meg reads and reads

Title: Honor Among Thieves Author: James S.A. Corey Here's a Han Solo Star Wars novel that feels true to Han. The dialogue is fantastic. Han and Chewie are exceptional. The book introduces a Rebel spy named Scarlet Hark, and she is cool as crap. Luke and Leia make appearances, but it doesn't feel forced. There is so much to like here. The book takes place in between Episodes IV and V. Han and Chewie are sent to extract Scarlet Hark from the midst of Imperial space. She has gotten her hands on a weapon that can turn the tide of the war if the Rebels can get away with it. This is a fast-paced adventure that feels very Star Wars. It was a very enjoyable read. Four out of five stars. ------------------------------------- QUOTES: "So how did you wind up joining the Rebellion?" "An old guy and a kid were looking for a ride and I needed the money," Han said. "After that, it was just bad luck." "We're not anarchists," she said. "We have ...

Title: Birthday Letters Author: Ted Hughes One would expect a book of poetry largely written about a person's former wife, the mother of his children, to be more personal. This book is devoid of any emotion. I would even venture to say that it is boring. There are no major revelations in this collection, no real displays of affection. He surely loved her once, right? What this feels like to me is a gross capitalization off a famous suicide, the sole purpose being to gain some more fame of his own. It's disgusting. Down to the references to Plath's most famous work (e.g., "Daddy"), I just can't seem to find any redeeming qualities in Hughes's collection here. --------------------------------------- QUOTES The dreamer in her Had fallen in love with me and she did not know it. That moment the dreamer in me Fell in love with her and I knew it. ---- I had let it all grow. I had supposed It was all OK. Your life Was a liner I voyaged in. Costly education had fit...

Title: The Perfect Swing Author: James McGirk I got this for free on Audible. It's advertised as a "Bedtime Story." It's narrated by Nick Jonas, which was the real reason I picked it up--Nick Jonas is freakin' hot. I'm only seven years older than him. That's not too much, is it?  I am a huge baseball fan, and I currently am going through some major baseball withdrawal (go Braves!), and I played softball when I was young. The book goes through the technicalities of the baseball swings of two of baseball's all-time greatest players: Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. DiMaggio had a technically perfect swing in every imaginable way whereas Williams was constantly adjusting his swing, sometimes in ways that would make batting coaches cringe. In fact, even I was cringing as they would describe some of his batting stances. But his batting success is undisputed. It obviously worked for him. Nick's voice was very soothing, and I honestly had a hard time keepin...

Title: Open Book Author: Jessica Simpson I listened to this on audiobook, and it was an unexpected pleasure. I was honestly expecting a half-thought-out superficial look at her life, but this book is well put together, and it is extremely evident Jessica put a lot of thought into the events of her life, how she got where she is, and the difficulties that she faced. I truly think listening to this on audiobook really added something to it. I could really hear her emotions--laughter and tears--throughout the book, which added so much more impact and made me feel the reality of her story. Parts of it were not easy to listen to, but they're equally important to listen to, especially if you're the mother of girls. Jessica tells us of her extremely conservative upbringing as a churchgoing family in Texas, how naive she was, her sexual abuse, her courtship and later marriage to Nick (and, yes, she does address the infamous "Is it chicken or is it fish?" mom...

Title: Razor's Edge Author: Martha Wells I really wanted to like this book. As I've mentioned before, I'm much more of a Star Trek fan, but I like Star Wars, too. And I adore Princess Leia. This book takes place between Episodes IV and V, with the Rebels working on building their secret base on Hoth.  Sounds promising, right?  Wrong. This book is so boring, I would literally fall asleep reading it. Nightly. Within minutes. I don't know how I ever finished it. I don't really have a whole lot to say about it other than it didn't really feel much like a Star Wars book. Leia was action-wise convincingly portrayed, but her inner thoughts and inability to write off some Alderaanian pirates for what they were did not feel like the Leia I knew. The pirates and redeemed Alderaanians and the Imperial folks are virtually indistinguishable from one another, which makes it very confusing to read. I'm already not a huge fan of Luke, but he was especially pathetic in this ...

Title: The Martian Author: Andy Weir This was my second audiobook, and I enjoyed it immensely. This is very much a science science-fiction book, meaning that Weir is either a scientist by nature or did a ton of research for this book, but either way, it is realistic and compelling and absolutely mind-blowing. I know a lot of people have already read this or seen the movie. I had never read it and have not seen the movie, so all of this was a complete surprise to me. I had no idea what this was about or what was going to happen, and it was wonderful. Mark Watney is a botanist-turned-astronaut on the first manned-mission to Mars. After a mishap on Mars, his crew, thinking him dead, inadvertently leave him behind, and he is forced to figure out how to survive. He figures out how to grow potatoes on Mars, how to have continuous clean drinking water, how to make sure he doesn't run out out of air, and ultimately how to communicate with Earth to let them know, "Hey, I'...

Title: Maul: Lockdown Author: Joe Schreiber I guess this is one of the last books written before Disney acquired Star Wars and wiped out the Expanded Universe (EU) as canon. I was having a hard time finding a list of Star Wars canon books written in order (rather than in chronological order by timeline), so I just started with those published in 2014 and went from there. The book itself is basically interesting. We have Maul on a mission from his Sith Master, Darth Sidious, to infiltrate a prison and acquire a piece of technology from someone who is hiding in said prison (on such a level that he is nearly mythological) and deliver it to what is essentially a cult led by a former Jedi called the Bando Gora--all without using the Force. The former Jedi leader of the Bando Gora, Komari Vosa (a former apprentice of Dooku), is not Sith either. She's just something else. There's also a whole side plot about how Maul is being used as a chess piece by Darth Sidious and ...