Chic, IL Errant Venture - book club discussion/info

For those thinking of going to see The Dark Knight at Navy Pier IMAX, I just bought seat K22 for August 23 at 7:00 P.M.

Phil

 

Laura got K21, and I picked up K20 for that showing. There were still plenty of tickets left for the 7pm showing, but who knows how long that will last!

Also, I don't have the schedule handy... what book are we doing in October after the X-Wing summer ends?

 

I can hardly believe it, but...I can make it this Saturday!! Now I just have to read the book.

As for places to eat, I can at least offer some possibilities. There's Exchequer and Miller's Pub (both with nice, varied menus) and a little further south my FAVE cheap/delicious place in the loop-- Thai Spoon.

 

I just finished "Invincible" last night...
all I can say is WOW!

I didn't even start reading this series till after Invincible was out..
I probably started reading the first one of the series in the beginning
of June..
for me to read all 9 books in this short of time is unreal...
I REALLY enjoyed this series..
wow...
couple of old characters gone now...

and...

What do you think is going to happen with Zekk?

 

Yeah, Legacy of the Force is really a great series, despite some bumps along the way. There is at least one book planned after LOTF, Millennium Falcon, but I'm not sure if they'll deal with Zekk's fate or not in that. There is a rumored 2009 series called Fate of the Jedi, but details are not clear on that yet.

Having finished The Clone Wars by Karen Traviss, I would suggest that for our October book club. It really adds so much more than was in the movie, similar to how Stover was able to add to Revenge of the Sith. If Order 66 were to be November, that'd be two Traviss books in a row.

Phil

 

We had a great turnout this month, with a full total of 12 at one brief point. Afterwards, we got sandwiches at Potbelly and ate at the First National Bank Plaza. Thanks to everyone who came out! We always have great conversations and good times hanging out with each other.

To update, the September book will be X-Wing: The Bacta War by Michael Stackpole while October will be Order 66 by Karen Traviss. I hope to see all of you out there.

Phil

 

Just for the record, I totally didn't space out and forget book club this month.

 

Confirmed, kosure was one of the twelve.

 

Great discussion as always. I'm totally bummed that I will miss September.

Wanted to shout out to Bethany, who attended her first Book Club.

Hope we didn't scare you off!

 

No way! I'm hooked. You guys are so nerdy...just like me!

Seriously, thanks for being so cool & letting me jump right in!!

 

So no Happy Meal at McDonald's? No one wanted to get the Clone war toys

We thank the Lords of Kobol.

For being absent, your penance will be to write a review of the book

It was cool to meet you. Star Wars is Forever! Embrace the cheesiness. It is great to be nerdy and geeky.


And to Phyllis, in reference to you just now reading the Legacy series and considering I never read the "Rogue Squadron books" until now - I cannot believe I waited this long to read them. Wedge and Corran are just awesome characters!!! Off-topic - I will be seeing Darryl S. to purchase an R2D2 dome to start building

 

I heard you were buying the Dome Marlyn...

Good luck with the R2...

I finally found one a Radio Shack amph that will hopefully make my R2 sounds audible...

I am reading "Coruscant Nights" now...the first one...
and all I can say is

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

I definitely need the luck. Now you understand why I have been using the library to read the SW books...

I saw the book "Coruscant Nights" at the library; I recall someone telling me how funny the stories are, but I am trying to stay caught up for Traviss's books.

I am the second person to request copy of Karen Traviss's "Order 66" to read from the library. The Library System has ordered three books, so I wonder who was the first? I got a copy of Stackpole's Comic Book Story, "Union", from the library to read. I forgot how much I enjoy the artwork in comic books...

It would be great to see R2 at the Breast Cancer Walk...

 

I'm only on chapter 5, but I'm really, really enjoying this book. So far it's not better than Traviss' Revelation. But I think it's a close second. Can't wait for book club this month!

 

I haven't even started Order 66, plus I won't be in town for book club due to cousins wedding.

 

It's my son's 6th birthday party this day!! Hopefully I can make it next mont.

 

Yay for Liam!
Can't wait for this one, Order 66 is great so far.

 

I won't be at book club this weekend, either. Waaaah! I knew October was going to be a crazy month for me, but I had no idea just how crazy!!

 

Well, I am in Bloomington, Indiana for IU Home-comming weekend,
and to attend a Hoosier Alliance Star Wars club meeting.

thus, I can not make this one..................drats!


and so, is it too early to ask about the next one,
(Hopefully, not Thanksgiving day weekend)

 

Then I'll just have book club by myself; fine!

 

Recently I've read several SW books and haven't had a chance to join book club so I thought I'd post my thoughts here.

