Tales of Light and Life (Star Wars: The High Republic) by various

 Oh so slowly getting close to being caught up on The High Republic stuff. I didn't have high hopes for a collection of short stories, but I was surprised and rather enjoyed most of them. It was nice to get some stories that just focused on a single character. B+

Star Wars: The High Republic Midnight Horizon by Daniel José Older

 

I'm slowly getting caught up on these High Republic books. Oh so many. This one was okay, a B. Mostly I liked that they finally followed up a loose end from the High Republic Adventures comics that was bugging me. 

Sci-fi Book # 47 The Lost World by Michael Crichton

 Yeah, this book is bad. I was thinking I had read this way back in the 90's but none of it seemed familiar. But also, it is totally unmemorable. Basically it is just a re-hash of Jurassic Park minus the interesting parts. A complete waste of time. C-

Star Wars: The High Republic - Cataclysm by Lydia Kang

 

Cataclysm is probably one of the better High Republic novels so far. They really aren't afraid to kill off some Jedi in these books. The only weird thing is that you pretty much need to also read Path of Vengeance to get the whole story of what's happening. B+

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

 I definitely liked the book more than the movie... how could the film leave out the Cloud Men??? The kids seemed to enjoy it too. A-

Firestarter by Stephen King

 

Oh yeah, early Stephen King is pretty good. Maybe Firestarter could have been a bit shorter, it drags in the second half a bit, but still... I really enjoyed it. A-

The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti by Stephen Graham Jones

I figured I'd give another Stephen Graham Jones book a go. This one was short, kinda weird, and made me think about life. So let's say B.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

 

Well it is October now and time for some horror novels! First up this season is The Only Good Indians. I don't have much to say about it other than that I enjoyed it and it was different enough to keep my attention. B+

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

 

While reading Killers of the Flower Moon, I kept thinking about how this story will make for a great movie, and given the people behind the upcoming film my expectations are sky high. As for the book, it is excellent. Maybe the best book I've read this year. At first it seems almost too dramatic and cynical to actually be a true story, but then after some thought it seems that such events couldn't not have happened given America's past. All rather sad. A

Sci-Fi book #34 Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

 I totally forgot that Katniss ends up with Peeta at the end of this. What a disappointment. I guess that makes me Team Gale? Anyway, this book doesn't deserve to be on any "Best of" lists. C+

Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino

 Quentin Tarantino sure likes to discuss movies. So if you want his opinion on some of the movies he enjoyed in his youth look no further... B+

Star Wars: The High Republic Mission to Disaster by Justina Ireland

 

Another Star Wars book checked off. This one was okay, especially for one aimed at younger readers. Mostly, I found it interesting how this book really sets up the YA novels in the next wave of books that actually preceed the events of this wave. B

Star Wars: The High Republic Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland

I feel like I'll never get caught up with all of these High Republic books. That being said... this one was pretty good. B+

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

 I don't mind lending out books, especially since I'm unlikely to re-read any one specific book in my collection. That being said... if the book is never returned then for some reason I'll definitely want to re-read that book at some point. So that explains why of all the Murakami books to re-read I ended up choosing Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. So I enjoyed it before and enjoyed it again, but maybe this time I found the last act a bit of let down dramatically speaking. It ends on a very pensive and introspective note, which is fine, but the first 2/3rds book aren't really like that at all. Still, A-.

If It Bleeds by Stephen King

If It Bleeds was one of the last books my mom ever bought. Sadly she never got to read it. And everytime I think about reading it I'd think about how my mom never got to read it. Anyway, I did read the first story of the four a couple of years ago and thought it was subpar King. So then it sat on the shelf... and sat... and finally I picked it up and finished it pretty quickly. The other three stories were all pretty decent. None of them are really scary though. One of them is about an author- which is a bit of a King cliche. And another picks up the story of Holly Gibney after the events of The Outsider. Overall a bit of a mixed bag but entertaining enough. B-

Sci-Fi Book # 38- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire is one of those sequels that just finds a way to have the protagonist go through the same unlikely once-in-a-lifetime scenario that occured in the first installment. Kind of like Die Hard 2. So we end up with basically The Hunger Game: All Stars. And yeah it isn't the most beautifully written book but it is entertaining in a silly way. B.

Star Wars: The High Republic- Path of Vengeance by Cavan Scott ,

 Another Star Wars High Republic book checked off the list. I liked it well enough. B

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl

 I've found that with most rock autobiographies they end up being exactly as you'd expect in regards to the person's personality. Jeff Tweedy seems like a regular guy, Keith Richards is the coolest, Morrissey is pretentious, Dylan is mysterious, Pete Townshend overthinks everything, etc. And as expected Dave Grohl comes across as the luckiest guy in music and super nice. I enjoyed his stories, though the last half of the book is mostly stories of how he's met the coolest people (Paul McCartney, Pres. Obama, AC/DC, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, etc). B+

Sci-Fi Book # 43 - The White Dragon - The Dragonriders of Pern Book 3 by Anne McCaffrey

Well I can cross this off the list now. I guess it was better than book two? The whole thing just meandered around without much of a plot or antagonist. At least there was a central character in this one, but it just seems weird that F'lar and Lessa are just background characters here. At least now I can stop reading about these dragons with magic powers that their riders don't seem to be able to take advantage of. C+

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

 

Well, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe sure took me by surprise. I was expecting something a bit silly, especially after the first few pages, but this was probably the most touching book I've read in a while. Sure it is about a time travel machine repairman that gets stuck in a time loop but really it is about re-examining your childhood relationship with your parents through the lense of adulthood and seeing how their failures and successes impacted their lives. I see on Goodreads that opinion on this book is quite split. Ah- those are the best books! Highly recommended. Maybe you'll love it, or maybe hate it. A. 

