Star Trek

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Book Title: Various Star Trek adaptations

Author(s):  James Blish

Publishing Year: Late 60's - Early 70's

Review: 

I'm a Star Trek fan, I've seen the original series, and so I started reading these books.

James Blish wrote 12 of these Star Trek books, stories based on the episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, which aired starting in 1966. There are about six episode adaptations per book, and even though the books are small, the stories are still well-written, and enjoyable.

It's interesting seeing the parts where the adaptations are different from the original episodes. Whereas a lot of them are nearly identical, some vary quite a bit, and I wonder if he was working with the original scripts from the show when he wrote these. I liked seeing even the small changes in dialogue, and some of the motives of the characters are explained a bit better in the books. 

And not to judge a book by its cover, but the book cover art really is amazing on all of them. They're all quite bright and colorful!

Favorite Part(s):

Oh wow... I definitely know my favorite part. In the adaptation of "Spectre of the Gun" (aka "The Last Gunfight") I love the part where Kirk says this to Spock:

"Mr. Spock, once again we owe you our thanks for quick, thorough and logical thinking. But I

will tell you something else. Privately, and for no other ears than yours, I think you are a

sentimental bag of mush."

XD Best moment ever. It really was.

So You Want To Be A Wizard

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Book Title: So You Want To Be A Wizard (Young Wizards series, Book 1)

Author(s): Diane Duane

Publishing Year: 1983

Review: 


This book is quite amazing. It's really amazing. 


It all starts when Nita Callahan, a 13-year-old girl who's sick of getting beaten up, is hiding from bullies. The place she is hiding is the library. Nostalgically, she runs her hands over the bookshelves, remembering all of the books she'd read, when her hand is caught by a book she's never seen before. It's title is "So You Want To Be A Wizard," and it's shelved with the other "So You Want To Be A" books (ie, "So You Want To Be A Pilot" or "An Astronaut," etc).


At first she thinks it's a joke, but learns very quickly that it's definitely true. She can hear things speak to her like she never had before, and she another wizard that she befriends go on an adventure through a dark and evil Manhattan, and lose and gain more than they'd thought was possible.


This is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it about...well, sixteen times. No joke.


The other books in the series are absolutely amazing as well; there are eight books in the series, with a ninth book coming out in April. (The author, Diane Duane, is going to be in New York City at "Books of Wonder" bookstore, on April 24th to do book signings.)


Favorite Part(s):

1. The carnivorous fire hydrant that eats pigeons (look for it in the cover image).
   
2. The multiple parts that were extremely quotable, including the passage from The Book Of Night With Moon.
   
3. The fact that the magic described is so scientific that it's actually almost possible in the real world.
   
4. The ideas and the feeling of the whole thing; it leaves you with a sad, joyous, emotional feeling of wonder.
   
5. The part where Fred mentions how much life there is in the city. He says this when looking at the World Trade Center, and remarks about how horrible it would be if something happened to "all that life." I think that was a moment of pure precognition on the author's part.

Additional Notes:


 I think you can tell by now that my favorite genre to read is Science Fiction. :P 


 But of all the books I'd ever recommend to someone, this is the best. The ultimate best. In my opinion, anyways.

The Colour of Magic (Discworld, Book One)

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Book Title: The Colour of Magic

Author(s): Terry Pratchett

Publishing Year: 1983

Review: 

In this book, the main character is a wizard named Rincewind - But he's not exactly a wizard. He can't do magic. He has a spell trapped inside his head, and it keeps him from doing any magic. But more about that in the next book.

Rincewind becomes a guide for an extremely naive tourist, Twoflower, who has Luggage that follows him everywhere. Twoflower doesn't really seem to grasp life in the same way people are really supposed to, and he always is optimistic, which annoys Rincewind to some degree.

Together, the two go on a journey across the Disc of their world (It is called the Discworld, of course), which sits on the back of four elephants and a giant turtle (the turtle's name is A'Tuin).

During their journey they have many different confusing and amazing adventures, leading them through a plethora of strange and awkward situations, including meeting Death, who always talks in CAPITAL LETTERS.

But what they don't know, is that their entire journey, is being controlled by the Gods playing a board game...

The story from this book continues in the second Discworld novel, The Light Fantastic.

Favorite Part(s): 

Haha, the 'Big Bang Theory' mentioned near the beginning of the book. It's just really funny!

I liked the parts with Twoflower's camera, because it was really a little man sitting inside a box and painting pictures.

