Title: Millenium Flacon by James Luceno
Summary: (from Amazon.com)
Two years have passed since Jacen Solo, seduced by the dark side and reanointed as the brutal Sith Lord Darth Caedus, died at the hands of his twin sister, Jaina, Sword of the Jedi. For a grieving Han and Leia, the shadow of their son’s tragic downfall still looms large. But Jacen’s own bright and loving daughter, Allana, offers a ray of hope for the future as she thrives in her grandparents’ care. And when the eager, inquisitive girl, in whom the Force grows ever stronger, makes a curious discovery aboard her grandfather’s beloved spacecraft–the much-overhauled but ever-dependable Millennium Falcon–the Solo family finds itself at a new turning point, about to set out on an odyssey into uncertain territory, untold adventure, and unexpected rewards.
To Han, who knows every bolt, weld, and sensor of the Falcon as if they were parts of himself, the strange device Allana shows him is utterly alien. But its confounding presence–and Allana’s infectious desire to unravel its mystery–are impossible to dismiss. The only answer lies in backtracking into the past on a fact-finding expedition to retrace the people, places, and events in the checkered history of the vessel that’s done everything from making the Kessel Run “in less than twelve parsecs” to helping topple an evil empire.
From the moment the Falcon broke loose from a Corellian assembly line like an untamed creature with a will of its own, it seemed destined to seek out trouble. It wasn’t long before the feisty YT-1300 freighter went from shuttling cargo to smuggling contraband. But it‘s a fateful rendezvous on Coruscant, at the explosive height of the Republic/Separatist uprising, that launches a galaxywide cat-and-mouse game whose newest players are Han, Leia, Allana, and C-3PO. And they’re not alone: Crime lords, galactic pirates, rogue politicians, and fortune hunters alike loom at every turn of the quest–each with his or her own desperate stake in the Millennium Falcon’s most momentous mission. Through the years and across the stars, from the Rim worlds to unknown points beyond, the race will lead them all to a final standoff for a prize some will risk everything to find–and pay any cost to possess.
My Take:
The great thing about Star Wars books is that you can start anywhere in the series and still have an idea of what is going on. This was a great book that actually took the time to answer the call for the history of the famed ship. There was just enough action paired with dialogue and it left room for the next books in the canon.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet-Jamie Ford
Title: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Book Jacket- In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown, It has been boarded up for decades, but now the owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.
This simple act takes Henry back to the 1940's when his world was a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who was obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American, While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Ranier Elementary, where white kids ignore him. Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcends the longs standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left with only the hope that the war will end and that their promise to each other will be kept.
Forty years later, Henry Lee, certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko, searches the hotel's dark, dusty basement for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long lost object who's value he cannot even begin to measure, Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice; words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.
Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope.
My Take: This book may just be the best one I have ever read and if you have been paying attention, I read a lot of books. The story was raw and beautifully written. Ford managed to tell an enduring love story without flowery pros and long winded descriptions. His way of writing Henry as a conflicted individual battling with what he wants (Keiko) and trying to remove himself from under the thumb of his strict Chinese father is brilliant. protracting Henry's struggles with the pre-conceived notion his son Marty carries about him and his nationalistic upbringing is the subtle undercurrent that colors the present set portions of the book. The supporting cast of characters doesn't fade into the background and by no means do they disappoint. Everything is wrapped in a nice, emotional bow at the end of the book. the reader will be left satisfied and touched by the tale of these star crossed lovers and the journey they take together that spans 285 pages, forty years, and numerous turns on an old record player.
Jamie Ford will defiantly be under this book worms eye for years to come.
Length- 285 Pages, About three days
Rating- 5 stars out of 5 stars. Go read this book, Now.
Book Jacket- In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown, It has been boarded up for decades, but now the owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.
This simple act takes Henry back to the 1940's when his world was a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who was obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American, While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Ranier Elementary, where white kids ignore him. Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcends the longs standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left with only the hope that the war will end and that their promise to each other will be kept.
Forty years later, Henry Lee, certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko, searches the hotel's dark, dusty basement for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long lost object who's value he cannot even begin to measure, Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice; words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.
Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope.
My Take: This book may just be the best one I have ever read and if you have been paying attention, I read a lot of books. The story was raw and beautifully written. Ford managed to tell an enduring love story without flowery pros and long winded descriptions. His way of writing Henry as a conflicted individual battling with what he wants (Keiko) and trying to remove himself from under the thumb of his strict Chinese father is brilliant. protracting Henry's struggles with the pre-conceived notion his son Marty carries about him and his nationalistic upbringing is the subtle undercurrent that colors the present set portions of the book. The supporting cast of characters doesn't fade into the background and by no means do they disappoint. Everything is wrapped in a nice, emotional bow at the end of the book. the reader will be left satisfied and touched by the tale of these star crossed lovers and the journey they take together that spans 285 pages, forty years, and numerous turns on an old record player.
Jamie Ford will defiantly be under this book worms eye for years to come.
Length- 285 Pages, About three days
Rating- 5 stars out of 5 stars. Go read this book, Now.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Neverwhere: Neil Gaiman
Title: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Jacket Cover-
Richard Mayhew is an unassuming young businessman living in London, with a dull job, and a pretty but demanding fiancee. Than one night he stumbled across a girl bleeding on the sidewalk, He stops to help her --and the life he knows vanishes like smoke. Several hours later, the girl is gone too. By the following morning Richard Mayhew has been erased from his world. His bank cards no longer work, taxi drivers won't stop for him, his landlord rents his apartment out to strangers. He has become invisible, and inexplicably consigned to a London of shadows and darkness-to a city of monsters and saints, murders and angels, that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth of sever canals and abandoned subway stations. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.
For this is the home of Door, the mysterious girl whom Richard rescued in the London Above. A personage of great power and nobility in this murky, candlelit realm, she is on a mission to discover the cause of her family's slaughter, and in doing so preserve this strange underworld kingdom from the malevolence that means to destroy it. With nowhere else to turn Richard Mayhew must now join the Lady Doors's entourage in their determined and possibly fatal quest.
My Take:
It was not his best work to be honest. The book was dark and held my attention. Some of the characters seemed two-dimensional. They were not developed enough before they were killed off or written out of the book yet Gaiman tried to pass them off as meaningful parts of the story. So far Stardust is still my favorite of this spooky author's works.
Time- Once I got started it took about a week to read.
Rating- 3.5/5 stars
Jacket Cover-
Richard Mayhew is an unassuming young businessman living in London, with a dull job, and a pretty but demanding fiancee. Than one night he stumbled across a girl bleeding on the sidewalk, He stops to help her --and the life he knows vanishes like smoke. Several hours later, the girl is gone too. By the following morning Richard Mayhew has been erased from his world. His bank cards no longer work, taxi drivers won't stop for him, his landlord rents his apartment out to strangers. He has become invisible, and inexplicably consigned to a London of shadows and darkness-to a city of monsters and saints, murders and angels, that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth of sever canals and abandoned subway stations. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.
For this is the home of Door, the mysterious girl whom Richard rescued in the London Above. A personage of great power and nobility in this murky, candlelit realm, she is on a mission to discover the cause of her family's slaughter, and in doing so preserve this strange underworld kingdom from the malevolence that means to destroy it. With nowhere else to turn Richard Mayhew must now join the Lady Doors's entourage in their determined and possibly fatal quest.
My Take:
It was not his best work to be honest. The book was dark and held my attention. Some of the characters seemed two-dimensional. They were not developed enough before they were killed off or written out of the book yet Gaiman tried to pass them off as meaningful parts of the story. So far Stardust is still my favorite of this spooky author's works.
Time- Once I got started it took about a week to read.
Rating- 3.5/5 stars
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Where the Heart Is- Billie Letts
Title: Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Jacket Summary:
Novalee Nation has always been unlucky with sevens. She's seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty seven pounds overweight- and now she finds herself stranded at a Wal*Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, holding just $7.77 in change. An hour ago, she was on her way from Tennessee to a new life in Bakersfield, California. Suddenly, with all those sevens stairing her in the face, she is forced to accept the scary truth: her no-good boyfriend Willy Jack Pickens has left her with empty pockets and empty dreams.
