If you liked the 'Annihilation' movie, you absolutely NEED to read the book

There is frequently a disclaimer that accompanies Alex Garland's new movie Annihilation: it's nothing like the book.

At first glance, based on the trailer, the movie positions itself as a fight against creepy things that go bump in the night. Natalie Portman, playing Lena the biologist, must go into "the shimmer" with a team, to solve a mystery that'll save her dying husband, who went into Area X previously. And then things get (very, very, very) weird.

In the book, the struggle is much more ethereal — it's a quest to understand the un-understandable, to fight to hold onto one's self in the face of extreme uncertainty, a quest to live in a landscape that seems to be fighting back.

Annihilation, the book, follows the twelfth expedition of investigators tasked with exploring Area X, a mysterious bio-dome that has popped up on the coast. Area X defies explanation: nobody knows its origins or what happened to the people who lived in the area of the coast that Area X claimed. And previous expeditions to explore Area X have all ended in disaster.

But the twelfth expedition hopes it can crack the mystery. The team is composed of a psychologist, a biologist, an anthropologist, and a surveyor, all stripped of their names, and referred only by their title. But as they explore they discover that the more they learn about Area X's secrets, the more questions — and danger — arises.

In fact, almost everything you need to know about Annihilation's horror can be gleaned from the book's opening line: "The tower, which was not supposed to be there, plunges into the earth..."

It's that clause — "which was not supposed to be there" — that increases tension. It's the fact that the very first thing you meet in the book is the quietly unsettling knowledge that something is off. Not necessarily bad, but off. From the outset of the book, you are navigating this world slightly ungrounded.

It's a different type of horror, one that's more existential rather than jumpy, and often, the biggest shocks come from the mundane revelations of bits of information that have huge repercussions later.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Annihilation, the first book in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy. Join us as we talk about the mysterious Area X, VanderMeer's unique approach to suspense, and what makes Annihilation so singular.

Then, inspired by Annihilation, we talk about books that make us go "WTF?!" including: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Windup Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, and Wool by Hugh Howey.

And as always we close the show with recommendations:

• Dustin, Mashable's art director who join us to talk about Annihilation, recommends The Power by Naomi Alderman. "It was a really cool book and also it was a really fast read."

• Martha recommends 'Black photographers and the civil rights struggle.' "If you get a chance, please look at those photographs. I want every one of them framed and printed in my future home." She also recommends rewatching Season 1 of Atlanta. "It's a fantastic show and it's very trippy."

• Peter recommends the BBC comedy Derry Girls. "I think it's pretty wonderful... It's this really goofy comedy that is in a really serious setting, and I just really enjoyed it a lot."

• MJ recommends Mashable's three-part series investigating climate change refugees and the nuclear legacy of the Marshall Islands. (Part I: The Poison and the Tomb: One family's journey to their contaminated home, Part II: On Standby: When you leave the Marshall Islands, you buy a one-way ticket, Part III: A new home, somewhere else.) He also got to go to a screening of Love, Simon. "It makes my heart sing, it's so so charming. You can read his review of the movie here.

Next week we are reading and discussing Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman. We hope you'll join us.

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