Thursday, October 31, 2013

Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson by Jeff Guinn

In Manson: The Life and Time of Charles Manson, Jeff Guinn, presents information, new and old, about Manson's early life, his music career desires, his life with "the Family", as well as the murders that made him infamous. Guinn puts all of it into context with the troubling 1960s and world events.

I should state that I've read Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry many, many times. In my younger days, I was fascinated by the facts of the case. That fascination has waned a bit, but I still seem to latch onto any new information I can. That book remains one of the few that I've read more than once. Therefore, I think I have a pretty good handle on the details as Bugliosi presented them. However, looking back on it now, I think Bugliosi's presentation style and ego hampered that book and perhaps distorted some of the facts. It's going to be hard to write this review without comparing it to that book.

As for this book, I really enjoyed it. I was surprised by all of the new information that Guinn was able to assemble. By talking to others who hadn't spoken to an author before now, Guinn was able to present some new information about Charlie's life, "the Family" and of course, the murders. Perhaps some of this information was just new-to-me because it's amazing that some of this stuff wasn't known before. It has been over 40 years.

I loved that Guinn presented the material chronologically. I had complaints about authors doing this with other true crime books, but in this case I was happy about the way it was presented. It really helped the facts and events in order as they happened rather than a mishmash of random happenings. The book also answered some questions that I had, some regarding the sequence of events. I won't go into them here because they won't make sense if you don't know the details of the story.

I loved that Guinn didn't editorialize the material. He presented the information in a clear, concise manner without adding his own two cents into the mix. What a welcome change from the other book.

This book focused more on Charlie's failed attempts to garner some interest from the music industry and his intense desire for a music career and less about the Helter Skelter, the race war that was supposed to come about from the Tate/LaBianca murders. It had me questioning whether or not that war was the main motive for the murders. I don't know if there will ever be a definitive answer to that.

Guinn doesn't just write about Manson and his Family; he also presents lots of information about what was happening in the world at that time, a very chaotic time in American history. I'm not a huge history buff, so a lot of the information was new to me. It was all fascinating. I also learned more about LSD than I'll ever need to know. I hadn't given the drug that much thought, but I did have some misconceptions about it that Guinn cleared up.

My one disappointment was the trial portion of the book. Although it was condensed quite a bit, that section repeated too much of what Helter Skelter had to say about it. There were a few new tidbits of information presented, so it wasn't all bad. This book wouldn't be complete without it, so I guess I can't complain too much. It's really my fault for reading the other book too many times.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes:
...compares Charlie to a cancer cell because he thrived by eradicating everything around him that was healthy. (page 399)
The unsettling 1960s didn't create Charlie, but they made it possible for him to bloom in full, malignant flower. (page 399)
Highly recommended. If you want to know more about Manson and his Family, in my opinion this is the new go-to book.

For more information about this book, please visit Simon & Schuster's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at Simon & Schuster for this review copy.

Manson: The Life and Time of Charles Manson by Jeff Guinn, Simon & Schuster ©2013. ISBN 9781451645163(Hardcover), 495p, includes index and various appendices.

Tangled Thursday - Daisies

Tangled Thursday is a new occasional post on this blog. Heather at Books and Quilts is hosting these challenges in which we share our latest Zentangle inspired creations.







This week (our first!) we are presenting the daisies we've been working on. Here's mine:
 



















Centres: Clockwise from upper right - Merryweather, Nvelopes, Bales, Minouche 
Petals: Clockwise from top - Hollibaugh, Purk, Bead Lines, W2, Pippin, C-Bun, Pop Cloud, Paris
Additions: Twisted Rope and a few made-up edges.  

I think I mentioned that I got this 4-tile idea from a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT), Adele.  Here is her gorgeous 4-tile Floatfest tile.  I hope she doesn't mind that I used it for inspiration.  If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you should.  Her work is informative and wonderful.

If I had to do this all over again, I'd do a few things differently.   Ideally, I'd mount this on a black mat, but I didn't have one that was big enough, so I used a navy blue.  Sorry, the photo's not straight...bad lighting and angle.

