What are You Reading Right now?

1984 by George Orwell

 

It's one of only two Dune books I DIDN'T read I think that one and the last book of the Schools Of Dune trilogy.

 

I'm about halfway through the George Lucas book, it's pretty good but just to sprinkle in a little fiction I have been reading this along the way and almost done with it...



It's weird. Everything about the characters and setting feels two-dimensional and generic but the plot is really convoluted and full of twists and turns. I do find myself interested in where it's going to go but I'd probably enjoy it much more if it felt like an Indy story. Or even if the character of Indy felt like Indy. It's a prequel set during Indy's college years (which if I'd known I'd have chosen a different one) and it just does not feel like the same person. I could chalk it up to being younger than the character we all know and love but this came out right after Last Crusade where we saw an even younger Indy who was more similar to the adult version than this one. I

 

Welcome to the Church of Dune, mate

 

“At Dawn We Slept” , a superb, detailed look from both US and Japanese perspectives of the planning and execution of the Pearl Harbor attack

 

Finished the George Lucas bio and started this



This is one of my favorite shows ever and even though I was a little too young to be watching it when it originally aired I did anyway. I always watched it with my hand hovering over the dial on the cable box so I could change it really fast if my parents came in. I'm not sure if they would have disapproved, they kind of let my brother and I watch what we wanted within reason and I had seen R rated movies WITH them but some of the stuff on this show was pretty risqué. It was better to be safe and switch it over to something wholesome like Predator just so I'd never risk getting told I couldn't watch it. Years later in 2001 my brother and I went to one of their live shows and it was hilarious. The author is Mike Myers' brother and he's not bad.

 

I was supposed to catch up to my friends in reading Heir to the Empire, but after watching a Cinderella movie and a half, I just really wanted to reread Cinder. So I rebought it and I did. And then the cliff-hanger ending had me reading Scarlet soon after (which, if it wasn't for the character of Cinder herself, I probably would have skipped). That snowballed into me finishing out the quadrilogy with Cress and Winter...and here I am...

Tomorrow I'll get back to Star Wars.

 

True to my word, I'm catching up on reading Heir to the Empire.




I'm about 70% through it now, and plan on getting to about 80% or so before calling it a day and attempting to finish it tomorrow. This book is having a very deleterious effect on many of my Disney Canon affection, one that is directly proportional to how much I like this book. I was never satisfied with Rebel's view of Thrawn, but this book is making me outright dislike how watered down he feels in his analysis. It doesn't help that Rebel's Thrawn also doesn't have someone as...straightforward as Palleon to bounce his thoughts off of, and feels far to bogged down by internal politicking than this version does.

This story also makes me mad at how little the new canon seems to care for that Post-OT era. I mean, I understand why these stories aren't canon, but it really does feel like a kick in the teeth at this point. I'm not going to say that this story or the rest of the trilogy when I get to it should have been the ST, but I don't think I would have minded it being canon. But that's a pre-finished review of a book and trilogy. Maybe my mind will change the farther along this story I get. Maybe not. I'll have to Read And Find Out!

(I also feel so bad for my friend who has read the book before. I bet he wants to RAFO me so much, but sometimes I read so fast and at a time where he just can't respond because he's at work. I started out today at 15% through the book. Like I said above, I'm currently around 70%.)

EDIT: I finished the book. When I said 70%, it was because that's how much the Kindle said I had left. It turns out, most of that was post-script stuff and extra information. This happened yesterday with Cinder, but not with the rest of the Lunar Chronicles, so I didn't think it would happen here. (Scarlet was read at a bookstore, while Cress and Winter didn't have their books end until about the 98% mark.)

 

Most of my Legends books I've purchased are in hardcover, ( I read allot of books digitally now, for the lack of bookshelf space, no more room for bookshelves... I need a bigger place) like the one you are currently reading, I still view them as canon, its sort of like the multiverse if you know what I mean... so I still cherish them even though its no longer canon.

I used to listen to a podcast where the host re-read all of the Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books and reviewed the books at length.

