50 Books in 1 Year

So my goal this year is to read at least 50 books in 2017 ... Yes, I know that ain't gonna happen.  Mainly because I will be going back to school to go for my bachelors in education, and my reading will be textbooks.  But, sometimes goals just help me keep going.  I have a list of so far 33 books, and don't know what else I should read.  Yes, the Robert Langdon Series is on the list, I just love that series so much!  Here's what I got planned so far:

1.   Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly

2.   Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs

3.   Hollow City - Ransom Riggs

4.   Library of Souls - Ransom Riggs

5.   Food - Jim Gaffigan

6.   Between the Bridge and the River - Craig Ferguson

7.   The Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

8.   Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

9.   Who Could That Be At This Hour? - Lemony Snicket

10. Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks

11. The Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank

12.  Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

13.  When The Legend Dies - Hal Borland

14.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smith

15.  The Last American Vampire - Seth Grahame-Smith

16.  Anatomy of A Murderer - Robert Traver

17.  Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie

18.  The Green Mile - Stephen King

19.  American On Purpose - Craig Ferguson

20.  Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

21.  The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

22.  The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

23.  Inferno - Dan Brown

24.  Sophie's Choice - William Styron

25.  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Seth Grahame-Smith 

26.  Holes - Louis Sachar

27.  Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maguire

28.  The Color Purple - Alice Walker

29.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson

30.  The Girl Who Played with Fire - Steig Larsson

31.  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest - Steig Larsson

32.  Night - Eli Wiesel

33.  Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

If there's a book you think I should read, leave a comment below!  

How They Croaked

I know there was a large gap between review, over a year to be exact.  But that doesn't mean I didn't read.  Before I moved to Salem, I tried to read at least a few books during that period.  While I worked at an elementary school as a volunteer teacher assistant, I participated in a reading competition each year.  Usually I read my favorite series, The Robert Langdon Series by Dan Brown.  But last year I did read one other book, How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg.  So while I'm still reading Hollow City, here's an extra review just for you Cierra, the only person that reads these reviews!

If you scroll down, well, not right now, you'll see that I did another book by Georgia Bragg called How They Choked, a collection of historical facts about how historical figures screwed up in life, which eventually lead them to their deaths.  How They Croaked is basically the same concept, but about the bizarre deaths of famous historical figures.  Some of the people Georgia Bragg talks about are:  Cleopatra, George Washington, Albert Einstein, Henry VIII (in the other book they discuss his 2nd wife, Anne Boleyn), the famous beheading of Marie Antoinette, and even Pocahontas ... The real story, not that Disney crap!  Okay, before the hate mails come flying in, I have nothing against the movie, I love Pocahontas, but let's face it the Disney sequel was more historically accurate than the first movie.  

Just like Hidden Figures, it's really hard to explain a plot where there's more than 1 story.  But what I can say, Ike How They Choked, it's a fascinating book to read.  Now this books is mainly designed for pre teens, yes, I read those kind of books, and yes, I read books for little kids too.  I wil read The Day The Drayons Quit a million times and never get bored with it.  Before I get carried away, let's get back to the book.  This book is reallly made for anyone to read, because it discusses real things that happened to real people in a basic text.  Also, it talks about the way people died that kids would NEVER see today.  

Kids today will never really understand the struggle people lived in those times because mainly we hospitals and the technology to stop the crazy life threatening diseases.  Also, they will never experience the bizzare deaths that wasn't from illness.  Okay, yes, the last guillotine beheading execution was in 1977, about 40 years ago, but let's face it, kids today weren't even alive to remember that ... I was born 13 AFTER that happened.  What I'm trying to day is that, kids kind of have it a little easy with survival.  They don't have to witness an execution 3 blocks from their house, or play with their friends one day and out of nowhere one of the kids drops dead due to the cholera.  Yes, there is a lot of violence today, especially recently due to the 2016 election (not gonna get political at all), but trust me when I say this, it wasn't like back in the day.  And I think it's a good that kids learn about these kind of things, just so they don't make the same mistakes as our ancestors.

