To The Stars by George Takei - Book Report #175

Man I hate it when I listen to an abridged book.  I have no idea what I am missing.

Still, I enjoyed this version.  Who wouldn't?  I had the deep, rich voice of George himself in my ears for three hours.

Sublime.

This abridgment, not surprisingly, spent most of its time describing the Star Trek days in Takei's life.

What I personally found more compelling were his early days and the struggle he had to elevate his character, Hikaru Sulu.  It was frustrating to hear how many times Sulu came close to being promoted only to have it edited out due to on-set politics.

This was a terrific insight for any fan of the original series.  But if you are more interested in the man himself, I would suggest seeking out the dead-tree version of the book.

You can find his website here - http://georgetakei.com/

Book Report #12 of 26

One for the Money

by

Janet Evanovich

This was a fun book.

Down on her luck Stephanie Plum needs a job and starts working for her cousin Vinnie.  Vinnie is a bail bondsman and Plum has to learn to become a bounty hunter, fast.

This is quite a tonic after reading a Spenser novel.  Stephanie Plumb doesn't know the first thing about bounty hunting or about guns or about self defense.  She just want to pay the rent and she can make $10,000 if she can catch an ex-cop who is wanted for murder.

The book is very funny and is a wonderful way to spend some time with a book.  It turns the whole private eye thing on it's head by making it a fish-out-of-water story and it's very effective.  I felt sorry for Plumb because she made all kinds of mistakes that I would probably make if I were in her shoes.  (Although I'd have my gun out much more than she did.)

If you're looking for a story that feels like a movie by giving the genre a twist - this is a great start.  If you like it well, you're in luck, it's the first book in a series that has run to sixteen novels so far.

I'll be reading the second one very soon.