I used to listen to it mostly when driving home from work, anyway enjoy your book! I personally want to re-visit the NJO series.

 

I actually have the book in the old-school "Wizard with lightning" cover somewhere in my apartment! I've had the eBook for longer though, and I figured that reading it that way may give me more comfortable and light-friendly reading options than the hardcover at this time. I want to read outside, but I need to wait for the weather to get cooler for that, and Thrawn waits for no one!

 

I enjoy digital reading as well, I guess I just wanted to say I have the entire series in hardcover... haha I read them so long ago I should revisit them. I also have the comic book adaptations published by Dark Horse comics. the art is very good. On another note, for an animated show Thrawn had to be watered down. They got most of it right but like you I wish he was depicted directly from the source material/novel. I can't wait to see how they'll do him in the Ahsoka live action series!

 

I'm not sure I 100% agree with this though. I don't think Thrawn had to be watered down, if only because I believe there are ways to make hyper-competent villains still lose or fail in their objectives without making them look too bad or the heroes look too lucky, which is what it felt like with Rebels!Thrawn.

Take Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender for example. Looking at the series overall, she failed in most of her goals/objectives until the season finale. (Not unlike Thrawn in Season 3, outside of a Deus Ex Machina escape.) But she is/was still regarded as the most fearsome opponent in the show. When Azula showed up, it took all Team Avatar's abilities to just escape her. Many times, they're priorities changed around her as well.

Rebels!Thrawn wasn't like that to me, and he feels too watered down from the book version.*



Anyways, I finished Dark Force Rising less than an hour ago!




I had a late start with the book, but I'm glad I finished it before the day was up. Tomorrow will be The Last Command, which I also wanted to finish today, but alas...

Anyways, the book itself was a lot of fun and very cinematic to me. I love how Luke and Mara's relationship is deepening, and I love Kardde and all of the other players in this story. Han and Leia have a great thing going, and Lando really feels like a part of the core team now, despite his desire to not be a member. Reading this books is definitely giving me a new head-canon that mixes this story with some of the Disney Canon stuff, but I'll sort it all out later. I can't wait to finisth the trilogy!

Also, the Shang-Chi OST pairs wonderfully with this trilogy. "Your Father" is Thrawn's theme for me now.



*I think maybe part of the problem is/was the inclusion of Vader. Vader can't lose, but the heroes need to survive. And Vader has to be the scariest villain around, so where does that leave Thrawn, who also has to lose?
Also, if we don't have Thrawn, who do we have? My personal corrections would have been beefing up Maul's role, giving Ezra more leadership within the Rebellion proper, and introducing someone like Galen Marek, who could serve as a foil as the show winds down. But that's besides the point.

Same! I really hope they do him justice.

 

Finished The Last Command!



I feel like I've covered my thoughts pretty well previously, and they haven't really changed. The only down marks are Thrawn's death* - which was inevitable and logical, as is fitting the character, but not very satisfying to me - and the minor denouement.
I definitely want more Luke and Mara Jade, but I'm not really into reading the Hand of Thrawn series, nor do I care about the rest of the Legends stuff as a whole.


*I remembered bits and pieces, but not the whole thing, which made it shocking until I was like "oh." I just really felt that the Thrawn's death should have been owed to his own complexity of planning and potential lack of vision by everyone else rather than what happened.

Spoiler: Thrawn Spoilers

Like, imagine how tragic it could have been if Palleaon had to seize command from Thrawn because he thought the Rebels were attacking in one place and felt like he needed to save the Empire Thrawn was building, only for Thrawn to be proven right after death? Or Thrawn simply overestimating his enemies as he had done a couple of times before?

 

Finished George Lucas - A Life last night.


While far from my favorite biography, it was an all right read. I thought it spent way too much time on certain minor details things, while glossing over more interesting things (like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises -- these chapters contain nothing you won't already know if you've seen the DVD featurets and such).

Brian Jay Jones is the most interested in writing about Lucas' conflicts with people -- of which there are A LOT -- but I guess that's fair if you want your book to be sensational.