The most recent book I finished was Millennium Falcon and I can't believe this but I absolutely loved the book. I think that part of the reason was that the book was just straight up fun. After having read a slew of SW books such as the Legacy of the Force series that was dark and depressing, putting characters through the absolute wringer it was a joy to read a SW book that was just a good time from start to finish. Now I love putting characters through hell to force them to grow but after a while it gets to be and has been too much. So when a book like this comes along it's an absolute breath of fresh air. Never once was I concerned about a characters safety or shocked by something extreme happening, instead I couldn't wait to turn the page to see what history was uncovered next and where the quest that drives the book was going to go. On top of all this I think Luceno did an excellent job with the characters, especially Allana, Han, and the Falcon herself. I would absolutely recommend this book to any SW fan.

I also read the second Coruscant Nights book and though I enjoyed it I completely understand how some fans are going to like it and some aren't. If anything I applaud the editors for allowing the author to attempt a noir series in the SW universe and it reassures me that they're giving the writers freedom to try new things regardless of it's successful or not. But again, I thought the book was good at best but not great and not terrible, definitely a nice try.

Currently I'm reading the novelization of The Force Unleashed which someone saw me reading and asked how it was, my response, "absolutely terrible." Mind you this has nothing to do with the fact that I've played and finished the game of the same name. The book has become an absolute chore to try to finish as unlike the novelization of RotS so far it's added almost nothing to the narrative of the game. In fact I don't think it even does a satisfactory job of conveying the story or action of the game. The book is boring, the characters are thin, and instead of expanding on scenes in the game it seems to only condense them robbing them of any impact. Now some books based on games are good or even great, namely the Republic Commando series, but then there are others that are complete crap, Ruins of Dantooine. Now I still have yet to finish TFU and it isn't as bad as ruins but so far I wouldn't recommend it at all to anyone except completists like me. If you want the story play the game which is a really good time. To take a parting shot I should've known the book was crap when the author thanked Kevin J. Anderson??..

Lastly, I finished Republic Commando: Order 66, and was wonderfully well written it is and as much as I love the author, the characters and the series, I was completely disappointed. Don't get me wrong I'm still very interested in what happens next and will faithfully read the series (even if I wasn't a completist) but my main problem with the book and the reason I was let down is that to me it didn't address or explore Order 66 at all. To me the novel would have been better and less mis-leading if it had had another title. It's hard to properly discuss this book without any spoilers so I'll keep things very high level in saying that I thought the author had a great chance to explore what went through various clone trooper's minds when order 66 was given but instead of taking what was a great device, it became kind of a throw away event that just happened on the periphery. And just talking about this frustrates me as there so many great characters in this series who all could've had different reactions that could've even brought them in conflict with each other but instead????nothing. Okay, I need to stop now before I spoil any more. Regardless it's a very well written book and if you love or like these characters already you'll definitely enjoy this book but to me it was just a huge missed opportunity.

And hopefu

 

Nice to hear from you Doc Jawa. I've been known to miss a book club or two myself, and our missings must have coincided because I haven't seen you in a while. I'm glad to hear such a positive review of "Falcon." Gosh you got through that thing quick, it must've been good. I'm not really a Luceno nut. I assumed that "Falcon" was going to be the book end for "Death Star." But I guess maybe they were thinking, one-off-adventure/breather-before-"Fate of the Jedi".

It's too bad about the "Unleashed" novel. I really had my fingers crossed for another "Republic Commando." The story-line from the game is so exciting. While I haven't played it myself, I've heard people say they'd buy a DVD of Force Unleashed cut scenes. (Maybe a little cleaned up). But That's high praise for a LucaArts game.


I agree with you that the titling of "Order 66" is a little misleading, but I disagree that it's anti-climactic. First of all, we know it's coming. Secondly; though people's thoughts on it aren't explored very, very deeply, Order 66 is the catalyst to implement the plan they've been building for four books. That said "Imperial Commando" is coming, which means cliff-hangers, but also room to grow and explore character. "Order 66" left me feeling unfulfilled, but masterfully. I loved that book.

 

FYI: Since the Life Day Celebration will be held at my house this year so will December's book club which will be from 4-6.

Also, I'm still not finished with TFU novel, it's getting a little better but still not good.

And yeah, to me, Millenium Falcon was that good.

 

I can't keep up anymore. I haven't even finished the first book of Courscant nights, and just picked up Republic commando. Whats happened to me!

 

Here is the future book schedule:

November: Jedi Twilight (Coruscant Nights I)
December: The Clone Wars
January: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
February: Stree to Shadows (Coruscant Nights II)
March: Patterns of Force (Coruscant Nights III)