Category: Books

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The Big Over Easy

The Big Over EasyMy latest read was a NGM suggestion. He told me that it was pretty funny and a creative take on nursery rhymes. So I gave it a shot.

A mystery featuring Jack Spratt and numerous other well known nursery rhyme characters. jack must solve the mystery of the murder of Humpty Dumpty.It’s funny to read about these characters outside of their normal stories and interacting with one another.

The author does a great job of poking in subtle jokes, that almost slip by at times. While I’m not one to chuckle out loud, there were some pretty funny moments in the story.

The old man who calls everyone either Ronald or Nancy and how Jack interacts with him was great. Also, when Mary Mary tells Jack at the end that he’s now on a first name basis and he responds with Mary is great as well. Funny and well done stuff.

NGM tells me that there’s more in this series, so perhaps I might give them a shot down the road too.

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Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children

Game OverSince I was obsessed with Nintendo growing up, I had to read Game Over. The book details the early years of Nintendo (starting way back around 1890) as well as the growth of the video game industry overall. Growing up I just played Mario and Zelda, but reading about all the crazy industry stuff that went on behind the scenes was pretty entertaining.

From the early start when Nintendo brought the NES (known as Famicom in Japan) to the US after the early 80’s video game crash, it was all very interesting to learn about. Also the explanation of Atari and how the industry crashed in the US was great too.

Since the book was written in 1993 it’s really interesting to see just how much the industry has continued to change since then. While Nintendo is still a major player at this time, this is all before the Sony Playstation and XBox came on the scene. Also, it’s interesting to yet again find out just how rapidly the Interent burst on the scene and changed our daily life. Not once in this book was it even mentioned.

Even though it’s a bit dated, all the info leading up to 1993 was amazing to learn more about. I had no idea just how much battling went into getting Tetris out of the Soviet Union and on my Gameboy. Very good stuff.

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Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi Allies

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi AlliesFinished up the 5th book in the Fate of the Jedi series. It was pretty solid stuff. I really enjoyed the beginning and the ending, but the middle was a little less enjoyable for me.

Luke forming and alliance to work with the Sith to fight a common foe was very cool. But then they didn’t really touch much on it, until the end of the book. In the meantime some new story lines were introduced, such as the reporter and slavery issues.

I’m sure that they will lead up to some bigger stories in the later books, but I guess I just wanted some more action taking place. I’m glad that the hutts did get a brief role, Jabba was always a favorite growing up.

I wasn’t expecting the jedi madness to be cured in this book, so that was a surprise. But then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not really cured just yet, but I guess I’ll eventually find out.

The Sith do make for some interesting characters, so I hope there’s still a big focus on them in the remaining books.

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The Lost Symbol

The Lost SymbolContinuing my summer reading spree lead me to The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. He’s the author who wrote the DaVinci Code, and while I haven’t read that nor seem the film this book seems to follow the mold from what I’ve heard from it.

It was a really fast paced read, with lot’s of cliff hangers at the end of every chapter. I kept on reading on to find out just what would happen next.

Much of the story revolved around Freemasonry. This was interesting as there is a Free Mason building down the street from me growing up and it’s always been a bit of a mystery to us. What really goes on there? If the book is true (yes I know it’s fiction), then apparently quite a lot.

This turned out to be quite a fun read. The various puzzles and symbols from everyday life that take stage, do make you stop and give thought to whether such possibilities really do exist. Good stuff.

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Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

UnbrokenAs per NGM’s recommendation, I just finished reading Unbroken. He spoke very highly of it and I must say that I concurred that it was a very good read.

It really is amazing to read just how much some people have gone through in their lives. Louie was an Olympian, served in WWII, spent well over a month in a raft in the shark infested Pacific, and was a POW in some horrible Japanese prison camps. This was all one guy, not a collection of tales by numerous individuals.

I’ve always gotten easily agitated listening to the typical person complaining about how difficult their situation is or how easily they give up when faced even the slightest obstacle in life. I always joke how easy their life is and that they don’t have a right to complain.

Reading Louie and the other men’s tales of serving in WWII really puts in perspective what a difficult situation is. These guys faced life and death choices constantly and didn’t have a feeling of self entitlement. They actually had to earn what they got.

This was an excellent, well written book. Highly recommended.

 

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Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi Backlash

Star Wars Fate of the Jedi BacklashFinished up another book in the Fate of the Jedi series. The story is coming along very nicely now and things are really starting to shape up. Some backstabbing and treachery always makes for a better read.

It’s nice to have Luke, Han and Leia together just like in the old movies, even if it was only for a few chapters. They’re pretty much what I think of when I think of Star Wars (sorry Chewbacca, RIP).

I really liked the force wielding tribes, it was cool to see other people using the force differently than how Jedi’s would. Reminds you how big the galaxy is.

Something big but separate events should be going down with the Sith and the Moths in the next books. Look forward to checking them out.