My take-aways from A Life, are:
--A confirmation that GL is something of an egotistical a-hole; a genius for sure, but not at all my favorite person. (But just to be clear, neither is he my least favorite person; GL also has some very redeeming qualities...).
--(...such as) GL is a MAJOR, left-wing, (non-confrontative) social justice, anti-war hippie, (for which I love him even more than I love Star Wars). He's also a practicing social democrat (with an emphasis on "social" and a grumbling acceptance of the "democrat" part -- a wannabe-enlightened socialist dictator is perhaps more fitting).
--GL does his best work as a colaborator. He should never, ever be surrounded by yes-men! (But, of course, he does is very best to surround himself with yes-men).
--GL is not a reliable narrator. Every time he changes his mind, which is all the time, he presents his new opinion as if it was his original view all along. The greatest myth GL forges, is the myth about himself and his work. He presents himself as a grand, Tolkien-esque über-worldbuilder with a great super-narrative stored away somewhere, when in fact he assembles his films after-the-fact in editing. GL is a collage artist, not a painter or original creator.
--Thank you, George, for the work you've done and the franchises you've created (although not, as you'd like us to believe, all by yourself). Now enjoy your retirement!

 

Currently reading Mistborn Alloy of Law.

also anyone know if Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth books are worth reading since they're huge books?

 

Just started reading The Color of Magic again.

This is the third time I've tried to read it, and I'm already further than I've ever gotten. Since the first few times I've read other Discworld books just fine, but this one just never captured my interests like the others. But it's been unfinished business for my for four years now, so it's time I just buckled in and finished the thing.

 

Thoroughly enjoying it. Great for fans of Interstellar (whose soundtrack I'm listening to), Dan Wells' kids' audio-novellas Zero-G, and The Martian. (I assume. I've only watched the movie.)

 

Weir’s book The Martian was superb …. I need to get this one I guess!!!

 

Finished! Overall, it was a great read, but it wasn't the perfect read for me. I'm pretty touch-and-go on hard sci-fi, and this is VERY hard sci-fi. The tone is great - it's optimistic despite the circumstances, and explores in some ways what humanity can do at its best and brightest - and I totally identify with Dr. Grace, as a student-teacher (and having held teaching and assistant teaching jobs) myself. My favorite characters were Stratt and Rocky though, probably in that order. The rest outside of them and Dr. Grace were minor characters at best sadly. (But understandably.)

The ending wasn't my favorite, as there was one plot-line that didn't get the catharsis I was hoping for (which makes sense given how the plot goes and the backstory), but the ending was exactly what it needed to be.
The prose of this book was very...modern? Clear-glass? It felt like it'd be a better audiobook than a regular book. Or at least that's what I was thinking when I first started reading. And I don't even LIKE audiobooks that much! Still, if one wants to read this book, that's the way I recommend it to be read at this point.

As mentioned above, fans of Interstellar, Zero-G, and The Martian will like this book. But I forgot to add the movie Arrival as well. It also makes sense why Brandon Sanderson would like this book - Brandon tends to favor hard magic systems and semi-hard sci-fi, and was probably reading/listening to this book around the same time he was writing/editing Rhythm of War. Both of these books are very similar, with a massive focus on science and discovery, and working with alien - in terms of different cultures, customs, and science styles - peers.

Overall, if you're a fan of sci-fi, definitely check this book out.

The soundtrack for this book consisted of:
Interstellar (as mentioned above)
"Clair De Lune"
Vivaldi's "Summer"
"The Illusive Man's Theme" from Mass Effect 2 & 3
"Das Malefitz" (the credits song for Mass Effect 3) by Faunts for the epilogue/final chapter.

Tomorrow I'll reread Skyward and Starsight in anticipation for the Sunreach novella on Tuesday, along with finishing up Star Wars Visions.

So I keep hearing! Someday I want to read it, but I also liked the movie so much that I don't want to devalue that experience. (Not that it should, but I'm illogically afraid it might.)