Book Nerd’s Comments (group member since Dec 20, 2018)

Book Nerd’s comments from the Never too Late to Read Classics group.

John wrote: "Why the Civil War Came by Gabor S. Boritt

"

The Star Beast by Robert A. Heinlein

182 pages

Group Total: 236,644

I just finished this. Another great juvenile.

(view spoiler)[
This is what I pictured Lummox as:


Heinlein is good at making court proceeding seem interesting. I know for a fact they're boring and tedious.

It did seem pretty dumb to me that they didn't bother to find out what Hroshii looked like for so long.

Quotes I liked:
"The law is whatever you can convince a court it is."
"A paradox can exist only in words, never in the facts behind the words."

(hide spoiler)]

Lummox had been the Stuart family pet for years. Though far from cuddly and rather large, it had always been obedient and docile. Except, that is, for the time it had eaten the secondhand Buick . . .

But now, all of a sudden and without explanation, Lummox had begun chomping down on a variety of things—not least, a very mean dog and a cage of virtually indestructible steel. Incredible!

John Thomas and Lummox were soon in awfully hot water, and they didn't know how to get out. And neither one really understood just how bad things were—or how bad the situation could get—until some space voyagers appeared and turned a far-from-ordinary family problem into an extraordinary confrontation.

The whole thing of doing all those calculations in your head seems pretty silly now but it was still a pretty good story.

I really wanted to see what the centaurs and Mr. Chips looked like.
That's one problem with older books, they usually don't describe the aliens any more than absolutely necessary.

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

228 pages

Group Total 235,684

Hehe, great ending. If I've ever seen the movie I have no memory of it.

I like Ira Levin's fast moving writing style. I'd like to read the sequel. I've also heard about The Boys From Brazil.

I'm sure Charlie X/Charlie's Law was directly inspired by Stranger in a Strange Land.

Yeah, I found the father pretty annoying with his obsession with ship's order.
The boys were what I always wanted to think I was when I was a kid. But wasn't.

I'm liking it so far. Ira Levin wrote nice fast paced books.
Her dream was really trippy.

Yeah, I don't like that much either but it's free at least.

I don't have time to rewatch the show but I've been putting it on while I do other things.

Michelle wrote: "My library listed copies of these in their catalog as a 3 book collection. But when I put them on hold, they came up as lost :(

Still looking for them elsewhere."
You can read a few on Archive for now. I posted the link.



I've read a few so far and really enjoying them. It's much like if they had an unlimited budget and modern special effects on the show.

Season 1
✅"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
✅"The Corbomite Maneuver"
✅"Mudd's Women"
✅"The Enemy Within"
✅"The Man Trap" (novelization: The Unreal McCoy)
✅"The Naked Time"
✅"Charlie X" (novelization: Charlie's Law)
✅"Balance of Terror"
✅"What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
✅"Dagger of the Mind"
✅"Miri"
✅"The Conscience of the King"
✅"The Galileo Seven"
✅"Court Martial"
✅"The Menagerie, Part I & 2" (novelization does not include the frame story)
✅"Shore Leave"
✅"The Squire of Gothos"
✅"Arena"
✅"The Alternative Factor"
✅"Tomorrow is Yesterday"
✅"The Return of the Archons"
✅"A Taste of Armageddon"
✅"Space Seed"
✅"This Side of Paradise"
✅"The Devil in the Dark"
✅"Errand of Mercy"
✅"The City on the Edge of Forever"
✅"Operation -- Annihilate!"
Season 2
✅"Catspaw"
✅"Metamorphosis"
✅"Friday's Child"
✅"Who Mourns for Adonais?"
✅"Amok Time"
✅"The Doomsday Machine"
✅"Wolf in the Fold"
✅"The Changeling"
✅"The Apple"
✅"Mirror, Mirror"
✅"The Deadly Years"
✅"I, Mudd"
✅"The Trouble with Tribbles"
✅"Bread and Circuses"
✅"Journey to Babel"
✅"A Private Little War"
✅"The Gamesters of Triskelion"
✅"Obsession"
✅"The Immunity Syndrome"
✅"A Piece of the Action"
✅"By Any Other Name"
✅"Return to Tomorrow"
✅"Patterns of Force"
✅"The Ultimate Computer"
✅"The Omega Glory"
✅"Assignment: Earth"
Season 3
✅"Spectre of the Gun" (novelization The Last Gunfight)
✅"Elaan of Troyius"
✅"The Paradise Syndrome"
✅"The Enterprise Incident"
✅"And the Children Shall Lead"
✅"Spock's Brain"
✅"Is There in Truth No Beauty?"
✅"The Empath"
✅"The Tholian Web"
✅"For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky"
✅"Day of the Dove"
✅"Plato's Stepchildren"
✅"Wink of an Eye"
✅"That Which Survives"
✅"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"
✅"Whom Gods Destroy"
✅"The Mark of Gideon"
✅"The Lights of Zetar"
✅"The Cloud Minders"
✅"The Way to Eden"
✅"Requiem for Methuselah"
✅"The Savage Curtain"
✅"All Our Yesterdays"
✅"Turnabout Intruder"

