Friday, July 18, 2008

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

I Am Legend is really a novella, coming in at about 160 pages in my newer paperback edition. I didn't realize when I ordered it that the book contained I Am Legend as well as 6 or so other short stories. I finished I Am Legend last night, then read 3 or 4 of the short stories as well, I'll probably finish them all.

I liked I Am Legend. I was biased to like it already though, I wanted to like it, so I probably didn't read it with a very critical eye. Still I did enjoy it, and found myself wanting to finished it each time I picked it up, finally just laying on the couch last night when I came home from work and polishing it off after a couple of hours (much to my dog's dismay... I took her out for a walk first, but forgot to feed her!). The ending was about what I had imagined, I did not foresee that some of the vampires were real (dead) and others were just infected, but alive, and that it is the alive but infected ones who create the new world order. But I did already know that the protagonist was the last of his kind (we assume) and that he, not the vampires, is the legend.

So I did enjoy it, and would recommend it. As I own this book (my library didn't carry a copy) I'll pass it on to a coworker or friend as I have no desire to keep very many books around the house.

I'm not sure what is coming up next. I'll probably go to the library today (day off), we're heading to the beach this afternoon, so it will depend on what I find there. I will probably finish the other short stories in the Matheson book first, but those wont take long. I've got plenty of options, but at the library and the ones that I ordered on AbeBooks recently (all but 2 have arrived at this point).

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