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January 13, 2014January 27, 2017 One Man Book Club

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

5 out of 5 stars

Roald Dahl doesn’t have many misses.

Any misses?

…

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Dan Grover is the book-loving dad of six reluctant readers and the founder of One Man Book Club, a place for fellow parents and other content-conscious readers to find books they (and their kids!) will love.

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#Enchantment By: #OrsonScottCard My Rating: Four out of Five stars How about this: Deep in an ancient forest, a 1990's grad student studying the history of creepy Russian fairy tales finds a girl asleep on a pedestal in the woods, so he kisses her. And she wakes up. And he's transported 1000 years into the past. And they want him to marry the princess. And he's supposed to become king. And the wicked witch wants to kill him. And he just wants to go home and graduate college. Enchantment was a lot of fun. It's time travel, fish-out-of-water, love, magic, duty, honor, fairy tales, and religion. It's authentic dark ages, it's marrying for love, it's discovering who you really are and being happy about it. It's has Orson Scott Card's standard religious undertones and his odd obsession with being naked. If you aren't familiar, there's nothing sexual about the naked stuff...for some reason he feels the need to call out when people are naked in his books. I always find it odd, but at least it's easy to tell when it's OSC writing! There is some language, a bit of violence, attention given to being naked, discussions about circumcision, and a couple of PG sex scenes. If Enchantment were a movie, it'd be rated PG-13. I'd say appropriate for readers 16 and up. Happy reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#Warcross #Wildcard By: #MarieLu My Rating: Three out of Five Stars Warcross is good, YA fun. Really, that's all you need. Because, you know...YA. All the stuff you love in your standard Young Adult novel is packed into the two books of Warcross. I could complain about them, but I don't really feel like it. I'll just say the romantic relationship was about as deep as my cereal bowl, the hacking skills that solved every problem were as realistic as a Micheal Bay movie, and the character development was--let's see, what's the best word here--nonexistant? Absent? Missing? You get the idea. Warcross isn't going to be winning any awards based on literary merit. But, that's not always why we read, is it? If I ignored the lack of reality, I was able to enjoy the mindless fun--along with legions of teenage Marie Lu fans who couldn't care less about things like realistic relationships, actual science, or interesting characters. I was intrigued by the Ready-Player-One-esc VR/AR world and the way it's incorporated into all aspects of life in this dystopian (or maybe not so dystopian) future. That was legit cool. I can actually see some elements of the story becoming reality in my lifetime. I'd love to read a story that took the best of Warcross and fixed the worst. Until I find that book, Warcross it is. PG language throughout. One PG sex scene in book two. PG violence. 14 and up. Happy reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#AgenttotheStars By: #JohnScalzi My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Before John Scalzi was John Scalzi, king of ScyFy, he wrote Agent to the Stars...just to see if writing a novel was something he could do. Turns out, he could. The rest is history. Agent to the Stars is a fun and unique story about Earth's first alien encounter. The aliens have been monitoring out movies and TV for years, and finally have decided to come for a friendly visit. The only problem? They look like snot and smell like dog farts. They've seen the movies. They know how humans are going to react. The answer? Hire a Hollywood talent agent to manage their public image. Creative story telling, hilarious situations, and a surprising amount thoughtful humanity ensue. I enjoyed Agent to the Stars. The characters developed, the story engaged, and the ending delivered. I still wish John Scalzi would buy a thesaurus and find some colorful adjectives other than the four-letter ones he frequently favors. As with all his books, be prepared for language. Because of language, this book is best suited for readers 18 and up. Happy Reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#LockIn By: #JohnScalzi My Review: Four out of Five Stars Scalzi, current king of SyFy, delivers again! In this future, a global pandemic has killed millions. Some on the infected do survive, but the disease leaves them "locked in:” they have complete consciousness of mind and sensation, but they have no control over their body. These are "Hadens." They are the 1% of the world's population who look like they are sleeping but are actually waked minds trapped in their own bodies…which totally freaks me out. It’s kind of like being buried alive. Haden's Syndrome became the necessity that mothered invention, and technology was developed that allowed neural networks to be implanted in Haden brains so they can control androids (called “threeps,” a nod to the most famous Droid of all). Humans and Threeps…living together. New laws, new ethics, new culture, new society. New crimes. Lock In is, um…medical SyFy…a buddy-cop procedural…a bit of a thriller…a bit of a drama…with a mystery to solve. Set in the near future. Totally unique. Totally Scalzi. I’m going to flag this next part as a spoiler. It doesn’t spoil the story, but it will spoil a cool trick Scalzi played on the reader and didn’t tell anyone about it...he just did it and left it there for readers to discover. Read the spoiler in the comments if you're interested. Like I’ve said, Lock In is typical Scalzi, so you get the really cool speculative ScyFy explained in a way that non-nerdy people can understand. But you also get the potty mouth. It’s not nearly as bad as Old Man’s War, but there are four-letter-words to be found. Some violence. No sexual content. Probably best for 18 and up. Happy Reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#TheGreatGatsby By: #FScottFitzgerald My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars Well, that was refreshing. This was another buddy read with my HS Senior's AP Lit class. So often the classic books they read are more literature as art vs literature as escape. Occasionally those lines cross, and the art becomes the escape, and that's what Gatsby was for me. I loved The Great Gatsby! The writing was a treat. How can such a small book feel so big? I wasn't reading about time period--I was IN the time period. NYC, the roaring 20's, the parties, the roadsters, the gangsters, the mansion, the bay...I was there! I enjoyed it, so did my Senior. Tears may have been involved. Highly recommend. 16 and up. Happy Reading! #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

#SmallSpaces By: #KatherineArden My Rating: FOUR out of FIVE stars Katherine Arden wrote The Winternight Trilogy, which I LOVED. So I thought I'd give Small Spaces a try. It's her first jump into middle grade and quite different from her debut effort. The verdict? Thumbs up! The sixth-graders in this small, Vermont town, take a field trip to an actual, working farm. You know--Cows, corn fields, barns. Also an old cemetery...a haunted past...stories about The Smiling Man... ...and scarecrows. Really creepy scarecrows . Ya. It's a haunted farm. Thanks teacher. Small Spaces was a surprisingly scary story with characters I could connect with. I loved that the main character's name was Olivia but she called herself Ollie. She's also a bookworm who would rather spend her time reading than peopling. It's well written, too, although it did talk down a bit to its middle-grade audience. Usually that bugs me, but the good significantly outweighed the bad with this one. Love of parents, standing up to bullies, being brave doesn't mean not being scared, dealing with the death of a parent, and making friends with people you first misjudged are some of the key themes. If you're okay getting spooked, I say give Small Spaces a try. Perfect for Halloween or anytime your looking for something fun to read. 10 and up. Happy Reading! @arden_katherine #onemanbookclub #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #dadswhoread

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