So there is another long review for you people.  I'm gonna try to get reviews posted here and there, I ain't a quick reader like I used to be.  But I will post some other random stuff here and there as well, just to let you all know I'm still alive and well.  Make sure to check out my other reviews and I will see you in the next one!

- BorenNerdy

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

My next book on my list of books to read this year is Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, a bizzare story with a very uniqu approach to it.  So let's dive into this very "peculiar" story!  See what I did there?

Here's the story, Jacob Portman grew up listening to his grandpas crazy stories about living in a children's home after leaving his whole family in Poland, to escape the Nazi's Holocaust Camps during WWII.  Some of the children that lived there were a girl that could fly, an invisible boy, a boy with bees living inside of him, and a girl that could summon fire from her hands.  But like most kids, as Jacob got older, the stories became more of a fairytale, even though his grandpa was convinced they were real.  One evening, Jacob gets a call from his grandpa, who is hysterical and claiming the "monsters" had found him and were after him.  So Jacob and a friend go to his house to calm him down, thinking there were just mind tricks from the war getting to him.  Jacob discovers his grandfather dead in the woods and sees a horrific monster hiding, and his friend claims he never saw.

Some time goes by and Jacob goes into complete depression after witnessing his grandfather die in his arms, and everyone not believing what he saw and heard that night.  After discovering more secrets about his grandfather, he finds out that he was receiving letters from the headmistress of the children's home, Miss Peregrine, asking for him to come home to an island in the United Kingdom.  After some convincing, Jacob and his father go to the island, to see if he could get some closure.  Some time goes by and he finds the house his grandfather grew up in, only to find that the house had been destroyed from a Nazi air raid over 70 years ago.  Confused with what happened while inside the decaying house, children come inside calling his grandpas name, seeing if he returned.  Jacob chases after them and ends up going back to the village and it isn't the same, and finds out he transported back in time to the day of the air raid in 1940.  

The children find him and take him back to the children's home, surprisingly in one piece.  He meets the headmistress, Miss Peregrine, who tells him all the stories that his grandpa told him were real.  And that they've been living in a time loop that she conjures that relives September 3, 1940 everyday, so they can live safe and away from invisible monsters called the Hollowgast who can't enter the time loop, but only certain peculiar children can see, his grandpa being one of them, as well as Jacob himself.  He ends up spending most of his days there, discovering more of the life his grandpa had, and then returning to his own time, lying to his father that he was doing nothing all day.

Eventual weird things start happening in the village that set off red flags to Miss Peregrine, mainly the mysterious slaughter of sleeps in the village.  Threatened that a Hollowgast is nearby as well as a Wight, a Hollowgast that consumed enough Peculiars that it eventually gained a human form, but still showed signs of being different, Miss Peregrine puts the house on lockdown, forcing the children to stay in the house.

Eventually a Wight manages to get through the time loop and kidnap Miss Peregrine and another Headmistress that escaped an attack in her time loop, and they were kept in cage in their peculiar form of birds.  Jacob and the other children manage to save Miss Peregrine but the other headmistress was captured by a group of Wights, and leave for their headquarters.  And everyone leaves to find the secret headquarters of the Wights.  Which ends the book and starts the next book in the trilogy, Holllow City.

I know I left some things out, but this book was full of so much information, you just need to read it!  I LOVED THIS BOOK!  I will admit, I attempted to read this book before, but I couldn't get into it, and I had that problem when I read it again, and out of nowhere I couldn't put the book down!  I loved how there were so many twists and craziness in the book, which is the type of books I like to read.  You can tell I love books that are so bizzare and weird.  Also, another thing I loved was how Ransom Riggs used these old weird photos he collected and incorporated them into the story.  It was perfect and I was happy he did that in the other 2 books as well.  I will definitely be doing a Book VS Movie with this story, but it will probably be after I finish the whole trilogy, and I am excited to see the movie, just saying.  

So that ends my review, sorry of it was reallly long, but it made up for my very short review of Hidden Figures.  If you enjoyed this review, feel free to read my other reviews, and I will get my next one up as soon as I finish reading Hollow City.  If you have a book you think I should read up on, feel free to comment below!  I will see you in the next review!

