Star Wars The Force Awakens Incredible Cross Sections by Jason Fry
Incredible cross-sections is a beautiful book! Not only are all the images “incredible”, but there are short articles on every page. The articles tell you a little about each vehicle. For example, did you know that Rey built that speeder herself? Even Han’s new freighter is in this book and so are the Rathtars.
Millennium Falcon Cross Section
I am very glad that my library had this book. But honestly, if my kids were a little more into Star Wars I would not hesitate to buy this for $20. As it is, I don’t have the room for this and I’d be the only one looking at it. Click on the image above to see a larger version. Can you find Finn?
I track what I’ve read and what I want to read on goodreads, but I also have a spreadsheet. Just something simple on google sheets. In 2015 I was interested if I read more male authors work or female. So I started tracking it (67% male). Patterson mentions that Amanda Nelson of Book Riot not only records their gender but also their nationality, and whether or not they identify as a person of color. I thought this is great finally a way to better my existing system.
I loved that Patterson liked Stacy Schiff’s The Witches: Salem, 1692 because that book is on my short list of to TBR. It drives me crazy that I haven’t read it yet.
Last year, the BBC reported that translations comprise just 2 to 3 percent of English publishing, compared with 27 percent in France and up to 70 percent in Slovenia.
Wow! I’ve read two books this year that are translations The Stranger and Missing Person. Both, oddly enough French translations. Go figure! Make that three, I didn’t realize that Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist was a translation.
I’m reading the article as I write this. Patterson is a librarian and the more I read of this article the more my desire to be a librarian increases. I’ve known for several years that I would like to do that kind of work, but I haven’t acted on it yet. To many responsibilities to try to make this happen right now. Maybe much later?
At the end of every book I loved, I felt transformed. I wanted to tell everyone about it…
I find this frustrating as none of my friends read as much as I do. The ones that come close are not people I talk to as often as I would like. I work with them and I’m too busy at work to have a long book conversation most days. This is frustrating, I assume if you are a librarian you get to talk books a lot more. Again, jealous!
I’m done now, and I feel that you would do well to read this article if you are a reader of books. I enjoyed it. Have fun and keep reading!
This was a strange book. The Stranger (aka The Outsider) by Albert Camus is an odd book. The main character seems completely apathetic. I gave this book 3 stars. It was well written and the story was interesting, but that was the extent of it. I’m not sure what the author wanted us to take away on this novel. In trying to review this book I ran across this video review. You have to watch it.
Here is the short list for the rest of the month. I hope to read these all by the end of the month. I’m starting The Stranger today. The rest will follow in the order they are in the picture. Most of these are from my reading list, but The Stranger is a suggestion from a great virtual book club on goodreads called Catching up on the Classics.
Here I am going on and on and totally forgot to get to the point. I just finished my 9th book of the month (review coming soon). You know what that means? I’m on track to read 100 books this year. I need to read at least 8 books each month (8.2 really). So I am very excited to be on track and can’t wait to dive into The Stranger.
The group does a few reads every month. They have a new school read, which is a modern classic. An old school classic which is what you think it is. They also have a long read, usually over 500 pages and a short read under 200. February’s short read is The Stranger, weighing in at only 123 pages in the paperback pictured above.
I hope they can forgive me for starting it early, but I have already read The Little Prince which is January’s pick. By the way, if you haven’t seen the 2015 movie, you should. It is really fantastic and lets you re-think the book entirely. I’m putting the trailer in here below.
I have another review coming soon, but for now, I really need to get back to my reading. See you in the stacks!
Halfway through The Secret History by Donna Tartt I knew I was going to give this book a 5 out of 5. It is a story about a handful of students that are taught by a special professor. The professor only has this handful of students and teaches all but one or two of the students classes himself. An oddity in college. The story takes place in Vermont. The students see them self as elite as does the professor and the professor helps them see only the best in themselves.
The students take things too far. Further than you or I would think possible. There are several places where Greek is spoken but you get the just of things so it’s okay. It helps if you have read some of the Greek classics. Just when you think the book is winding down, boom! There is a surprise. Great book!
I listened to the audio edition of the book. It is read by Donna Tartt, the author. I love it when the author does the audio book themselves. You know they are reading it the way it is meant to be read. They are putting emphasis in all the right places. They do the voices of the characters as they should be and as they felt they would be. Really it’s the best thing you can get if unable to read the print version.
This book is on the BBC 100 list that I have been referring to often in my writing on this blog. So, I’m very glad I can put a line through another title. I would recommend this book to my friends. It is a great story and not slow by any means.
So I read Shade Me by Jennifer Brown. Before we get to the spoilers let me just say quickly that this is a very strong 4 on a 1-5 scale. The only reason I held back on 5 is because of a bit too much teenage angst for my liking. Although, not nearly as much as the Twilight books. Also, there were a hand full of times, that I caught myself thinking, come on Nikki really, that’s dumb, don’t do that. But this actually might be a reason to give it more stars not less because if you are talking to yourself while reading the book, its got you. Full disclosure, I entered a contest on EpicReads and was sent this book for free. It doesn’t get officially published until 1/19/16.