Sci-Fi Book # 28 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I didn't really feel like I need to reread The Hunger Games... but it is on the list. For something I read 15 years ago I surprisingly remembered quite a bit of it. And yeah, the plot is pretty good even if maybe a bit derivative. It isn't an all time classic but I can see why it was so popular. A-

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

 

And another Hugo/Nebula winner- All System Red. In the end it was just okay. The set up is good but the whole plot was nothing special and the ending was somewhat unclear. B-

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

 Every now and then I look at the list of recent Nebula or Hugo award winners and think to myself that I should actually give one of them a try. Well, I finally did - A Memory Called Empire. It was good and I enjoyed it but in the end it was just a political thriller set in outer space. A-

Star Wars: The High Republic - Tempest Runner by Cavan Scott

One step closer to catching up on The High Republic books. This one didn't add much except to add some back story to one of the main villians. B-

Star Wars: The High Republic - Quest for Planet X by Tessa Gratton

 I guess this was okay. It seemed in the end that not really much happened. B-

Sci-Fi book #43 Dragonquest - The Dragonriders of Pern Book 2

 Ehhh... not ast good as the first one. There really isn't a clear antagonist here and plot line either. This book seems to mostly be setting up future stories. Plus there are way too many characters. More than is necessary. B-

Sci-Fi Book # 37 - The Giver by Lois Lowry

For a book aimed at middle schoolers I was entertained by The Giver. Maybe the ending seemed a bit rushed, especially given the amount of world building that goes on in the first half, but yeah, I liked it. A

Sci-Fi book #43 Dragonflight - The Dragonriders of Pern Book 1

 

Pretty much every part of Dragonflight is ridiculous. But sometimes a story about a girl that helps a bunch of telepathic, teleporting, time travelling dragons save a feudal society in the far future hits the spot. A-.

A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker

 

After almost an entire year I finally got around to reading the one book I bought at last year's LA Times Festival of Books. Did I buy it because I was able to get it signed by an author I had sorta heart about before? Yeah. Was the book worth it? It was okay, I guess. Nothing really worth discussing. C+

Star Wars: The High Republic - Race to Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older

 Another Star Wars book to check off the list. It was okay for a kids book, but I'm curious for kids that read it and haven't read Star Wars: The Rising Storm if it makes total sense. B

Sci-Fi Book # 23 - Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Have you ever revisited something you'd read and enjoyed as a youth and and on a second reading just totally hated it? Well that was my experience with Stranger in a Strange Land. How did I like this book so much when I was 19? And I wasn't all that surprised either. I had placed the very same copy I read nearly 30 years ago on my "to read" shelf probably three years ago and just never felt motivated to read it. It was "next" for quite some time. Maybe I thought the whole free love and free your mind aspect of it was subversive or something back then. But the thing is that it is actually kind of sexist and homophobic. And for being a book about a man raised on Mars way too much of the book is taken up by a supporting character (that is somehow a super rich author, doctor AND laywer) spouting the opinions that are very obviously Heinlein's. Ugghh.. I had this as 5 stars on Goodreads before.... how embarrassing. 

And one other thing bugged me. And this is something I remember thinking as odd from when I first read it and this time just could not get over it - no one in the book seems to be the slightest bit interested in the fact that an entire alien civilization was discovered on Mars at the beginning of the book. There's some discussion if the Man from Mars has some type of ownership of the planet in a legal sense but that's it. And there's another Heinlein book still on this list! arhhh! C

Star Wars: The High Republic- A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland

 There's just so many of these High Republic book... and they only started like two years ago. This one is okay for what it is - a middle school level adventure. But now at least by reading all of the side novels the whole picture of The High Republic makes a bit more sense. B

Star Wars: The High Republic- The Battle of Jedha by George Mann

 Another Star Wars book... it is so hard to keep up with even a portion of them. Let's say a B.

Sci-Fi book # 17- A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

 You know I just remembered that a few months ago I got a free "reading journal" from B&N. And I thought maybe I'd use it but figured that this blog covers pretty much the same function. But part of the point of the blog was to start discussions with people but no reads it. And I've lost enthusiasm for writing reviews for myself. Maybe just keeping track in a journal is the best way to proceed. 

 Anyway, I don't have much to say about A Journey to the Center of the Earth. I enjoyed it even though it was ridiculous. A-

Star Wars: The High Republic - Into the Dark by Claudia Gray

 

Yeah, another Star Wars book. It was okay I guess. B

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

 

There's some part of me that sees Stephen King's bibliography and thinks "I should try and read all of these". But then I see how long that list is. And how it keeps growing. And how many other books and authors there are out there. And then I think I could do it if I always read any new entries and slowly go through the old ones. Anyway... Fairy Tale is the latest and it is pretty good. A bit slow to start but a solid B. 

Sci-Fi Book # 21 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

Reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe without having read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy recently is a bit weird. There is no beginning or end here. It is all "middle". I hadn't read this in at least twenty years and didn't remember any of it- so it was like a whole new book. Hooray. B+

Quest for the Hidden City (Star Wars: The High Republic) by George Mann

 

For a book aimed at kids, Quest for the Hidden City wasn't bad. It tells a decent self contained story about a young Padawan and Jedi on a mission to help out a planet in crisis and rescue some fellow Jedi. Hopefully some of the characters will reappear in the more adult High Republic books. B

Sci-Fi Book # 33 - Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

 My goal in 2023 is to knock at least 10 books off of my Sci-Fi reading list. The first is Childhood's End. I had no idea what it was about so I started with no expectations other than that I've always enjoyed reading Clarke. And yeah, I liked it. It starts off with a large fleet of alien ships appearing over Earth and from there everything that happens is fairly unexpected. And the ending isn't entirely dissimilar to that of 2001. A-