- BorenNerdy

Hidden Figures

Here's a book that is just purely fascinating.  History books never mentioned African American women working for NASA, or even white women working for NASA.  But now their story is being told in Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly.  

The story takes place at the start of WWII, following the lives of 3 African American women, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine G. Johnson and their journey from working for the National Advisory Committee of Aeroautics (NACA) during the war, and transitioning to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the great space race during the Cold War.  These brilliant women worked at human computers with their advanced knowledge of mathematics and science.  It also talks about the struggle they went through while working for the government during the civil rights era.  Again, something history books would never mention.

There isn't really a whole lot to talk about especially plot wise because, well, it talks about the lives of 3 women instead of just one person.  And there is so much to mention in this review, I might as well say go buy the book and read it, which is true, buy the books and read it.  Now I have to pre warn you, the book has a lot of fancy math and science stuff that could be a little confusing to some people.  So if you want go see the movie, it has Octavia Spencer and Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory for crying out loud.  But if you wanna take a shot at it I say go for it!  If not, definitely see the movie, I know I will when I get the chance.

So there's my review for this awesome book.  Next one will be whenever I finish reading it.  Don't forget to check out alll off my other reviews I've done ... All 8 of them!  I'm just kidding, there's only 9!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

So I'm back, I know it's been a while but it's been quite a few months.  Last August I moved out of Veneta, Oregon all the way to Salem, Oregon.  So the past few months I've been trying to adjust to the move, and let it all sink in.  BUT I did some reading since I moved, and I'm ready to get some reviews posted.  So let's get back on the bandwagon.   

Now I actually read this during my moving process, like I read it before I moved and finished it after I moved.  And I must say, this was quite an interesting book.  Now, this book was not written by The Queen of Quill and Scroll, JK Rowling, but that doesn't mean she wan't apart of the process. 

So here's the story, it's set right after the 19 Years Later chapter of The Deathly Hallows, Harry and Ginny got old and had kids, and they're sending their youngest son, Albus to Hogwarts.  Albus is having trouble finding himself in the world and like most 1st years, is nervous about which house he will be placed in.  He meets a new friend, Scorpius Malfoy, the son of Draco Malfoy ... I know right?  What are the odds?  And both end up being sent to Slytherin.  And it goes through his life being a troubled teenager with normal teenage problems.  

This story also goes through Harry's life, who is now working for the Ministry of Magic, hunting down the last death eaters that are still trying to find a way to bring back He Who Must Not Be Named.  Fear the He might return, he finds a lead involving Time Turners and manages to find one of the last ones now that they have all been destroyed.  One night before going back to school, Albus overhears a conversation between Harry and Amos Diggory, Cedric's son.  You remember, before he became the sparkly vampire living in Forks, Washington.  Amos begs Harry to use the last time turner to go back and save Cedric from his unfortunate death.  Albus meets his niece Delphi and helps him and Scorpius get the time turner and use it to go back in time to save Cedric.  And it ends up a series of wibbly wobbly timey whimey stuff ... I know that's Doctor Who, BUT a lot of people in the movies were in Doctor Who *cough* Barty Crouch Jr. *cough cough*.  But in the end of the everything goes well like all the Harry Potter Books.  The first 3 books, after that everyone started dying in the end, especially the last one.

So here are my thoughts about the book, I enjoyed it a lot.  I grew up reading Harry Potter, like 1st Grade was when I started.  So you can tell I was a hardcore fan, #HufflepuffPride.  Now, here's my reaction to all the haters of the book that stated that they got robbed, and that all the characters were too bland, and that it wasn't written like a book ... THATS BECAUSE IT'S A SCRIPT YOU STUPID BLOCKHEAD.  A few years ago they started production for The West End (the Broadway of London), and bringing back the Wizarding world onto the stage.  But since a majority of the world can't attend the play, they decided to do an extra promotion to bring more fans to see the show, by publishing the rehearsal script.  Of course, it was one of the top sellers of 2016, I bought it the day it came out.  But the way people have been treating it has not been fair.  One, JK Rowling approved of this, I mean, more money for her, and it helped expand the universe.  Now it's expanded even more with Fantastic Beasts and everything she writes on Pottermore.com.  Two, the reason you feel like the characters were so bland was because that's how most scripts are written.  I did theater for a long time and have read A LOT of scripts, and the best way to understand their feelings is by seeing it.  Stuff like this is made for the actors to portray the characters feelings.  Every line could be made into any expression, it's the actors and directors job to make it set into the right mood.  Some people can read scripts correctly and some cannot, and it seems like a lot of them couldn't.  So on that note, I recommend this book if you are up for the challenge.  I hear they're bringing the play to Broadway and if that's true, I might need to start saving money for a trip to New York.