Suppose you were an up-to-date young wife who moved into an old and elegant New York apartment house with a rather strange past.
Suppose that only after you became pregnant did you begin to suspect the building harbored a diabolically evil group of devil worshippers who had mastered the arts of black magic and witchcraft.
Suppose that this satanic conspiracy set out to claim not only your husband but your baby.
Well, that's what happened to Rosemary... Or did it...?

The episodes of Star Trek the original series were novelized by James Blish with some of them finished by his wife J.A. Lawrence.
For July read any or all of the stories.

They are spread over thirteen books or several collected volumes.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/5404...
All of the volumes can be read here:
https://archive.org/details/star-trek...

If you're a real nerd like me and want to read the stories in order it can be kind of difficult. Here's a list of the tv episodes. This is in production order, they aired in yet another order.

Season 1
"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
"The Corbomite Maneuver"
"Mudd's Women"
"The Enemy Within"
"The Man Trap" (novelization: The Unreal McCoy)
"The Naked Time"
"Charlie X" (novelization: Charlie's Law)
"Balance of Terror"
"What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
"Dagger of the Mind"
"Miri"
"The Conscience of the King"
"The Galileo Seven"
"Court Martial"
"The Menagerie, Part I" (novelization does not include the frame story)
"The Menagerie, Part II" (This is the original pilot of the show.)
"Shore Leave"
"The Squire of Gothos"
"Arena"
"The Alternative Factor"
"Tomorrow is Yesterday"
"The Return of the Archons"
"A Taste of Armageddon"
"Space Seed"
"This Side of Paradise"
"The Devil in the Dark"
"Errand of Mercy"
"The City on the Edge of Forever"
"Operation -- Annihilate!"

Season 2
"Catspaw"
"Metamorphosis"
"Friday's Child"
"Who Mourns for Adonais?"
"Amok Time"
"The Doomsday Machine"
"Wolf in the Fold"
"The Changeling"
"The Apple"
"Mirror, Mirror"
"The Deadly Years"
"I, Mudd"
"The Trouble with Tribbles"
"Bread and Circuses"
"Journey to Babel"
"A Private Little War"
"The Gamesters of Triskelion"
"Obsession"
"The Immunity Syndrome"
"A Piece of the Action"
"By Any Other Name"
"Return to Tomorrow"
"Patterns of Force"
"The Ultimate Computer"
"The Omega Glory"
"Assignment: Earth"

Season 3
"Spectre of the Gun" (novelization The Last Gunfight)
"Elaan of Troyius"
"The Paradise Syndrome"
"The Enterprise Incident"
"And the Children Shall Lead"
"Spock's Brain"
"Is There in Truth No Beauty?"
"The Empath"
"The Tholian Web"
"For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky"
"Day of the Dove"
"Plato's Stepchildren"
"Wink of an Eye"
"That Which Survives"
"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"
"Whom Gods Destroy"
"The Mark of Gideon"
"The Lights of Zetar"
"The Cloud Minders"
"The Way to Eden"
"Requiem for Methuselah"
"The Savage Curtain"
"All Our Yesterdays"
"Turnabout Intruder"

Blueberry wrote: "I disagree with Larry McMurtry's thinking that his book ending up glorifying the old west."
Yeah, I don't know why he thinks that. It was very realistic and brutal.

I like this quote from Clara's thoughts:

"Everything took longer than it should, or else went too quick.
It was wearying, trying to adjust to all the paces life required."

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

857 pages

Group Total: 229,118

Well that was as great as everybody says it is.
I definitely struggled, it was a slow read and I couldn't just speed through it but that probably just made it better.

Lesle wrote: "Newt learns so much from both men. Call about hard work and Gus he learns how to enjoy friendship and women."
Yeah, he had two daddies. I still don't think he knows much about women. It's amazing how clueless so many of these guys are.

(view spoiler)[Yeah, even with Gus dying, I think Deet's death hit me hardest. The death of a minor but important character, you feel like "damn, I wish I'd gotten to know him better!" (hide spoiler)]

Lesle wrote: "Of course it is. One of the streaming Apps I do not use!"
Of course. They claim all this streaming stuff is convenient but it's just an endless hassle. I want the video store back!