It's my turn to pick the challenge or design we are going to be working on for next week, November 7.   How about we Zentangle our names?  Basically, you divide your drawing space into the same number of sections as there are letters in your name. For example, I need 5 sections in my tile for my name. Then, fill each section with a pattern that starts with one of the letters in your name. So, I’d pick a pattern that starts with an M, an A, an R, etc.

Very similar to the one on Tanglepatterns.com: Zentangle Your Name

Instead of the restrictions outlined in those instructions, let open it up and see what we get. You can use any tile or paper you want, any size you want, and any patterns you want that start with the right letter (not just official ones). Let’s stick with the random string idea, though. I’m sure we will get into different shapes later on. Unless, of course you’d rather use a specific shape. Then by all means, use one. Also, it would be great if you could identify the patterns you used, so that others can look up the patterns you used online (if it’s available) and learn how to do them, if they so choose.


I've also been working on my Zentangle project.  (If you've been here before you might notice that I dropped the year-long part.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to cut it short at the end of the year). Anyway, here are my latest creations:


















Week 6 - Ona, C-Bun, Cruze, 8s Parte Dos, Purk, Bead lines, Hollibaugh


















Week 7 - Creznt, Sindoo, Poser, Twisted Rope, Ahh, Snood, Emingle




Be sure to check out the other daisy creations on Books and Quilts. If you are a Zentangler and would like to join us, please do.  Heather has a Mr. Linky set up on her post.  If you join us this week or any other week, but sure to link visit her blog post for that week and link up your work.  

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Needlework Tuesday - Temperature Scarf plus Odds and Ends


For the past week or so, I've been doing lots of little craft things, but I don't have much to show for it.  For my temperature scarf project, I copied Heather's idea and created a more sturdy legend for the yarn colours, which is much better than the little slip of paper I had before.
 

















The weather has turned colder, so I've introduced two new colours to the scarf...a light green and a dark green.   I'm not thrilled with the lighter green.  Next to the other colours it looks neon.  Oh, well.  I also wove in all of the ends that were sticking out. Here's the latest photo:


















You can see on the left hand side where I joined the yarns (I'm a lefty) isn't that pretty.   Meh.   From now on, I'm just going to show little snippets of the scarf. That way, when I'm done I can do a big reveal.

I also pulled out my sky scarf that I completed in April and wove in all of the ends that I hadn't done when I finished knitting. Because I had carried many of the yarns up the side, there weren't that many to weave in. It's now ready to wear.  Yay!   Did I ever mention that I'm still writing down sky colours every day in hopes of making another one?  At this point, I'm months and months behind, but I'm still hoping to do it one day.  If I make the scarf a little narrower than the last one, I should have enough leftover yarn to complete it. 

I also ordered a sweater to knit from Mary Maxim. I phoned the store/order desk twice to make sure I got the right size. Unfortunately, I received two different answers.  After some thought, I decided that a larger size was better than a smaller one.  I can always wear one that's too big, but it's hard to squeeze into a sweater that's too small.   Also, the woman on the phone who told me to order the larger size sounded knowledgeable...her explanation made sense to me.  However, I must have caught her on a bad day or she was naturally cranky because she hung up on me before I finished talking. At that point, I hadn't actually ordered it yet.  I was very, very tempted to say F**K it and move on.  But I really like the sweater and wanted a nice winter project that wasn't an afghan or wrap.   Rather than risk another hang up, I ordered online.  By the way, their online order system is easy to use, relatively quick, and not at all cranky.  

I also cleaned up my craft area and made a list of the garden craft projects I want to get done over the winter.   I might have to scale a few of them down.  Also, I had thought I was going to do some Christmas crafts soon, but I haven't started those and I don't know if I'm going to.  Maybe I will once the season draws closer. 

I've been working on lots of Zentangle patterns, but I won't be reporting on those in this post anymore.   Come back on Thursday for that. 

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

If you've come here to read a review or anything else about "50 Shades of Grey", you are going to be disappointed. This is NOT that book.

Shades of Grey takes place in the dystopian world where colours rule. People are segregated according to what colours they could see and their hierarchy is based on that. For one inhabitant, Eddie Russet, the world is about to turn upside down when he travels to East Carmine and he meets a Grey named Jane. He begins to question why things are run as they are and that doesn't sit well with those who hold the power.