So there's my review.  I'm gonna try to keep up with these, but if I don't post anything every now and then, don't be sad.  I have another review I'll be posting soon, and I'm already starting a new book.  So let's hope I keep to it.

Book VS Movie - the Hobbit

Yes, this is real!  In 1977 someone was actually crazy enough to make an animated Hobbit show for kids, in less than an hour and a half.  It wasn’t just any production company though.  It was a Raskin and Bass production that made it.  You know who they are, you watch their stuff every Christmas time.  That’s right, Raskin and Bass are the people that created the iconic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer claymation show, and other iconic claymation Christmas shows that we all know and for some reason watch with no explanation.  But we’re not talking about that today, we’re talking about the Hobbit.  BUT, not only is it an animated show, but it’s also a MUSICAL!  I am not kidding, it is a musical!  Now I am gonna be comparing this to the Jackson film, I’m gonna be comparing it to the book.  If I do mention the other film, it’ll most likely be because there might be some things that the Jackson film AND the book have in common that I liked that the cartoon didn’t have.  So wish me luck as we go into the ring again with this challenging topic.    

So let’s talk about the characters, well, they’re interesting.  Gandalf was portrayed well with the voice casting of John Huston, he managed to make you believe he was an all powerful wizard.  The dwarfs were … I guess you can say dwarves.  They took more of a Snow White and the Seven Dwarves look instead of the Jackson ones.  They looked old and just a little silly, not hot at all.  Thorin was ok, he seemed like more of a cranky old king than a leader till the very end.  Smaug was okay as well, although I don’t remember dragons having hair and looking like a giant fat cat with wings.  My only problem with the character portrayal was Bilbo.  Voiced by Orson Bean, this character basically drove me nuts, I hated him.  He seemed more like a jerk, and like he never really wanted to be there.  In the book he shows that it’s not easy just deciding to leave everything behind and go with these strangers across Middle Earth, and also have to pretend that he’s a skilled burglar on top of all of that.  In the cartoon, he brags WAY too much.  He also acted like he didn’t really care about the others, as long as he got out alive.  The whole time watching it I kept thinking, “Wow Bilbo, you’re kind of a jerk.  I hope you die!”  I was not a fan at all.

The movie did a really good job with making Middle Earth, look like what Middle Earth could be.  It’s hard to make a grand looking world with animation.  But they did very well with what they were working with, especially since this was made in 1977 where computer animation wasn’t really thought of just yet.  They even attempted to make the characters their own.  Although I wasn’t a fan of how the elves looked, they looked a little too weird for my taste.  Let’s just say, they weren’t no Legolas.  

The story was very close to the book, closer than the Jackson ones.  The only thing they didn’t put into the cartoon was the story plot of the Arkenstone, which was the real reason Thorin wanted to return to the Lonely Mountain.  But I think it was a good thing taking that out, cause they way the Arkenstone made Thorin while he was trying to find it, it isn’t really “kid friendly”.  But it does simplify the story of The Hobbit as best as Raskin and Bass could, which in my opinion is a very good thing.  But the book obviously has more of the good stuff, like more battle scenes, and all of that fun stuff,  time to tell the whole story and not having to worry about rushing through it.

