SPOILER RANT: Skip if you haven't and want to read the High Republic.

After reading everything involving the High Republic, I couldn't bring myself to invest my time in this final book of Phase 1. I was digging it for the most part, but Star Wars has always been about hope, and the Falling Star just ended in misery, with no clear plot forward, and they are doing a flash back 200 years for the next phase.

Pretty cool villain vs villain story. A couple unnecessary twists and betrayals at the end, but a decent stand alone that doesn't require much knowledge going into it.

This novel is based on unproduced episodes of the Clone Wars series. It was pretty good. I don't know anything of Quinlan Vos outside of the current cannon. It fits well with the series, though Asajj's break from the dark side was kinda glossed over. Not the best from Marc Thompson. Anakin and Vos sounded like surfer dudes and Mace was a tad cringe-worthy (he's a white guy trying to sound black...).

Geez, I hope this improves soon. The opening chapter had me tearing up with Henson's funeral, then I skipped 50 pages as it talked about children's TV at the time and some producer's life story. Not a great start.

A nice, short picture book recapping the events of The Fallen Star. I wonder who this book is for; it is so brief, there is barely a story and you don't even get a chance to really meet any characters. I wonder how many parents are so enthralled with the High Republic series that they feel the need to introduce their young children to it...

A solid continuation of a solid side story in the High Republic. Lily continues her growth as a Jedi while dealing with her temple coming under attack from the Nihil's tactic to attack small words to distract from their main focus and spread the Republic forces thin. Great art and a strong story.

Geez, what a bummer. So, no secret if you've seen any promotional material for this series, but the Nihil destroy Starlight Beacon. This book takes place in the few hours that encompass the event. The book is fine, plenty of action and twists, but Star Wars has always been about hope, and since they are going back in time for the next span of material, it is odd to end on such a downer. Not even an inspirational speech, just despair.

Oof, totally missed the opening day for #fallingforfallswap
Thank you @BethM - Work is a b**** lately, so comfy socks, tasty tea and a cozy read sounds excellent! The sci fi book sounds cool, too. #fffs

I really enjoyed this collection of connected stories set around generations of a family living in rural Colorado. Stories of struggle and perseverance, resilience and acceptance.

A quick, cute read. Relatable to car owners. Fun drawings.

A story of star-crossed lovers for Comic-Con fans. Two men create the TomorrowMen, which becomes a media giant, but the artist sells his share early on and legal battles ensue. Their grandchildren meet years later, and their relationship becomes stained as their families' pasts interfere. A decent YA read. Bit of a cheesy ending, but nothing really bad to say. Just very generic, middle of the road read.

I did a re-listen to this audio drama to see if there were any overt connections to the High Republic and because I am rewatching the Clone Wars animated series. My original review stands: it's just okay, with a big miscast in the Dooku voice role. It covers Dooku's background, but ends when he leaves the Jedi order, so it kinda stops at the point in his history most people would be interested in. Certainly not essential reading.

An excellent book! This is not a self-help book. In fact, the "how to" section is pretty minimal; but that is because the true, laying how-to involves significant societal change. There is a lot of good information here, though. It seems like it's jumping around from nutrition to silicone valley to pollution, but that's because it is all connected. Highly recommended!

1. I tend to slump a bit in the late summer, plus I have been having a tough time adjusting to my CPAP machine, so my motivation has been lacking; however, I did finish Sunwing, which was great.

2. I love Redwall, but the characters are running around with swords and shields and cooking banquets. Oppel's books are fantastical, but the characters (bats, owls, rats) don't do anything their real world counterparts couldn't do, which I appreciate.

A dark, mystical graphic novel based on an ancient folktale. Well written and beautifully drawn. M.T. Anderson is one of my wife's favorites, and I enjoyed my first read from him.

As enamored I am of bats, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this series until just this year, but I'm glad I found it. The author uses multiple real-world events and locales to weave an engaging and magical story that is still grounded enough that it could exist in our world. Unlike, say, Redwall, the animals are never anthropomorphized in their physicality or actions, which is impressive considering everything that transpires.

Morning thoughts 😁

Not saying that all gun owners ban books, but I'd say most book banners own guns.

1. Not emailed, but I take lots of pictures or screenshots of things to look up later

2. Either the tagged book, which is a comic creators first prose effort, or Street Gang, a BTS book about Sesame Street.

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

One of my local finds while at Powell's in Portland. A very handy, quick guide to the ace spectrum. I am glad we are getting more attention and representation. I was awkward enough growing up that I don't think knowing the term "asexual" would have had a big impact on my social life, but I have plenty of memories of feeling different that this would have helped ease. I like that this book addressed the mixed feelings of being labeled "queer."

