Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Random Reads: Star Wars Books!

All right... the time has come. I am officially getting ready to delete the content from Really Rather Random Guy (dot blogspot dot com) and in preparing for that, I wanted to import a bunch of the content that I know will then be lost forever, by bringing the posts over here to Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks (dot blogspot dot com). So, with that in mind, I thought I would preface these entries with the fact that they are indeed OLD blog posts from an OLD, now DEFUNCT blog, and cross my fingers and hope that folks will still want to read them.


This post was originally published back on February 19th, 2014.

A real blink-and-you'll-miss-it post tonight kids! Here's a handful of Star Wars books I've picked up secondhand:


Here are a couple of highly educational books starring C-3PO and R2-D2. I always find it exceptionally weird when they use fictional characters from other galaxies to teach kids about things from the here-and-now. I mean, I get that they're using characters that appeal to kids... and in a backwards sort of way it does make sense that the droids from Star Wars would be the experts on both robotics and space travel... but they seem a little over-qualified right? Like Earth robotics and space travel both seem a little beneath them when you compare them to protocol droids and hyper-drives. Both are a pretty fun flip-through however, as the ideas behind both robotics and space have come pretty far since these books were put out. 


Next, this pair of novels I picked up at Scottie's Books. I picked these both up for half the cover price (which was originally 1.95). I've never been a huge fan of the ideas behind the "expanded universe" for Star Wars, and these two novels make the second time I've really gone outside of my comfort zone and picked up books based on the original trilogy. They look goofy enough to enjoy, and the price was right, so I figured, "why not?"


Finally, we have a book that I almost didn't buy: Star Wars A More Wretched Hive: The Mos Eisley Cantina. At first glance I almost just dismissed this as a part of the drek that came out around the re-release of the (remastered) Original Trilogy in the late 90's. And in fact, this one is from 1997 and features a few of the "improvements" that George Lucas shoe-horned into the film. But then I noticed two things: 1) It's about Mos Eisley, which is quite possibly one of the absolute best things about the original Star Wars (even with the alterations). and 2) IT IS A SCRATCH AND SNIFF BOOK. And boy it does NOT disappoint. If you've ever wondered what a wookie's "strong, swampy odor" is like, or what the "sharp electrical scent" of a lightsaber might smell like right after it slices off Ponda Baba's arm, well then this book is for you! Also included? The general odor of the Cantina from outside, a frothy fruit beverage from the bar' "The only pleasant smell in the whole place!", Greedo's breath (!), the exhaust of THE one-and-only Millenium Falcon, and of course, Jabba the Hutt's morbidly-obese-shut-in-corpse-from-SE7EN body odor. 

Gosh, next to that I have very little to say about the kid's book version of the Ewok's complete ruination of the final film. (Actually, I'm not an Ewok hater by an means. I was totally on the Wickett bandwagon as a kid.) Ummm... it was nice? Both of these books ran me .99 cents.


11 comments:

  1. So jealous of the things you find in the states. While I am paying $10 for those books here.

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    1. Well, unless you happen upon them in Goodwill or something folks up here are still paying around 8 dollars or so for some of these same types of books.

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  2. Funny, I just picked up the hardcover edition of Han Solo's Revenge at a thrift store last week - apparently it is the second book in the trilogy, the one you have being book one.

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    1. Do you need the first one? If so you can consider this copy yours. Just let me know. I was thinking about reading it, but I'm not married to it or anything.

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  3. Replies
    1. Look, you have no idea how excited I was. Who thinks up this stuff? Who thinks: I know, we'll make a book you can SMELL about one of the most DISGUSTING areas of the Star Wars universe.

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  4. Those old Solo book aren't bad, I mean if you consider at the time what else was available pretty much being the Marvel comics. And even though those are a victim of their time, I still love them for what they are.

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    1. I don't hate the idea by any means. I'm just very particular about my Star Wars intake. Anything written with enough machismo and bravado to make Han Solo feel like the "real" Han Solo would be a fun read IMO.

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    2. I might have just the thing for you. Email (dex1138 at gmail) or twitter PM me your address :)

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  5. Splinter of the Mind's Eye is a great find. It's one of the first EU stories. It was supposed to take place between Star Wars and Empire, and features flirting between Luke and Leia. To me this sort of detail suggests that Lucas had no idea where he was going with the storytelling, otherwise, why would he approve such an icky detail.

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