My personal opinion, even though the book is pretty graphic and sometimes gets into some dark stuff that might not be for kids, the show is a little too kid friendly and is more like some over the top Disney Special where they don’t let the kids experience the serious stuff.  And let’s not forget, JRR Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a bedtime story for his son when he was little.  And eventually his son took over the Middle Earth franchise, and he turned out fine … I think.  I have to go with the book, because it has the fun and seriousness that makes a great adventure story.  But the cartoon is always a good way to show to your younger kids that  you think aren’t ready for the Jackson films.  The cool thing about something both films has is the songs.  They both have the Bilbo Baggins Hates song and the Misty Mountains songs in both films, even though they aren’t the same music, but they have the same lyrics.  It’s a great way to introduce your child to the world of Middle Earth movies and books.  Don’t think I just changed my mind right there, I still say the book won, by a landslide of course.  

So that is my final Hobbit theme review … Until next week when I take on The Lord of the Rings series with The Fellowship of the Ring.  And I’d like to give you a heads up, the next couple of months will be a LOTR theme.  Lots of Book reviews, and Book VS Movie review, INCLUDING the Ralph Bashki film.  So stay tuned for a couple of months of fun.  If you have a particular book you’d like for me to take on, please leave a comment below, OR tweet me @BorenNerdy.  I will see you next week, and until then, read a book why don’t you!

- BorenNerdy

Book VS Movie - The Hobbit

In 1937, a simple novel came out that changed the world of fantasy literature forever.  In 2012, a film series came out that kind of changed the world of fantasy film forever.  So when I thought I could put these 2 things into the boxing ring, I didn’t know how hard this was going to be.  This week, I am talking about The Hobbit or There and Back Again VS The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, and The Battle of Five Armies.  Now if you remember before I stopped doing reviews, I actually reviewed the book, and thought it was great, and I still do.  And recently I bought and watched all 3 Hobbit movies, which took me 3 days to manage to watch.  I still can’t believe someone would make 3 movies, a total of about 9 hours of film, based on a book that would probably take less than 9 hours to read.  So wish me luck and please bear with me.  

Now, let’s start off with the character portrayals, I LOVE MARTIN FREEMAN!!!!  I think he made an excellent Bilbo Baggins, especially since he looked like a young Sir Ian Holm, who played the older Bilbo in the LOTR movies, and also in the beginning and end of the Hobbit series.  Sir Ian McKellen, came back as Gandalf the Grey, pre Gandalf the White, and of course he was wonderful as well.  Richard Armitage was amazing as Thorin, and really handle the good and ugly side of Thorin, from a kingly leader to a power hungry man who wanted his gold.  I also liked the guys that played, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Dwalin, Fili, Gloin, Kili, Nori, Oin, and Ori.  Radagast the Brown, who was played by the 7th Doctor himself, Sylvester McCoy, did a great job … even though he wasn’t in the book!  I will say, it was weird seeing Saruman being a bad guy, since we all clearly know that he goes over to Team Bad Guys.  Everyone else was very good, even Bill Connolly’s CGI cameo.  Everyone’s portrayal was pretty spot on, even Bennedict Cumberbatch as Smaug.  I probably wouldn’t change a thing. 

The look of the film is spot on as well.  It looks just like I came back to the same Middle Earth from the LOTR movies.  The books are really hard to envision how grand and beautiful Middle Earth is, but when I see the movies, Peter Jackson really used New Zealand’s amazing sceneries and made you believe that this place was real, and really grand.  Guilliermo del Toro did a great job designing the look and feel of the movie, although he only did the 1st 2 films, and then there was some disagreement with Jackson, and he was only credited with co-writing the 3rd one, which you can totally tell in the 3rd film that he wasn’t apart of the look design.  But besides of that, it looks great.

Now … the story!  About 1/4th of the story is accurate from the book.  The rest was made up.  There was no Radagast bunny chase with the creepy wolf things, no fight with the 9 mortal men vs the good guys and Saruman.  And, there was NO LEGOLAS!  I know he was a popular character in the LOTR movies, but trust me when I say this, he wasn’t in the book.   I’m sorry to break your hearts ladies.  Speaking of hearts, there was no love story between Tauriel and the brother dwarf, I forgot his name, I just know it was either Kili or Fili.  Although, there was one moment in the end of the 3rd one when I did get emotional over the love story, I won’t spoil it for those that haven’t seen it, but it’s pretty sad.    