Also, the Luggage is my favorite character. It's like a trunk, kind of, but with lots of legs. It walks. It eats people. It folds and stores your laundry. (Who wouldn't want one?)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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Book Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


Subtitle: "A Novel"


Author(s): Douglas Adams


Publishing Year: 1979


Review:

 This book is a mixture of science fiction, and comedy. It’s full of amusing bits, irony, jokes, and interesting parts. The main story is this; Arthur Dent is trying to keep his house from getting bulldozed (it was in the way of where a bypass was going to be built), when the Earth is destroyed to build a hyperspace bypass. In a hurry, his best friend Ford (who happens to be an alien, and who’s a researcher for the informative book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”), whisks him off the planet; but not before making sure that they both know where their towels are.

Together, and with a few other people they meet along the way (the girl that Arthur failed to ask out, the crazed President of the Galaxy, and a manically depressed robot), they go in search of the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Because they need the question, not the answer. They know the answer. It’s 42. They’re now just wondering what question would go to that answer that would actually be meaningful at all.

This book ends kind of abruptly, but the story is quickly picked up in the next novel in the five-book trilogy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Favorite Part(s):

1. I loved the part where Trillian realizes that the probability is the telephone number of where she met Arthur.
2. Any part where Marvin is being all depressed is very funny; his depression becomes quite a useful tool for them.
3. Zaphod is a crazy guy. I like when he was talking about how he injured his brain; I’ve not yet finished reading the series, and I hope the other books shed some light on why he did that.
4. The bowl of petunias…and all the other little bits that are small stories about very interesting and funny things that have happened that nobody has been able to predict or prevent.

Additional Notes:

The only thing I can think to add is, I don't think you've really read science-fiction until you've read this book. It's just an amazing book, and it warps every way you will ever look at the universe (or a bowl of petunias).

The movie is pretty close to the book, but with The Guide, I don't really compare the books to the movie/radio program/TV series or anything else that came out of or preceded it. They're all their own entities, and all are great mixtures of awesome.

Dragons and Dreams

Here's my first post about an actual book; it'll introduce you to what type of format I'll be using to blog about each book.

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Book Title: Dragons and Dreams

Subtitle: "A collection of new fantasy and science fiction stories"

Author(s): Bruce Coville, Sharon Webb, Patricia McKillip, Patricia MacLachlan, Zilpha Keatly Snyder, Jane Yolen, Charles de Lint, Diana Wynne Jones, Monica Hughes, and Diane Duane.

Publishing Year: 1986

Review: 

    There are just so many good things about this book! I think the only place that you can get them is on Amazon.com, but there might be other places where this book is for sale. It's been out of print for a while, so I was lucky to come across it.

This is a book of short stories (as stated in the subtitle), and there are ten of them. I know when I picked up the book I noticed how many good authors participated in writing this. I know that Bruce Coville is pretty popular, and I like Jane Yolen's stories, and Zilpha Keatly Snyder's. Diane Duane is one of my favorite authors, and you'll probably see more of her books on this blog sometime in the future. :)

The stories in this book are clever, and often amusing. One of them seems almost entirely pointless, and most are meaningful with either a good moral, or a really sweet ending.

There's a story about a boy who guards a mysterious wooden box, a story about a monster that eats those who have recently eaten chocolate. There's one about a baby hag who can't find a name, and a great-grandfather dragon telling his grandkids the history of the Dragon's Thanksgiving. There's the story of a girl who can't dream a good dream for her fans, and a story of two kids who ride the New York subway system to find alternate universes.

Each story is amazing and well-written, all of them inspire a sense of imagination. I'd really reccommend reading this book, if you could find a copy. I know there are a few hanging around somewhere...

Favorite Part(s): Haha, wow... It's hard to choose a favorite story out of these. But I particularly liked "Great-Grandfather Dragon's Tale" by Jane Yolen, and Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream" by Diana Wynne Jones. Diane Duane's "Uptown Local" was also one of my favorites from this book; it was a really intriguing tale.

Additional Notes: None really that I can think of. It's a good read. I like short-story books because you can read one story, and then let it sit until you feel like reading again, and continue like that. It's a very relaxing way of reading.

Just an introduction to what this is all about...

Hello, and welcome to my newly created blog!

I've wanted to start a book-blog for some time, where I review books that I enjoy, but I noticed that many of the books I read are not of the ordinary sort. The books that really draw me in, the best books I've read, are all many years older than me, and mostly out of print (except for rare few).

I'm going to blog about books, but instead of blogging about "that new book that just came out" or "this recently published author that you just have to read"; I'm going to pull out the old books, and show you that it's not just the new books that can be amazing.

(My definition of 'old book' is any book that came out before the year 1990. I know that it doesn't seem that old, but I haven't been around that long, so it's older than I am.)

I have more than 200 books that fall into that category, and I've only read about half of them! So this'll give me a chance to read through the books I haven't yet, and write about them here.

I hope to get started pretty soon, as soon as I finish the book I'm reading right now. :)