Reviews Week 4

 Reviews Week 4

January 23rd-29th

Book 19: The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem

By Jack Mitchell

Read January 20th-25th

Pages Read: 224

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 I have wanted a modern day epic poem for years, especially one based on one of my favorite stories of all time. The original trilogy of Star Wars fits the format very well and has the epic qualities that make it a perfect story to tell in this way. It was a lot of fun seeing the ways that Jack told this story throughout the book.

Each of the books is set in another place throughout the story, for instance Tatooine, Dagobah, Hoth, etc. One of my favorite aspects was at the beginning of the parts for Return of the Jedi and how Luke was relaying his story to Obi-Wan. Such a fun way of having the in media res represented in this epic poem.

Another of my favorite parts of this story were the aspects that Jack took from the Prequels, Rouge One, and the Han Solo movie. I was not expecting to see any of that in this story but it was interesting how he chose to add parts of those stories throughout. For instance, when Obi-Wan is talking about Anakin fighting Count Dooku during the Clone Wars.

The Odyssey is one of my favorite stories and I have wanted an epic poem just like it or The Iliad for a very long time. I hope that Jack Mitchell will write more epic poems from other stories. 

Book 20: Only You Can Save Mankind

By Terry Pratchett

Read January 27th

Pages Read: 240

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 Another fun Terry Pratchett adventure, this time for younger readers. I enjoyed the story in this book quite a bit and having the classic Pratchett humor in a more modern setting. Terry was a fan of video games and you can tell that in this book. It was a fun story and I look forward to seeing what happens next with Johnny. 

Book 21: Shakespeare Well-Versed

By James Muirden

Read January 27th

Pages Read: 226

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 I enjoy the idea behind this collection of poems, especially that James wrote a poem for each of Shakespeare’s plays. Such a neat idea. Each poem tells the synopsis of his plays in many different ways. Makes me want to read some of the ones that I have never read like The Winter’s Tale.

Typographic Book Covers

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Typographic Book Covers

Book covers with a design that is all or mostly all words. This prompt was submitted by Mareli @ Elza Reads

1. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares- I was a big fan of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series when I was in middle school and early high school. I remember when this book first came out vividly and having to get it right away. It was one of my favorite books then, though I was so sad that we never got a sequel for it. 

2. Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs edited by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser- I became obsessed with six-word memoirs and wanted to write the best one in my sophomore year of high school. This is one of the many books that I found on the subject a couple of years later. I love how they formatted the typography on the cover of this book. 

3. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare- I'm a big fan of the Folger Shakespeare Library versions of Shakespeare's plays, and I get them any time I find a new one for a decent price. They are definitely my favorite edition of Shakespeare's plays.  This is one of my favorites in the collection. 

4. Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley- I read Words in Deep Blue a couple of years ago, and this beautiful cover matches the contents of the novel perfectly. The story is about a letter library and the importance of writing in our lives. It shows how important words can be in preserving people even after they are gone. I completely recommend reading it. It's one of my favorite young adult contemporary novels ever. 

5. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green- The Anthropocene Reviewed was one of my top ten favorite books of last year. Here is my review for his book:

Part memoir, part insights into the seemingly random, part review; John Green's first nonfiction book hit me a lot harder than I could have ever expected. I have been following John for a very long time, along with his brother Hank. Whether that be from his Youtube videos or his novels. He has been one of my favorite authors for years, and I was excited when he said that he was coming out with a book like this. I have always loved John's insight into the world around him. His antidotes in his videos have so much of himself in them, along with so much information.

“... I called my brother, Hank, and told him I was feeling frightened. Hank is the levelheaded one, the sane one, the calm one. He always has been. We have never let the fact of my being older get in the way of Hank being the wise older brother.”: I just adore this quote so much. Hank and John are some of my absolute favorite people to follow online.

Each of these essays felt so real to him as a person, and I loved learning more and more about him. Also, about so many cool things. John is such a smart person with a mind that I envy, especially how he can write. This is just one of the many examples.

My favorite essay was probably "Auld Lang Syne" if I had to pick one, but there were so many other great ones like "Harvey". Both of these essays had me in tears, with the grief he shared and the mental health struggles. I loved how he put so much of himself and his life in each of these essays. I cannot tell you how much I related to these essays especially.

I completely recommend picking this up, especially the audiobook that he narrates. It was such an amazing experience overall.

I rate The Anthropocene Reviewed five stars. I rate John Green's writing five stars. I rate the experience six stars because obviously, I want to break the system.

"We all know what it's like to feel alone. We will all call out someday to someone who cannot answer us."

6. The Magic Strings of Frankie Preston by Mitch Albom- Mitch Albom's books are all absolutely beautiful stories inside and out. I cannot help falling into them while reading. 

7. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste NG- I believe that this was the first book that I reviewed on my original blog that I do not use anymore, back in 2017. There are so many memories that I have from reading this novel. It is one that I would love to come back to and reread sometime soon. 

8. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green- My favorite of John Green's young adult contemporary books by far. I remember reading this book in one sitting the day that it came out because I could not put it down. John's typographic covers have always been some of my favorites, especially this one. 

9. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green- The Green brothers both have a good number of typographic covers between them both. I love that the main part of this cover is the title and then that the Carls are in the foreground. This and its sequel are two of my favorite science fiction books of all time. Hank does such a great job blending in pop culture commentary along with his story. I loved the puzzles in this book and Hank's clever ideas with them. 

10. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was one of the best books that I read last year. Addie's story is one that I will not forget anytime soon, and I adore this beautiful simplistic cover that they made for it. 