I don't read a lot of dystopias, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I really loved it! It was quirky and so much fun to read. The rules in this world were definitely absurd and generally there was a whole lot of silliness going on. For instance, instead of progress they had "leap backs", where certain inventions/tools/items were no longer supposed to be used. Other examples: Rule "2.3.06.02.087: Unnecessary sharpening of pencils constitutes a waste of public resources, and will be punished as appropriate" (page 156), Rule "9.3.88.32.025: The cucumber and the tomato are both fruit; the avocado is a nut. To assist with the dietary requirements of vegetarians, on the first Tuesday of the month a chicken is officially a vegetable" (page 46). Silly, right?

It was such an interesting read, because even though that world was very different, it was vaguely familiar, too. There were lots of references with slight and not-so-slight changes that I recognized, but there was an equal number that were elusive to me....on the tip of my tongue, but didn't quite make it to my brain. It was all good.

I'm sure there were some deep underlying themes running throughout the book about society and it's rules, but I don't analyse books that deeply. I'll leave that to the literary folks.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes from the book:
...information can liberate but also imprisonate.(page 210)
First, time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted. Second, almost anything can be improved with the addition of bacon. And finally, there is no problem on earth that can't be ameliorated by a hot bath and a cup of tea. (page 211)
Prisons are still with us...only the walls are constructed of fear, taboo, and the unknown. (page 356)
Highly recommended. I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this one. I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for the next books in the series. In the meantime, I have a few of his other books on my to-be-read shelf to keep me busy.

If you liked this book, you might also enjoy Tourquai by Tim Davys (my review). It's a very different book from this one, but has some of the absurd qualities.

For more information about this book, please visit Penguin'swebsite.

For more information about the author, his other books, and call kinds of craziness, please visit Jasper Fforde's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at Penguin for this review copy.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, Viking (Penguin), ©2010. ISBN 9780670019632(Advance Uncorrected Proof), 389p.

The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

In The Blood Gospel, three investigators are on the search for a gospel written in Christ's own hand, The Blood Gospel. Those investigators are: Jordan Stone, a military forensic expert, Rhun Korza, a priest, and Erin Granger, an archaeologist. They start their journey underground by finding the crucified body of a mummified girl and are soon trying to outrun the evil forces who are also trying to get hold of the book. As they travel on their search, they uncover some mysteries of the Catholic church.

This wasn't my favourite book. In fact, there's very little that I enjoyed about it. I didn't like the vampire angle at all. I've been trying to stay far away from this genre because it just doesn't interest me. Having said that, I have read and enjoyed a couple of other books featuring vampires/immortals, so there are exceptions, but as a whole the genre isn't my thing.

I also didn't like the change of point of view in the middle of the scene. When done well, stories, especially mysteries, told from different point of views, are terrific. I generally enjoy them. However, in this case because of the way it was done, it didn't work for me. The different points of view were okay, just not in the middle of a scene. I wanted the authors to focus on one main character at a time. Because that focus was divided, I didn't care much for any of the main characters. I found Father Rhun Korza the most interesting of the three, even though he was one of the vampires I said I didn't care for.

I was raised in the Roman Catholic church and am fascinated by anything (including fiction) that attempts to reveal secrets that have been long held by the Catholic church. The church appears to be so secretive, that I can't help but wonder why. I want to peak behind the curtain, so to speak. That's what first drew me to this book. Even though I wasn't enjoying the book, I kept reading because of the promised revelations. However, that didn't really happen. There are a few tidbits here and there, but overall the story was convoluted and not very clear. I guess I wanted clear-cut answers (or at least the authors guesses) to the questions posed in the synopsis: Why do Catholic priests wear pectoral crosses? Why are they sworn to celibacy? Why do the monks hide their countenances under hoods? I don't think I got that.

I've read two other books by Rollins: The Last Oracle and The Doomsday Key. I loved them both. I also have a few other books by Rollins on my to-be-read shelf. I'll definitely be reading those, but I'm not sure I'll be buying any others for awhile.

Sorry, but I won't be recommending this book. If you are into that whole vampire genre, you might like it. I wish I could say there was more to like, but perhaps my lack of interest in vampires clouded my judgement.

For more information about this book, please visit the HarperCollins website.

For more information about James Rollins, please visit his website. For more information about Rebecca Cantrell, please visit her website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at William Morrow for this review copy.

