Star Wars: The High Republic - Beware the Nameless by Zoraida Córdova

 

I really have nothing to say about this book. It was okay I guess. The young Hutt character was kind of interesting but all the Jedi kids seemed interchangable. B-

Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut

 I love Kurt Vonnegut, but Jailbird isn't one of his best works. Unless you're a Vonnegut superfan there's no reason to pick this one up. B-

Glory Days: Stories by Simon Rich

 Maybe it was just a case of the "right book at the right time", but I really enjoyed Glory Days, a collection of humorous short stories. A-

Horror Book # 27 - Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

 I figured October would be a good time for another horror book and chose a non-fiction one - Helter Skelter - The True Story of the Manson Murders. I liked it well enough, but it took forever to get through. Reading about some real life murder for an entire month kind of wore me out. B

Revival by Stephen King

 Somehow I had avoided any plot summary of this book over the past ten years. It wasn't until about 100 pages in that I started to get an idea of what it was about. Overall, I enjoyed it. Maybe the first half was a bit slow but the ending was good and had a nice Lovecraftian touch to it. B+

Horror Book # 20 - Hell House by Richard Matheson

I enjoyed Hell House but it sticks with the usual haunted house cliches. I just kept thinking - get out of the stupid house! B

Star Wars: Temptation of the Force (The High Republic) by Tessa Gratton

 Another one, only 6 or so more books in this series right? This one was good and the twist of a Jedi love affair was a bit unexpected even though it had been building up for a while. B+

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

My son can't wait to see the film version of The Wild Robot. Until then, he wanted me to read him the book. We both enjoyed it and now I'll have to read the sequel. B+

Horror Book # 47 - Roadwork - The Bachman Books by Stephen King

 

I'm finally getting around to finishing off The Bachman Books which I started probably eight or nine years ago. I enjoyed all of them more than I thought I would. I had never heard anyone praise Roadwork, so I didn't expect much, but I was really into it. The book really dives into the psyche of the main character and watching his life unravel was sad. It wasn't at all what I expected, almost like King's version of Catcher in the Rye combined with a 70's revenge plot. A

Bear by Julia Phillips

I hadn't heard of this book until the author was on Seth Meyers last week. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it, thought I'm still trying to figure out what it all means. Bascially a bear comes to visit two sisters that live with their dying mother. The girls don't exactly see eye to eye on how to treat these bear visits. B+

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

This wasn't on any of my reading lists, but I needed to read something to the kids for story time. I enjoyed it, it wasn't too long and zipped right along. B+

Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Rock and a Hard Place by Peter David

Back in the 90's I read a ton of Star Trek books. And I still have boxes of them in my garage. I figured I should pull one out and read it again 30+ years later. One of my favorite authors was Peter David. So did it hold up? Ehh... maybe? It wasn't great but I enjoyed reading it. B.

Horror Book # 36- Watchers by Dean Koontz

 Having finished by Sci-Fi reading list, I can now focus on the horror list. After this, I'm done with reading lists. Maybe. 

Watchers is about a genetically engineered super smart dog that escapes a lab and is being tracked down by a genetically engineered baboon monster. I enjoyed it, but maybe it was a bit long. But who doesn't like thinking about how cool it would be to have a dog as smart as yourself? B+

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

 I saw the author of Chain-Gang All Stars on Seth Meyers not too long ago, and he did a pretty good job of making his book seem interesting. And I did enjoy it, I'll give it an A-. Maybe some of the sub plots didn't amount to much, and the ending was rather abrupt, but overall I think it effectively conveyed what it was trying to say. I can imagine this being turned into a tremendous movie someday, fingers crossed.

Star Wars: The High Republic - Defy the Storm by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland

 

Yet another High Republic book... I'm caught up now for about a week or so until the next. This one was okay, just so many characters though... B

Redshirts by John Scalzi

For a fun little read, Redshirts by John Scalzi is a perfectly fine book. It held my interest for the most part (the extended codas were a bit much though), and had some funny moments. The concept was good but stretched a bit thin after a while. I don't see how this won the Hugo award. It must have been a slow year in sci-fi. B+

Holly by Stephen King

 

Another Stephen King novel crossed off... This one was good, maybe because the villians are actually an elderly couple without any supernatural connection. They just kidnap people to eat them for the health benefits. Yep, that's what this book is about. B.

Star Wars: The High Republic: Escape from Valo by Daniel José Older and Alyssa Wong

 These High Republic books just keep coming out! This one was okay, especially for it being aimed at a younger audience. I'll likely soon forget the details though - B

Sci-Fi book # 44 Contact by Carl Sagan

 Well this is it! I've finished the sci-fi book list I've been slowly making my way through for over the last decade. 

I enjoyed Contact. The idea is a really good one and I usually like first contact stories. The only quibble is that none of the secondary characters are very interesting and the story gets a bit side tracked at times. Still I'd recommend it. A-

Sci-Fi Book # 51 - Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein

 Man, I was disappointed when I thought I was almost done with this list and this book sneaked back on. Yeah it is book # 51 but I figured since the Foundation trilogy takes up a spot as well as each of those books individually that I should go all the way to 51. Well, I think I'm done with Heinlein now for good. I just don't get by people think he's so great. Anyway, this one was his sci-fi take on The Lord of the Flies. Overall it wasn't bad but reading about a bunch of teenagers discussing government types when they get stuck on a planet is kind of ehhh. B-

Sci-fi Book # 50 and Horror Book # 50 -The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells

Isn't H.G. Wells just the best? I just realized that he has four books on this list. The Island of Doctor Moreau - also a classic. A

Sci-fi Book # 40- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

 

Another "sci-fi" book that really isn't. I'm kind of "meh" on this one. There were some funny bits (like replacing the royal family with a family of royal cats), but overall there wasn't much plot or anything to interest me. B

Sci-Fi Book # 42 - The Green Mile by Stephen King

I've been second guessing the sci-fi list I've chosen for a while now. One of the reasons is because it has things like The Green Mile on it. Now the book is actually fantastic, but it is by no means a science fiction book. Not even close. I'd classify it as magical realism. Which maybe that's a type of fantasy sub-genre to some, but still isn't near sci-fi. Anyway, this might be one of my favorite Stephen King books now. It was paced nicely, he nailed the ending, and it didn't have any weird unnecessary tangents. A

Star Wars: The High Republic - The Eye of Darkness by George Mann

 After finishing this book, there was a brief two day period in which I was finally caught up with the High Republic novels. But of course, the next one comes out today. Overall I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Maybe going through the whole series previously helped, but also it felt like the novel narrowed its focus to the actions of just a handful of major characters. Maybe it also helped that so many of the other Jedi got killed off in the previous book. B+

Sci-Fi Book # 49 Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

 

Some 15 years ago I binged on all of the Ender books. By the end I was kind of tired of them and didn't keep up with the series. So I as a bit hesitant to have to re-read Speaker for the Dead. I enjoyed it again but part of me thinks that some of the ideas are ridiculous. If mankind started colonizing far away planets, would each colony really be keeping alive the culture of a small segment of Earth from 3000 years prior? And whenever a book devotes a lot of space to a philosophical debate in the middle of some life or death situation, I always roll my eyes. But regardless it was a good read. A-

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl

 

Someone told me a while back that Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator wasn't a great book. And yeah, it is a disappointment. I'm not even sure the book succeeds on any level except to make Roald Dahl some bucks. There isn't even a plot and Charlie is completely unnecessary to the entire thing. C+