Reviews Week 21

 Reviews Week 21

May 23rd- 29th

Book 57: Jim Henson's Storyteller: Witches

by S.M. Vidaurri, Kyla Vanderklugt, Matthew Dow Smith, Jeff Stokely

Read May 13th-25th

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"The Magic Swan Goose & the Lord of the Forest"- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed the plot of this story and also the style of the illustrations. It was so beautiful to look at. It was my favorite out of the collection.

"The Snow Witch"- ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was quite an interesting story, with a pretty good illustration style. A good fairy tale that I did like quite a bit.

"The Phantom Isle"- ⭐⭐

I didn't like this story or the illustration style. It was just okay.

"Vasilissa the Beautiful" - ⭐⭐⭐

This was definitely the most beautiful of the stories and the story was pretty good. This is the only one out of the collection that I had known the story before. Well, at least a version of the story.

Book 58: Jim Henson's Storyteller: Dragons

by Daniel Bayliss

Read May 25th

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"Song of the Serpent"- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This story was great! It was the most beautiful of this collection and the story was my favorite. I enjoyed the story of the father and the son. The sacrifice that the father makes for his son was beautiful and touching. I love the Storyteller's little intrudes throughout this tale, especially with his dog. 

"The Worm of Lambton" - ⭐⭐

I didn't really enjoy this story too much. Though I did like that they made illustrations throughout that looked like an old Medieval tapestry. That was a neat little addition. 

"Albina" - ⭐⭐⭐

An okay story with stunning illustrations. 

"Samurai's Sacrifice"- ⭐⭐

Another okay story with pretty good illustrations. This had much more of a traditional dragon in the story than the rest of them did. 

Book 59: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Primary Phase

by Douglas Adams

Read May 25th

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Over the last ten years, I have read or listened to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy a lot. It has always been one of my absolute favorite books and this time around, I decided to listen to the original radio drama that the book was based on. This was such an enjoyable experience that brought so much more to the story. It was great having the different narrators for each of the roles, all of them embodying the characters perfectly. Also, the great sound effects brought even more to this production. I will definitely be continuing with the radio show whenever I get the opportunity. 

I highly recommend listening to this to the fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and also for those who love great humor. 

Book 60: The Eyre Affair 

by Jasper Fforde 

Read May 23rd- 28th

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I first want to start out this review by saying that I almost put this book down and I'm so glad that I didn't. This was a book that I have wanted to read for years because it sounded right up my alley. An adult version of Inkheart or a book like that. I will forever be drawn to books where there are book-loving characters that are able to enter a story. It's many a dream of us booklovers. 

I will also say that I am not a person that usually reads a mystery. I love mysterious elements in fantasy a lot but I'm not someone who picks up a book that is in the mystery genre. Well, at least not too often anyway. I love mystery television and movies though, which I watch a lot with my dad. This book had a great mixture of the fantastical/science fiction elements along with the overall mystery. We get famous literary characters, writers, book conspiracies, time travel, and so much more in this gem of a book. 

 The beginning of this book was not drawing me in, and I will say right now that it would have been a two-star read for me. That was until about halfway into the book. Then, this book got so damn good. I was hooked in and could not get enough of it at that point. I won't spoil what happens, but I loved it and I hope that the rest of the series is like that because I will love it if it is.

I especially am hoping that the end is hinting at the plot of the next book. With the literary work that is discussed. That would be awesome. This book will not be for everyone, but I am so glad that I continued on with it. I found a new series that I plan on reading throughout the rest of this year. 

Book 61: Monstrous Regiment

by Terry Pratchett

Read May 22nd-29th

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This was a pretty good book, but I didn't enjoy it as much as most of Terry's other books. It had some good discussions on gender roles, that are still prevalent today. I did enjoy the fact that we followed characters from a different section of the Discworld and just to see their opinions on war and other more important issues. 

“This was not a fairy-tale castle and there was no such thing as a fairy-tale ending, but sometimes you could threaten to kick the handsome prince in the ham-and-eggs.”

There is a major focus on women working in roles that are usually men-led, at least in this part of the Discworld. We see Polly join the army, pretending to be a male. Very similar to the way Mulan joins in her movie, but this story goes in a direction that I was not quite expecting at all when I started. Which I should have figured from Terry. I won't spoil that part of the plot but it was quite enjoyable as you learn more and more about the soldiers that are part of Polly's regiment. 

“The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it.”

A story about a group of misfits that are just trying to escape the life they were living or find someone that they are missing. We get a vampire, an Igor, a troll, a religious fanatic, and so many others. Along with familiar faces such as Sam Vimes and Angua. Over the course of the book, they helped change the war and also form a tight-knit group you can't help but grow attached to. 

Prompt 25

 May 25th

Towel Day 2022

     For Towel Day today, I decided that I was going to talk about my experience with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Towel Day is a day for fans to celebrate Douglas Adams and his books.

     My first time reading the book was in my freshman year of college back in 2012. So just about ten years ago. I fell in love with Douglas Adams' humor, characters, and story pretty instantly. British humor has been a favorite of mine ever since I first watched Monty Python. This was the perfect novel with that type of humor for me. Over the years, I have read the original novel a lot and it has become one of my top ten favorite books of all time. 

     This year, I decided to listen to the original radio drama that the book was based on. It's going to be so much fun to revisit an old favorite in a new way. Can't wait to spend my free time today doing that. 

Happy Towel Day! And always remember: Don't Panic!