The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell, William Morrow (HarperCollins), ©2013. ISBN 9780061991042(Trade paperback), 479p.

Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

In Big Brother, Pandora is sandwiched (pun intended) between a manic cycling, health food eating husband, Fletcher, and a grossly obese brother, Edison. When Edison moves in with the family, tensions run high. He pretty much overtakes the whole house not just with his size, but his large personality and stories of his past accomplishments and adventures. His eating is totally out of control and Pandora decides this has to change. At the risk of losing her family, she rents an apartment for herself and Edison and helps him lose the weight.

I just love Shriver's work. While this one isn't my favourite of hers, I really, really enjoyed it. The cast of characters is eclectic and absurd: Fletcher, a builder of unique custom made furniture and fanatic cyclist; Pandora, a manufacturer of wacky dolls; Edison, a jazz musician; Travis, Pandora's and Edison's father, a TV host, and Tanner and Cody, Pandora's and Fletcher's kids. They seemed pretty normal next to everyone else in the cast, however, they too had their problems.

I've struggled with my weight most of my life so the story resonated with me. Even though their experience is very different from mine, I enjoyed reading about their story. I never have and never would attempt a crash diet like they did. Also, Edison's pre-diet bingeng sort of surprised me. I have a healthy appetite, but bingeing isn't something I've ever done, at least not to this extent.

I loved reading Pandora's point of view on her weight loss. Her weight was an issue for her, but she really didn't have that much to lose. Why she chose a crash diet is beyond me? Perhaps it was to support her brother, which was admirable, but perhaps not that realistic. Shriver's whole portrayal of Pandora was insightful and fascinating.

The book contained a few noteworthy quotes:
I believed...that the number of that dial [of the scale] was a verdict on my very character. It appraised whether I was strong, whether I was self-possessed, whether I was someone anyone else would conceivably wish to be. (from Pandora, page 230)
"Put that on my gravestone", said Edison. It hasn't all totally completely sucked. (page 310)
While I enjoyed the book, I admit that the ending had me baffled. It was just so unexpected and confusing. I don't want to say any more than that.

I've read a few other books by Shriver. Here are links to my reviews: The Post-Birthday World, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and So Much for That. I really enjoyed them all.

Highly recommended. I have a few other books by Shriver on my to-be-read shelf that I hope to get to sooner or later. I admire Shriver and her strong opinions on social issues. I don't always agree with her, but I love that she isn't afraid to make a statement.

For more information about this book, please visit the HarperCollins website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at HarperCollins for this review copy.

Big Brother by Lionel Shriver, HarperCollins, ©2013. ISBN 9780061458576(Trade paperback), 373p.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Needlework Tuesday - Zentangles and More

Needlework Tuesday is a post where I share my needlework and other crafting projects.  Here's a quick update on a few of the things I've been working on.  

I've completed 5 weeks of my "year-long" Zentangle project.  Every day, I create a 3.5"x3.5"  tile using one tangle pattern.  With this tile, I'm basically learning the pattern.  Sometimes I'll try out a few variations; other times I'll complete the whole tile with the basic pattern or a variation I like.  Then at the end of the week (usually Saturday) I combine all of the patterns onto one tile.   Here are my end-of-week Zentangle inspired drawings: 

Week 1: Planateen, Lanie, IX, Well, Pippin, Spyz, Crusade
 
 Week 2: Riki-Tiki, Ionic, Worms, Nine Patch, Floatfest, Plates, Leaftlet
 
Week 3: Warped Eggs, Chime, Kandysnake, Minouche, Scrumble, Inapod, Beamz
 
Week 4:  Exis, Bales, DL Nebula, Framz, Aura-leah, AAs, Arrowheads,
 
Week 5: Triadz, Betweed, Pegs, Merryweather, Solow, Blink, Cack 
 
I've included the names of the patterns used below each tile.  I tend to waffle a bit on the whole pattern naming idea, but it sure makes it easier if I find one I like and want to look up how it's done.  Anyway, I've included them for reference.    
 
I haven't included photos of the daily tiles because I really didn't want to post all of those photos.  Some of them are really nice, but many of them are unremarkable.   So far, the project has been going ok, but I'm sort of losing steam.   I'm finding that I have less time do to this each day.  Also,  I'm not thrilled with some of the stuff about Zentangles that I've seen online.  I just might just cut this project short.
 
