I have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time travelers, sliders, or espers here, come join me. That is all.
I wish I had the goI have no interest in ordinary humans. If there are any aliens, time travelers, sliders, or espers here, come join me. That is all.
I wish I had the good sense to introduce myself this way on the first day of high school. I may have ended up with cooler friends...
Kyon gave up his dreams of finding anything supernatural or out of the ordinary long ago. Until his first day of high school where he meets the oddest girl he's ever known. Haruhi Suzumiya may be cute, but she's totally out of her mind. Or is she? This seemingly normal high school student may very well have the fate of the world in her hands.
Kyon inadvertently plants the idea in Haruhi's head to start a new school club dedicated to seeking out the extraordinary. The SOS Brigade is born. But the extraordinary can be found right in the club itself. ...more
Daniel was orphaned at age 3 when his Alien Hunter parents were murdered by The Prayer who is looking for The List. The List is a Most Wanted list of Daniel was orphaned at age 3 when his Alien Hunter parents were murdered by The Prayer who is looking for The List. The List is a Most Wanted list of aliens and Daniel carries on where his parents left off, hunting aliens. Daniel is, of course, alien himself and has several powers including being able to create his parents, a sister, and a group of best buddies. Even though it's evident Daniel is no normal 15 year old, I would have liked a little back story on how he managed to survive between the ages of 3 and 10 on his own, I find it hard to swallow that a 3-year old, even a super smart 3-year old with super powers, would survive in the world with no adult supervision. Like, where did he get all this money to be buying houses all over the place? Hey, this is James Patterson after all. Short simple chapters with bare bones descriptions. I've said it before, it's like James Patterson writes an outline of a story and then goes back and fills in a few paragraphs per subject heading. Anyway, I decided to listen to Daniel X in audio book format rather than suffer through what I consider an annoying writing style. And, at least in this case, it helped bring the story to life. But Daniel X deserves to be so much better. Part Men in Black, part Harry Potter, part Darren Shan's Demonata, Daniel X has plenty of action. But in the end the lackluster writing and too simple even for a kids' book plot make Daniel X a dull boy. This will be a series (of course!) but the only way I'll read (or listen to) more is if I get free copies at work....more
I don't like baseball. I don't have a young child at home who likes baseball. It's the time travel scenario that had me interested in reading this booI don't like baseball. I don't have a young child at home who likes baseball. It's the time travel scenario that had me interested in reading this book. Also, Babe Ruth is a baseball player that I do know a little bit about. I am from Boston--- and he was The Bambino who placed a curse on my hometown team which has since, of course, been broken. But this is a book about his days as a member of the Yankees, specifically during the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs.
Joe Stoshack is a kid with an amazingly cool ability. He can go back in time while holding old baseball cards. He's always been interested in whether or not Babe Ruth really called his shot in game 3 of the 1932 World Series. So when his dad asks for an old Babe Ruth card back so he can cash it in during a time of financial crisis, Joe comes up with a better idea. He goes back in time with his dad, his dad more interested in scheming to make a fortune off the past, Joe just wanting to see Babe call the shot. The result is some touching father/son bonding over their shared 1932 experiences.
Most surprising to me was the wealth of historical knowledge in this book for kids. Not only do you learn all about the many layers of Babe Ruth as a person (the events are all factual, with a few pictures included) but there is also information about the Depression and the hard times of many people during this time period. There is other historical information about things like the upcoming presidential election, race relations, the rise of Hitler and the soon to come Holocaust.
A very well-written piece of historical fiction for children ages 8-12. So well-written that this 30-something non-sports fan wants to read the rest of the series....more
This book took me a ridiculous amount of time to read; at 176 pages a novel that should have taken me a few days to finish took abIs not is not not is
This book took me a ridiculous amount of time to read; at 176 pages a novel that should have taken me a few days to finish took about a year. Oddly enough, I’m thinking about re-reading it. The premise is a great one: Chester W. Chester IV owes a million credits in back taxes; he decides selling his circus is his best bet in paying most of the money back. His eccentric great-grandfather passes away, leaving Chester as his sole heir. He inherits a run-down old mansion and an antiquated computer. He is less than thrilled with his inheritance until he discovers this computer holds the whole of the world’s history and can recreate in a life-like fashion any time period. Chester and his friend Case devise a scheme to make money by bringing dinosaurs and other blasts from the past back to life. Basically, the plan is to fake a time machine.
All doesn’t go as planned as the computer simulations are a little too life-like. Chester, Case, and the computer made companion Genie become stuck in various eras. And speaking of stuck, this is one of my biggest complaints about this novel. It has a very 1960s feel to it despite it taking place in the future. I know to a certain extent that can’t be helped as it was indeed written in the 60s, but it really distracted me. Everything about the characters- their dialogue, their attitudes- just seemed too limited to me. Another complaint: Boring, unlikeable characters. I didn’t care about the exploits of the main character Chester. The humor didn’t work for me even though the cover promised this book is “Hilarious and swinging”.
Chester’s experience stuck in time is full of thought-provoking philosophical concepts regarding achieving a higher state through conditioning oneself by testing one’s mental and physical limitations. Also, some groovy words worth pondering, such as the above mentioned “Is not is not not is”.
Unfortunately, this journey through time (or not, it’s never 100% clear that they’ve actually time traveled) has more drawn out boring parts than swinging moments. I somewhat dug the first half, but then it became a bit of a drag. ...more
**This review is for the abridged audio version of the Terry Brooks novelization**
I should start by saying that as a previously lifelong fan of Star W**This review is for the abridged audio version of the Terry Brooks novelization**
I should start by saying that as a previously lifelong fan of Star Wars who no longer called herself a fan after the brutal prequel trilogy, I was pretty convinced I wasn't going to like the audio book either. That being said, a 3-star rating for Phantom Menace really says something for Terry Brooks' novelization. I got more from the story than I did the movie, for sure. The voice acting is decent although a few of the voices made me cringe, specifically Jar Jar Binks. Although,it's safe to say that Jar Jar Binks is the most annoying character of all time in any incarnation....more
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