Finished: The War of the Worlds (Wells) I finally read The War of the Worlds after hearing so much about it all my life, and I was a bit underwhelmed...until I realized it was written in the late 1800's and that the action took place in London not too long after that time period. For that, I will give the author good marks on the sheer far-reaching, yet possibly plausible wonderings of his imagination! The story is simple...Mars sends "cylinders" full of Martians and their advanced technology to earth to wipe out humankind and take over the planet. It seems their own planet is dying, or that's the assumption of the narrator anyway, and they need a new place to live. The descriptions of the Martians themselves and then their towering machines they drive and shoot laser beams from are vivid and scary. And, the horrific destruction of entire towns and burning of people is awful. The narrator, who fancies himself the lone survivor anywhere near London, and possibly the world, is then ecstatic to come out of his hiding place and find out that the Martians have all died! Presumably, they got to Earth and encountered all our bacteria (probably while sucking down all the human blood) and died rather rapidly, having not been used to having any bacteria on Mars. However, we find out in the epilogue that when they are autopsied, no bacteria is discovered in any of their bodies. Queue creepy music doo-doo doo-doo, doo-doo doo-doo! Anyway, I'm glad the book was short, since it's really not my cup of tea...but glad I've finally read it! :-)