One note about the above photos:  I shouldn't have used my macro lens to shoot these.  It really highlights all of my shaky lines, which is the opposite of what I'd like.  :(
 
The other thing I've been sort of working on is my temperature scarf.   It's up-to-date as of October 4.  I just recently started using the lighter yellow (which represents temperatures between 7C - 14C).   I'm sure it's just a matter of time before the greens (dark for 0C - 6C, light -1C - -7C) creep in.  As you can see, I still have tons of ends to weave in. 
 
 



















The last thing I was working on was my long wrap. If you remember from a month ago, it was skewing to the right. I tried a pattern adjustment suggested by Heather and her sister, but it didn't quite work fix the problem. I'm definitely going to scrap the thing and make something else. Just not right away.

I'll hope to be looking into some Christmas crafts soon, but it might be a bit early for me.

That's it for this week.
Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Star Wars: The Secret Life of Droids by Jason Fry

Happy Star Wars Reads Day! It's the day where people all around North America celebrate Star Wars and reading. As I mentioned the other day, DK Publishing is celebrating by offering 30% off Star Wars books (for a limited time). These terrific books can be found in their Star Wars Boutique.

For more information about Star Wars Reads Day, go to the official site. There are activities planned all across North America.

A free downloadable Star Wars Reads Activity Kit with recipes, crafts, colouring pages and games can found at both the DK site and the official Star Wars Reads Day site.

Today, I'm posting a review of one of the books in DK's Star Wars Boutique

May the force be with you. 



Star Wars: The Secret Life of Droids features all different types of droids from the Star Wars universe. Readers will learn about their functions, technology, missions, and lives.

I really enjoyed this book. I was only familiar with a couple of the droids, namely R2-D2 and C-3PO, so the rest of the books was really enlightening. A few of the others looked familiar, but I didn't really know much about them. It's all fascinating stuff.

The book contains lots of photos and tons of information about droids. Some of the information is presented in a question and answer format. Questions include: Can a droid by trusted to complete a mission?, How are droids made?, How does C-3PO relax?, etc. I really like this format. There are some really good questions I hadn't thought of. My favourite: Do droids have friends? You'll just have to read the book to find out the answer.

The types of droids are presented in sections. It mostly presents the material in general terms. That is, it doesn't focus on any one particular droid, but rather a class of droids. There are two notable and delightful exceptions: R2-D2 (astro-droid) and C-3PO (protocol droid). ;)

The "droid data" buttons feature some interesting trivia while the side boxes provides cool stats about the different droids. There's a lot I didn't know.

There were lots of cool pages and topics in this book. Here are my favourites:
Droids Versus Life-form (pages 10-11)
Types of Droids (pages 12-13)
A Day in the Life of a Droid Trader (pages 56-57)
Droids for Sale (pages 58-59)
How to Choose a Droid 60-61)
Droid or Not? (pages 82-83)

The book contains a table of contents, a glossary and an index.

Highly recommended for the Star Wars fan.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at DK Canada for this review copy.

Star Wars: The Secret Life of Droid by Jason Fry, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2012. ISBN 9780756690151(Hardcover), 95p.

Star Wars: Character Encyclopedia by Simon Beecroft

Happy Star Wars Reads Day! It's the day where people all around North America celebrate Star Wars and reading. As I mentioned the other day, DK Publishing is celebrating by offering 30% off Star Wars books (for a limited time). These terrific books can be found in their Star Wars Boutique.

For more information about Star Wars Reads Day, go to the official site. There are activities planned all across North America.

A free downloadable Star Wars Reads Activity Kit with recipes, crafts, colouring pages and games can found at both the DK site and the official Star Wars Reads Day site.

Today, I'm posting a review of one of the books in DK's Star Wars Boutique

May the force be with you. 



Star Wars: Character Encyclopedia features more than 200 characters from all six Star Wars films plus the Clone Wars. It gives various statistics and information on each of the characters.

Great book!! It was so much some to learn all of the cool facts about each of the characters. I loved that the book was presented alphabetically by character's first name or title. That made it easy to find the characters I was most interested in reading about. I did eventually go through them all, but I wanted to find my favourites first.

