to understand what caring and doning is and realise why she just accepts it as her destiny.

a hounting story, subtle but horrifying...

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jungle-child, based upon the autobiography by sabine kuegler.

sabine's father is a linguist, studying unknown languages all over the world. when sabine is a child, the family moves into the jungle of papua-new-guinea, where her dad has found a so far unexplored clan of native inhabitants. sabine lives there untill she's 17, then returns to germany, but still she belongs to the jungle...

impressive and beautiful.

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the kane chronicles - the red pyramid by rick riordan (2010)

this is one of my favourite ya-authors! i absolutely loved the percy jackson-series. and now this is the 1st book of rick riordan's independent egyptian-gods-series, the kane chronicles, the red pyramid.

carter and sadie's dad blows up the british museum. it looked like he was trying to summon the egypt god of the dead, osiris... but that's not possible, is it? soon their whole world is upside down. and they have to fight in an ancient war.

the 2nd book, the throne of fire, will be released in mai 2011 and the 2nd book of riordan's new greek-roman-halfbloods-series heroes of olympus, son of neptun, is due to be released in september 2011 (the 1st was called the lost hero by the way) !!! can't wait...

if you love harry potter and are interested in mythology read these books!!!

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lorien legacies - i am number four by pittacus lore (2010)

lately i read a lot of ya sci-fi, and here yet another one: i am number four, written by the alien author pittacus lore (james frey).

john smith, alias four, is from the planet lorien. in the beginning there were nine of them, but now three are dead, and as he is number four, he will be next... with his guardian he moves to ohio, to escape his deadly enemies.

a cool action-book, though it reminds me somewhat of a comic (distroyed planet, hiding on erth, superpowers...) i really liked the book and i'm very excited to watch the movie... 

the 2nd book of the lorien legacies, the power of six will be released in august 2011.

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warm bodies movie

wow, i'm really excited, isaac marion says on his blog, that warm bodies is made into a movie by summit entertainment!!

the main character, r,  is going to be played by brit-actor nicholas hoult. i think he's really the perfect cast. he's going to be a cute zombie! =)

see the original post here...