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Book Review | Alight

This review may suffer from my delay in writing it. I know what this sounds like but this is another 5-star book. Alight is the follow up of Alive by Scott Sigler. I can’t say enough about this book series. As I write this I’m checking goodreads to see when I read the third novel. I can’t believe I haven’t read the third book yet! This is frustrating because I had my next book to read already lined up, but I loved the first two books in the series SO much.

The storyline is original. Right there is something that is far too rare now. You are immediately invested in the characters. This is YA and I do find myself really enjoying these novels as a whole. I’m not aiming to find them or anything. They seem to find me and on the whole, I really enjoy them. The story in Alight is fast paced and keeps you coming back for more. When you have to put this book down it is disappointing and you can’t wait to come back to it. The story has twist and turns. There are love triangles. There are baddies that are mysterious. So far its kind of like reading a LOST series.

Alight is 448 pages, but it moves incredibly fast. If you liked the first book, Alive, you will love the follow-up. If you haven’t read Alive yet, go back and read my review of that and then go read the book!

Book Review | You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

I’ve seen some of what the author, Felicia Day has done as far as the creation of content on the Internet and I’ve seen her featured as a guest on a lot of Internet shows like Twit and the like, but I never really knew her. She seems to be pretty similar to me. She seems pretty geeky. After reading You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) I can vouch for her geekiness! Actually, I think she has much more geek credibility than myself. She wrote a very entertaining biography. If you are a geek I think you will enjoy this book, she is also very funny!

I enjoyed listening to this book on audio from Overdrive a service that my local public library pays for. And one that I enthusiastically take advantage of. Ms. Day reads this audiobook herself. Which I love. Not many authors do this anymore. I feel as though you really get the whole idea of what the author is meant to be getting across to you. It is read as it should be in otherworldly because the author is reading it. No room for misinterpretation. I gave this audiobook 4 out of 5 stars. A very high rating for me. Almost nothing I read gets 5 starts. Maybe 2 or 3 books a year maximum will get a 5-star rating from me.

Book Review | Tarkin

I never need an excuse to read a Star Wars novel! Reading Tarkin by James Luceno was interesting because I learned more about the Star Wars universe as Disney sees it. I always enjoy learning more about the characters that we have all learned to love and grown close too since the first movies came out when I was a child. It was a good enough story, but it centered wholly on a character that I never really cared for. Not that they sold it as anything else since I mean the title is pretty explicit, it’s just that I don’t think anyone really cared too much about this character but here is a whole novel about him. I’m a little lost on what within this novel helped tell the story of the Star Wars universe. It is not a poorly written book, just a book that was written without anyone asking for it. I can’t recommend it but judged solely on it writing it is a good story if you care to read it. I gave this book three out of five stars, but I’m not sure it deserved it.

Book Review | The Son of Neptune

Yes, I’m a fan of Rick Riordan. Yes, I love YA novels and The Son of Neptune is no different. They are entertaining and I like to read them. Reading my short Goodreads review of this book reminds me of how much I love these novels. Lots of times I will listen to them on audio. They are fantastic and I love to be reminded of how much I enjoy them and that I need to get back to reading the series again. I believe this is as far as I am in this series. One book a year from the series is I guess what I average.

The last four chapters of this book are riveting and some truly great action-adventure writing. I still don’t know if this series is as strong as the first, but it is very good reading!

Book Review | The Grownup

I hardly remember The Grownup by Gillian Flynn. It was a very short book, 64 pages. Amazon sells it as a Kindle Single. That’s not to say that it is not a good book. Some of the best books I’ve ever read are very short. This is a very good book and I can guarantee you will be riveted to it for the duration.

The short spoiler-free synopsis is a con artist meets her match and you get to know that character and the others in just 64 pages. Some authors have a whole book and still can’t get that done. For $2.99 as a Kindle Single, you really can’t go wrong with this. It made me want to further explore this author’s longer works. I received this book for free as part of my regular Book of the Month monthly delivery.

I really need to keep up this blog better. I hope to have more time to write this holiday break. I hope you and your family are having a wonderful holiday, however, you celebrate it (or don’t).

Book Review | Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine

What can I say about this book? I picked up Wine Folly on a visit to my local library. They had it out on a random table display with other wine books. This one looked pretty good, so I grabbed it on an impulse borrow. I am glad I did. This is a kind of coffee table book or reference book at most. There is no story or narrative. There are a bunch of beautiful graphs and visualizations in this book. It goes over what the tastes for different wines are. It doesn’t compare them per se, but it does a good job getting a novice aquatinted with wines and the way they taste for all the different ones. It covers the most popular ones but doesn’t have everything. This would be best suited for those that are just starting out with wine and not something for someone who already knows a lot.

War and Peace | App Recommendation

I’ve started to use this app called serial reader to help me tackle the very large War and Peace. So far it is helping a lot. It has broken up the tome into 235 segments. Each segment is about 10 to 15 minutes in reading time. If I can stick with it, I will be done with the book in less than a year at this rate. I’m currently around 62 segments read. That means that I am about 27% complete with the tome.

This new way of attacking the book seems to be working for me and I’m looking forward to checking it off my list and moving onto the next large tome.

The Fearsome Foursome (Tales from the Haunted Mansion #1)

Tales from the Haunted Mansion Vol. 1: The Fearsome Foursome

These are definitely for kids, but having said that, it was still a fun read! Not so subtle hints and phrases that people who frequent haunted mansion will recognize within Tales from the Haunted Mansion: Vol. 1. If you or your tween is a Disney fan you will most likely enjoy these stories that follow a group of friends on a “scary” journey into the haunted mansion that you and I both know and love. I enjoyed the artwork in the book but mostly found it unnecessary as it didn’t add anything to the story.

Volume 2: Midnight at Madame Leota’s is already available. Given that the first book was really just a children’s novel and didn’t really scare or move me with its story, I don’t think I will be picking up the second volume, but if you have kids that like scary stories, I think they will enjoy this as well.

Shadows and Secrets (Star Wars: Darth Vader #2)

Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 2: Shadows and Secrets

As I catch up on my reviews, I find myself struggling to remember some books. There is one, however, stands out for the secondary character. I liked this new Aphra character. The storyline in Shadows and Secrets was really good, it wasn’t just great art, it had a very interesting storyline that kept me engaged the whole time. This Star Wars series is definitely worth your time. I believe this new character is even getting her own comic books now. I can’t wait to read more of these.

Writing this post now reminds me of how much I misreading these Star Wars comics. I wish there was one site that had all these in an order that was easy to understand and read. If anyone knows of any please let me know in the comments.

Book Review: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey

Follow Roosevelt on the adventure of a lifetime. At times this was slow, but it was written as a biography and a travel novel. There is a lot of detail here. You can tell the author did their homework, but at times the details did come at the expense of the readability of The River of Doubt. I did enjoy this book and for those history buffs who are into the presidents, I would recommend it.

The journey itself is interesting even if it was not a former president. It’s had to believe this was written in 2005. It felt like a much older book, but maybe that’s because the actual trip took place, just after 1912, so much before when it was written. Even with all its detail I did give it 4 out of 5 stars. This one was an audiobook and that’s probably why I read it so fast even though it had all that detail.