Before I end this I have one thing I have to say.  In the end of the Battle of the Five Armies, the Elf King jerk tells Legolas to go north to meet a young ranger named Strider, obviously Aragorn who is in the LOTR movies.  But here’s one thing about this that doesn’t make sense, well to me at least.  The events of the Battle of the Five Armies happened over 60 years before the Fellowship of the Ring was formed, in the movies.  In the books, it’s WAY longer than that.  If we’re talking movie wise, that would mean that Aragorn should be an old man in his mid to late 80’s in the LOTR movies.  Not a young hot guy in most likely his late 30’s.  It doesn’t make sense to me at all.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one that noticed this either, a coworker of mine also noticed it.  Another coworker of mine also noticed it and tried to explain it to us how it’s possible that he’s still young and gorgeous, but I forgot because we tend to change conversation topics very easily.  So if you know why, good for you, it still doesn’t make sense to me.

My personal thoughts, I think the book sticks to the main story plot very well, but the movie has more to show off it’s grandness, and also show the sides of emotion that a book can’t show.  Like right after Thorin dies in Bilbo’s arms and the dwarves are having there moment, Bilbo is just sitting there when out of nowhere Gandalf pulls out his pipe and is trying to get his smoke on, and it’s just a couple of minutes of awkwardness of how they are both reacting to what had just occurred.  Not only did they just go through a freaking brutal battle, but one of their good friends just died.  Yes, he was a jerk towards the end, but he was still their friend, and they both are trying to find a way for them to mourn in their own way, in Gandalfs case, smoking, as if he’s had this happen before.  But for Bilbo, it hasn’t, he’s spent a majority of his life living in a quiet hole on the side of a hill, and then out of nowhere he goes through a journey that not only shows him the joy and wonder of adventure, but the sacrifice and torment it can also bring.  For some reason that one 2 minute scene really hit me, and I hope it made sense to you guys.  It made sense to me at the time when writing this in the middle of the night.  But stuff like that you can’t really grasp in a book.

So who wins, definitely the movies.  Even though they added a ton of nonsense, it’s still full of epicness that will make you want to read the book, and not only that one, but the sequel books and movies as well.  Peter Jackson really knows how to visually tell you a story, and it works here for sure.  I’m pretty sad that he’s done with the Hobbit/LOTR books, but maybe he’ll go onto the other Middle Earth books that JRR Tolkien wrote.  Maybe he will, maybe he won’t.    Although, just because I’m going with the movies, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read the book, it’s a great book.  So go to a store and buy both, I know you won’t regret it.

So that is the end of a very long Book VS Movie, just like the movies!  Next week I will be taking on another Book VS Movie, The Hobbit VS The Animated Hobbit.  If there is a particular book you’d like to see me take on, please comment down below or tweet me @BorenNerdy.  Make sure if you like it to share with everyone you know.  And for goodness sakes, read a book why don’t you!  I will see you next week my preciouses!

- BorenNerdy

The Jedi Doth Return

We have to end off the Star Wars review trilogy with The Jedi Doth Return.  The last book to end the original trilogy and the Star Wars Saga, until December of 2015 when JJ Abram’s Star Wars film comes out, which I’m super stoked about seeing!  But we’re not here to talk about that, we’re here to talk about the films, we’re here to talk about William Shakespeares The Jedi Doth Return.  Now I spent most of last weeks review praising its amazing awesomeness and it’s cleverness to bring Star Wars a whole new fan base, so I’ll will try to keep my fangasm to a minimum, but I can’t promise you anything.  So let this review begin.

So here is the story:  We return to the planet of Tattooine, home of our main character, Luke Skywalker.  He and his friends have been searching for the palace of Jabba the Hutt who has been holding Han Solo, who is still frozen, hostage and used as his … living room decoration?  Weird!  Any-who, Luke and his friends managed to get captured by Jabba the Hutt, ON PURPOSE!  And rescue Han from his cold prison, and kill Jabba, thanks to Slave Leia, and fly off to rejoin the Rebellion.  While the others return to the Rebel Base, Luke goes back to finish his training with Master Yoda.  But alas, Yoda has reached the end of his life, and is not able to help Luke finish his training.  Before he goes on to the next life, Master Yoda informs Luke something very important:

YODA These final words now

With my last breath I utter:

O hear well, brave Luke

This is our hope: there

Is another Skywalker.