But Novalee is about to discover treasures hidden in Sequoyah--a group of disparate and deeply caring people, among them blue-haired Sister Thelma Husband, who hands out advice and photocopied books of the Bible..Moses Whitecotton, the wise, soft-spoken, elderly black photographer eager to teach Novalee all he knows..and Forney Hull, the eccentric town librarian who hides his secrets--and his feelings--behind his world of books.
Nocalee may be homeless and jobless, living secretly in a Wal*Mart, but she's beginning to believe she may have a future. Through all the touching and suprising adventures that lie ahead, she's going in the right direction.
My opinion
This was an amazing book. I really did not expect much from it at first but it sucked me in. I remember there being a big deal about it when I was younger but I was not really paying attention to books back then. It was a quick read too. I was left crying during several parts. If you are in the mood for a feel good tale this is definatly the book to pick up.
RATING
4.5 out of 5
TIME?
Three days
Jacket Summary:
Novalee Nation has always been unlucky with sevens. She's seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty seven pounds overweight- and now she finds herself stranded at a Wal*Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, holding just $7.77 in change. An hour ago, she was on her way from Tennessee to a new life in Bakersfield, California. Suddenly, with all those sevens stairing her in the face, she is forced to accept the scary truth: her no-good boyfriend Willy Jack Pickens has left her with empty pockets and empty dreams.
But Novalee is about to discover treasures hidden in Sequoyah--a group of disparate and deeply caring people, among them blue-haired Sister Thelma Husband, who hands out advice and photocopied books of the Bible..Moses Whitecotton, the wise, soft-spoken, elderly black photographer eager to teach Novalee all he knows..and Forney Hull, the eccentric town librarian who hides his secrets--and his feelings--behind his world of books.
Nocalee may be homeless and jobless, living secretly in a Wal*Mart, but she's beginning to believe she may have a future. Through all the touching and suprising adventures that lie ahead, she's going in the right direction.
My opinion
This was an amazing book. I really did not expect much from it at first but it sucked me in. I remember there being a big deal about it when I was younger but I was not really paying attention to books back then. It was a quick read too. I was left crying during several parts. If you are in the mood for a feel good tale this is definatly the book to pick up.
RATING
4.5 out of 5
TIME?
Three days
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
What I Did For Love- Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Title: What I Did For Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Summary:: (Source http://www.susanephillips.com/what_i_did_for_love.html ))
This was a cute book. It was well written and amusing but more or less unrealistic. The formula of fake-marriage-turns-to-real-love has been used time and time again but Ms. Phillips has some how written a book that makes the well warn formula new and entertaining.
SCORE: 4.5/5 stars
Summary:: (Source http://www.susanephillips.com/what_i_did_for_love.html ))
It's not easy being famous when your life is falling apart... Georgie York has been dumped by her movie star husband, her own film career is tanking, and her public image as a spunky romantic heroine is taking a serious beating.My Take:What should a down-on-her-luck actress do? NOT go to Vegas...NOT run into her detestable former co-star—dreamboat-from-hell Bramwell Shepard...and NOT get caught up in a ridiculous incident that leads to a calamitous elopement. Before she knows it, Georgie has a fake marriage, fake husband, and maybe (or not) a fake sex life.
It's a paparazzi free-for-all, and Georgie's non-supporting cast doesn't help. There's Bram's punk-nightmare housekeeper; Georgie's pushy parent; a suck-up agent; an icy studio head; and her ex-husband's new wife, an international do-gooder who just might win the stupid Nobel Peace Prize!
As for Georgie's leading man... Bram, with his angel blue eyes and twisted black heart, has never cared about anyone but himself. Still, he's giving the performance of his life as man in love—thanks to the half a million dollars she's paying him. It was official. She'd married the devil. Or had she?
Two enemies find themselves working without a script in a town where the spotlight shines bright...and where the strongest emotions can wear startling disguises.
This was a cute book. It was well written and amusing but more or less unrealistic. The formula of fake-marriage-turns-to-real-love has been used time and time again but Ms. Phillips has some how written a book that makes the well warn formula new and entertaining.
