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+

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+