The rest silence is.

After some council with Obi-Wan, Luke discovers that Leia is his sister.  It would’ve been better if he found that out before they made out in The Empire Striketh Back.  And he also realizes that he must destroy the Empire and bring the force back into balance.  So he returns to his friends at the Rebel Base with his own plan.  They find out that the Empire has started making ANOTHER Death Star, and that the Emperor is on board overseeing the final installments of the station.  May the Bothans Rest in Peace for their bravery!  They head to the Forest Moon of Endor, where they destroy shield protecting the Death Star.  Long story short, they destroy the Death Star, Darth Vader is brought back from the Dark Side and destroys the Emperor by taking his own life in the process, and they all lived Happily Ever After … Until December 18, 2015!

What is there to say that I haven’t said for the past 3 weeks.  This is a great series!  It’s in my top 10 favorite series of all time.  It’s written great, knows how to bring the Shakespeare writing and still make sense to the common person.  If you are a true Star Wars fan, you have to read this series.  The last thing I have to say is … WHAT ARE YOU DOING STILL READING THIS?!  GO GET THE BOOKS AND READ THEM, DO IT NOW!!!

So that is the end of another great book series.  There is another William Shakespeares Star Wars trilogy of the first 3 films, and I’ll probably wont review those until the end of this year since the last one, The Tragedy of the Siths Revenge, won’t be out until September.  Make sure you stick around until then.  If you like what you had just read, share and tweet this to all of your friends, family, and neighborhood hobos.  Well, I don’t know how a hobo would be able to read this, so just your family and friends.  If you’d like to see me review a certain book, please leave a comment below OR tweet me @BorenNerdy.  Next week I’ll be back with another Book VS Movie from a book I reviewed a while back, The Hobbit, and it’s going to be a fun one!  Until then, may the force be with you!

- BorenNerdy

The Empire Striketh Back

After the 1st Star Wars film came out in 1977, everyone was obsessed and wanted more.  When  Ian Doescher’s William Shakespeare’s Star Wars came out, a lot of people were obsessed and wanted to see more, hence, The Empire Striketh Back, a sequel to the popular book, based on the popular movie.  Oddly enough, people love the idea of making a Star Wars book with the same story, but as if William Shakespeare came up with the idea.  If you don’t understand what I mean here’s an example.  In 1994, the famous movie The Lion King came out, everyone said it was the most original idea ever written.  Sadly it’s not, the film was inspired by the story of Hamlet, which if you remember way back in High School English, it was written by Shakespeare.  See, you get another Star Wars themed review AND a little history lesson.  So let the review begin!

So what’s the story … A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, we return to the story of Luke Skywalker, who has joined the Rebel Alliance with his friends Han Solo, and Chewbacca.  After their secret base was … well, no longer a secret, and attacked by the Galactic Empire, Han, Leia, Chewy, and C3P0 manage to escape and head to the Cloud City to repair their ship.  Until suddenly they are captured by Darth Vader.  Luckily they manage to escape, except Han who now is frozen and taken to Jabba the Hutt.  While that whole shenanigan is going on, Luke goes to find Master Yoda, a powerful Jedi Master to help him complete his training in the power of the force.  But, he then leaves before finishing his training to go help his friends.  Once he gets to the City of the Clouds he realizes that Darth Vader is there ready to capture him as well as his friends.  Some awesome sword fighting happens, and then Luke learns the most important thing in his life that will change everything.  This is the best part of the whole story, so I’m just gonna post the quote on here so you can see it’s pure awesomeness:

VADER [aside:] The boy doth admirably keep his head, 

But now I shall unleash the final blow.

[To Luke:] If thou but newest all the power of 

The dark side.  Obi-Wan hath never told 

Thee of what happen’d to thy father, Luke.

LUKE O, he hath spoken much.  And he hath told

Me of the truth – that thou didst slay hm, aye,

And without cause or mercy, murderer 

Most vile and wretched!

VADER - No, I am thy father!