Each character takes up one page. There's a large labelled photograph of the character in addition to smaller photos and lots of information about the character. The data file lists various attributes of the characters. It's different for the character types, but it could include:
• affiliation
• type
• manufacturer
• height
• home world
• species
• diet
• habitat
• life span
• appearances (lists the movies in which the character appears)
• See Also (lists similar or related characters)

All of these were helpful to know, but I especially loved the "affiliation" and "appearances" ones. Because I'm not the most avid Star Wars fan and I didn't recognize a bunch of the characters right off, but these two attributes helped to put the characters into context. The characters who appear in only 1 or 2 of the movies (or the Clone Wars, which I haven't watched at all) were the ones most elusive to me. I think I have a much better handle on everyone now.

Table of contents has all of the characters listed with page numbers. The book also contains an index, which is especially helpful for characters who go by more than one name.

Highly recommended. The book is written for 7-17 year-olds, but I think adults (like me) will also enjoy this book.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at DK Canada for this review copy.

Star Wars: Character Encyclopedia by Simon Beecroft, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2011. ISBN 9780756682538(Hardcover), 208p.

Happy Star Wars Reads Day!! More Books to Enjoy.

Happy Star Wars Reads Day! It's the day where people all around North America celebrate Star Wars and reading. As I mentioned the other day, DK Publishing is celebrating by offering 30% off Star Wars books (for a limited time). These terrific books can be found in their Star Wars Boutique.

For more information about Star Wars Reads Day, go to the official site. There are activities planned all across North America.

A free downloadable Star Wars Reads Activity Kit with recipes, crafts, colouring pages and games can found at both the DK site and the official Star Wars Reads Day site.

In the past, I've reviewed a number of Star Wars titles in DK's Star Wars Boutique.  The links to my reviews for books I reviewed previously can be found below.
 

Star Wars: Mysteries of the Jedi

Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary

You Can Draw Star Wars

Star Wars: Year by Year Visual Chronicle


Please note that some of the covers and content might have been changed since I reviewed these.

Have a great day and may the force be with you! 

Star Wars: Beware the Dark Side by Simon Beecroft

Happy Star Wars Reads Day! It's the day where people all around North America celebrate Star Wars and reading. As I mentioned the other day, DK Publishing is celebrating by offering 30% off Star Wars books (for a limited time). These terrific books can be found in their Star Wars Boutique.

For more information about Star Wars Reads Day, go to the official site. There are activities planned all across North America.

A free downloadable Star Wars Reads Activity Kit with recipes, crafts, colouring pages and games can found at both the DK site and the official Star Wars Reads Day site.

Today, I'm posting a review of one of the books in DK's Star Wars Boutique

May the force be with you. 




Star Wars: Beware the Dark Side takes young readers through the dark side of the Star Wars universe while learning more about Darth Sidious, Darth Maul and Darth Vader.

I enjoyed this book and learned a lot. For some reason, the description on the website made me think that it was a storybook featuring Star Wars characters. However, it's not, but I still enjoyed it. The book delves into the details of the dark side and features the characters who use the force for evil. It goes through the Sith legacy and powers before launching into the various characters. It does go into the Star Wars storyline a little bit, but it's quite segmented.

The book is written for young proficient readers. Some knowledge of the Star Wars universe might be helpful. The book also features a table of contents, glossary, and index.

Highly recommended for young Star Wars fans.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at DK Canada for this review copy.

Star Wars: Beware the Dark Side by Simon Beecroft, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2007. ISBN 9780756631147(Softcover), 49p.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Star Wars Reads Day - October 5, 2013

October 5, 2013 is Star Wars Reads Day.  It celebrates Star Wars and reading.

DK Publishing is celebrating by offering 30% off Star Wars books (for a limited time). These terrific books can be found in their Star Wars Boutique.

For more information about Star Wars Reads Day, go to the official site. There are activities planned all across North America.

A free downloadable Star Wars Reads Activity Kit with recipes, crafts, colouring pages and games can found at both the DK site and the official Star Wars Reads Day site.

I'll be celebrating the day by posting a few reviews of the Star Wars books offered by DK Publishing.

Until then....May the force be with you.