SCORE: 4.5/5 stars
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey
Title: The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey
Summary (by me!)
Elena Klovis is not living the life she thought she would. Her father remarried a shrew of a woman after her mothers death and Elena found herself sattled with a new Stepmother and two step sisters. After her fathers death Elena is forced to serve her step-family as a lower servent in the house. Her stepmothers caviliar spending habits soon land them in a world of debt. The mistress announces one day that her and her daughtors (excluding Elena) are leaving. They pack up their belongings and head for greener, and richer lands.
Elena waits as the creditors decend upon the skeleton of the family home. She makes a plan to go to the' mop fair' to find work. No one will hire her for fear of what her Stepmother will do once she returns. About to give up entirely Elena is suprised when a colorful woman offers her a position. She accepts and soon learns that she has accepted the position as an apprentice to the kingdoms Fairy Godmother. The story follows Elena through her teachings as well as her first large task as the acting Godmother.
My Take
This book was LONG but so worth the time it took to finish. The story ran along the lines of cinderella with a twist. It was very good. I would highly reccomend it. The charactors were well established and the story was entirly origional. It was a nice little escape into fantasy land
Reading Time :: Almost a week PAGES : 417
Rating: 4.5/5
Summary (by me!)
Elena Klovis is not living the life she thought she would. Her father remarried a shrew of a woman after her mothers death and Elena found herself sattled with a new Stepmother and two step sisters. After her fathers death Elena is forced to serve her step-family as a lower servent in the house. Her stepmothers caviliar spending habits soon land them in a world of debt. The mistress announces one day that her and her daughtors (excluding Elena) are leaving. They pack up their belongings and head for greener, and richer lands.
Elena waits as the creditors decend upon the skeleton of the family home. She makes a plan to go to the' mop fair' to find work. No one will hire her for fear of what her Stepmother will do once she returns. About to give up entirely Elena is suprised when a colorful woman offers her a position. She accepts and soon learns that she has accepted the position as an apprentice to the kingdoms Fairy Godmother. The story follows Elena through her teachings as well as her first large task as the acting Godmother.
My Take
This book was LONG but so worth the time it took to finish. The story ran along the lines of cinderella with a twist. It was very good. I would highly reccomend it. The charactors were well established and the story was entirly origional. It was a nice little escape into fantasy land
Reading Time :: Almost a week PAGES : 417
Rating: 4.5/5
Friday, March 6, 2009
Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Title- Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Wikipedia Summary::
A shadowy, murderous figure from Sgt. Doakes' past arrives in Miami, and begins preying on his treacherous old army colleagues from the Salvadorian Civil War. He possesses a unique method of torture that has earned him the nickname 'Dr. Danco'; he kidnaps each victim, pumps them full of sedatives and, over a period of several days, steadily removes their limbs, genitalia and facial features, before leaving them to contemplate their hideous mutilation in front of a carefully placed mirror.
Wikipedia Summary::
A shadowy, murderous figure from Sgt. Doakes' past arrives in Miami, and begins preying on his treacherous old army colleagues from the Salvadorian Civil War. He possesses a unique method of torture that has earned him the nickname 'Dr. Danco'; he kidnaps each victim, pumps them full of sedatives and, over a period of several days, steadily removes their limbs, genitalia and facial features, before leaving them to contemplate their hideous mutilation in front of a carefully placed mirror.
Meanwhile, Dexter, having been forced to suppress his own murderous urges by the machinations of an increasingly suspicious Doakes, welcomes the distraction and begins to focus on hunting down a possible child killer. However, he finds himself drawn into the case of the mysterious Dr. Danco when his sister Deborah's new boyfriend, Washington detective Kyle Chutsky, turns out to be on the torturer’s hit list...
My Thoughts
I really liked this Dexter book. None of them are that complicated. Sadly real life got in the way of my reading and this book took me quite a while to finish. Either way it was nicely paced and had a good plot. I enjoyed that it veered away from the plot the show decided to trudge down.
READING TIME: Bleh I don't want to talk about it
RATING- 4/5
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