LUKE Nay, ‘tis not true!  It is impossible!

VADER Pray, search thy feelings, Luke.  Thou knowest it 

Is true.

LUKE -Nay!

That is how awesome this book is!  You take an iconic and quotable scene in the history of everything, and make it into something awesome … Well, I think it’s awesome.  And I bet all of those Shakespeare nerds think its awesome too, I hope so at least.  

Now my thoughts on the book, GO BUY IT.  Not just buy it, but read it over and over again.  Read it until your eyes start bleeding!!!!  Ok, I know that’s a little extreme, I currently reading the Lord of the Rings books right now, and my mind has gotten a little medieval and violent, thanks JRR Tolkien!  Anyway, if you wanna be a true Star Wars fan, definitely read this masterpiece, it’s totally worth it.

So that is my book review for this week, I hope you enjoyed my extreme nerd out.  If you enjoyed this please share this with all of your friends and family, even your father!  If you’d like for me to read a book, please leave a comment below, or tweet me @BorenNerdy.  I look forward to seeing you next week when I take on the last of this wonderful series, The Jedi Doth Return.  Until then, may the force be with you!

- BorenNerdy

Book VS Movie - Star Wars VS William Shakespeare's Star Wars

In this corner, the king of pop culture, the only hope for all nerd kind … STAR WARS!  And in this corner we have the father of English and Literature, the man that made grown men dress up like women instead of having actual women be in the plays, which is pretty messed up.  The one the only WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE … Well actually, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, but you know what I meant.  Now you’re probably all thinking that I have gone crazy since the movie is clearly better, which you are wrong.  The movie is always better!  But why can’t I have some fun … and some time to get some extra reading time for upcoming reviews.  So let the battle begin!

Now usually I review movies that are based on books, and since this is the complete opposite, I’m gonna talk about which side does a better job.  With the characters, the movie does a great job showing the emotions of each person.  You know when they’re sad, happy, scared, while in the book, the characters  ramble on and on about how they feel.  It’s nice knowing how they feel,  but I don’t need to know about some sun fading in the distance, when basically you could just say, “I’m sad.”  But each character is portrayed very well in the book, Han Solo as the scruffy looking nerf herder pirate, Luke as the bright eyed boy eager to learn his true potential, Leia as the princess that can kick butt, and R2D2 as the droid that no one understands.  That’s right, R2D2 has speaking parts, but only when he is monologuing to himself, then he is beeping and squeaking … He has a really bad potty mouth if you think about it.  

Also something positive about the movie that the book lacks is the setting.  When you’re sitting there and watching the movie, you can experience all the amazement of this one mans imagination.  In the book, it doesn’t really explain the setting very well.  I think because the movie came out first, Ian Doescher (the author) didn’t really need to explain the setting, because the only people that would read it are the same people that have seen the movie over and over again, to the point that they remember every single second and detail of the movie and don’t need an explanation of the setting or scenes.  So the book kind of had a win on that part.

My personal opinion, if you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, do it!  It’s so worth doing both.  And if you think about it, the story of Star Wars sounds like it could be from Shakespeare.  It has great characters, great villains, great setting, and it’s just plain great.  I heard a rumor that there is going to be a staged play of the book coming out sometime in the near future.  I really hope its true, cause I’d enjoy spending every penny to see that!  Better yet, let’s make it into a movie … James Earl Jones is still alive, he could use some more Star Wars fan love before he dies.

So that is my Book VS Movie, I had fun doing it.  I was planning on doing a Book VS Movie with the rest of the book trilogy, but then I realized that I would be saying the exact same thing two more times, but with a different story.  Oh well, but I promise I’ll do another review when the next Star Wars Trilogy comes out, which probably won’t be till the end of the year when I get to those.  Anywho, please leave a comment below if there is a book you’d like to see me tackle, and also, please share with your book loving friends.  I’ve missed doing these and I can’t wait to do more of these to come.  I will see you next week when I review the next William Shakespeare Star Wars book, The Empire Striketh Back.  Until then, may the force be with you!

- BorenNerdy

P.S.  HAPPY STAR WARS DAY!  May the 4th Be With You!