Okay, so I really liked the first episode, and in it, *mild spoiler* there is a running gag about Steve Rogers virginity, not much else. But reviews are going wild about further episodes of She-Hulk having discussions of relationships and the sex lives of their characters. As someone who is ace, this literally never crossed my mind, and I find it equally confounding and hilarious that this is something people have been concerned about for years...

Didn't read much this weekend because I was in Vail seeing Amos Lee live with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra! My wife got me tickets for my birthday. He was amazing! And look at that venue. Gorgeous! I also got to rock my new ace-flag colored tie dye shirt 😁

Very cool story, trippy art. This could be categorized YA, or maybe even middle grade, which took it down a notch for me, because it would have been better a little more mature. Some of the humor was very contrived. Things like one guy is always hungry, and even when his life is threatened, he's just thinking of food. However, an excellent concept and a good read.

Cute 🙂

I wanted to like this photography book of young black people more. The pictures are amazing, but the text left something to be desired. Some of the photos were accompanied by a blurb about the child. Some of their stories were amazing, but I didn't feel like much effort was put into the words. A better writer or let the subject tell their story? Also, some of the backgrounds were so dark you couldn't see the hair they were trying to highlight

I didn't dig this at first; lots of crude humor and silly sexual encounters in the beginning. While I laughed plenty, I wasn't sure where the story was going and I wasn't overly engaged. However, once the intrigue started and the fool took a more active role in the events, it got quite good, but I felt this didn't have the best balance of humor and story, it was more one or the other at any given time.

On our recent vacation, we found a small bookshop in Washington state that was selling mystery bags with random old newspaper clipping, articles, recipe cards, novelty books. It was an interesting idea, and one of the items I got was this cool woven #bookmark from the 1960s, made in Philadelphia!

Reading while listening to the dragonfruit variant vinyl of Dawes new album and enjoying some dragonfruit. 😁

I walked into a book store on vacation in Virginia hours after finishing the tagged book and found this first edition paperback. I doubt it's all that valuable, but it was a neat find, and a nice reminder of when book one of a sci fi series was under 400 pages 😁😉 #paperbackbookday #julyjam

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs Thanks for the fun prompts this month!

Cute!

Murderbot and A.R.T. #ilovemurderbot #friendsday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

I like bats. That is all. 😉

Meh. Maybe a case of the first isn't always the best, but while this was apparently pretty unique when first published, I feel like I've seen or read similar characters and this pair didn't really appeal to me. Kinda worth the effort since he nails the ending, but I didn't much care for it overall.

From Hedwig and the Angry Inch, based in part of the origin of love from Plato's Symposium #lipstickday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

I. No preference. I used to live the portability of mass market paperback, but they are becoming far less common.
II. Outdoors when I can, but the extreme summers and winters have really narrowed the window
III. Fall. Spring blooms are lovely, but I prefer cooler weather.

Thanks for the tag, @CaitZ
#wondrouswednesday @eggs

I don't have many indulgences these days, times as they are, but I do splurge on my monthly tea subscription where I get four new teas each month to try. Let me know if you want a referral code 😉 #treatday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

My wife made strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing from scratch. Delicious! #dessertday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Oof, easily the worst entry into the High Republic so far. The story was decent, if unnecessary, but the audio performances were... subpar. The lead character was breathy but rough, grunted constantly, and just not pleasant to hear. Several characters in the same scenes sounded almost identical. There were time jumps with absolutely no indication. Just uncharacteristically sloppy for a Star Wars audio. Wish I had read the book instead.

OMG, this Netflix show is supremely weird and absolutely hilarious. I only just found out about them a couple months ago. #aunt/uncleday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#redshoeday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#cousinsday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Baz Luhrmann's Australia is getting re-released with additional footage as a Hulu miniseries. Luhrmann is not for everyone, but I love his films and I'm excited to see more of this cowboy epic (plus, I'll take any excuse to post a photo of Hugh Jackman) #cowboyday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#bananahammock #hammockday #sorrynotsorry #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Had to come to Colorado to see my hometown band 😁 #motownphilly

While the character introductions and development were good, this felt like a set up for the next book more than a satisfying stand-alone. It also took me a while to realize the young, dark skinned female pilot of a guild ship with parental issues in this book was different from the young, dark skinned female copilot of a guild ship with parental issues from Into The Dark 🤷

The main character is an alien who has to inhabit a body and "be someone".

#besomeoneday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Earthrise as seen from the moon. This is a great collection of images from the archives of NASA #moonday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @eggs

Gotta love the jump to hyperspace #jumpday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

With the sudden onset of white blindness, the characters really have to work on their listening skills #listeningday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @eggs

I always think of Jarod from The Pretender when I think of someone discovering ice cream. One of my all time favorite shows! #icecreamday #julyjam @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs