Space Disaster!: A Review of Star Wars: The High Republic: The Fallen Star by Claudia Gray

The Fallen Star by Claudia Gray

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Since Star Wars first appeared in theaters in 1977 and authors such as Timothy Zahn have expanded that universe in later years, a plethora of novels, comic books, and TV shows have played around a lot with different genres and styles. For example, in the novel Death Troopers, you have an example of zombie horror; in the novels Shatterpoint and Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, you have psychological thrillers. But never before, in my mind at least, has a Star Wars novel ever taken on the genre of disaster novel. Thus, Claudia Gray breaks new ground for Star Wars by writing its full disaster novel in this stunning conclusion to the first phase of The High Republic publishing series.

Since the start of The High Republic series last year, the brutal villains the Nihil have instigated several disasters.  There was the Great Hyperspace Disaster that kicked off the first novel, Light of the Jedi, and there was the attack on the Republic Fair in The Rising Storm.  But each one of those involved some kind of battle between the Jedi and the Republic against the Nihil.  But in this novel, aside from a few surprise attacks on helpless planets at the beginning, there is no engagement between the Nihil, the Jedi, or the Republic.   Instead, the novel is entirely consumed up with the sabotage and destruction of Starlight Beacon, the symbol of the hope and peace promised by the Republic and the Jedi to the Outer Rim territories, which was introduced in the first High Republic novel.  Thus, the station's impending doom forces the main characters to deal with the disaster on hand.  There are no battles, only tough decisions to be made by Jedi and regular people on how to get the most people out alive and what sacrifices everyone is willing to make to see that happen.  Like the 1997 film Volcano,  this book has a certain feeling of inevitability and the only question is who will survive.

At the same time Starlight Beacon is falling from the sky, another threat lurks in the shadows of the station.  The creature unleashed by the Nihil's leader, Marchion Ro, at the very end of The Rising Storm, has found its way onto the station and has its sights set on any Force-wielder it can get its hands on.  There is still no real answer as to what exactly this creature is, what exactly it looks like, or how it seems to kill Jedi so easily, but these creatures may remind fans of the old, pre-Disney expanded universe of the ysalamiri creatures introduced in Timothy Zahn's classic Heir to the Empire that could temporarily dampen a Jedi's connection to the Force.  However, these creatures are far more malevolent than the ysalamiri ever were. 

My only complaint about this novel is that, with The High Republic series encompassing multiple mediums, including YA novels and comic books, some plot threads that make their way into this novel may leave some fans confused.  As an analogy, imagine you had skipped over the film Ant-Man and the Wasp in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and started watching Avengers: Endgame.  You would have no idea why Ant-Man just materialized in the back of a van at the beginning of the movie or why he knows so much about the Quantum Realm.  Similarly, I know that I have not been keeping up with The High Republic comics and because of that I feel there have been some plot points that I have missed leading up to this novel.  This is becoming a growing problem with multi-media stories like the MCU in general and The High Republic series in particular, one that, I fear, might not be resolved in the future.  That said, this feeling of missing key details is not necessarily Ms. Gray's fault and should in no way dampen a casual fan's enjoyment of this novel as long as they have been keeping up with the previous adult novels in the series at least.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this conclusion to phase I of The High Republic.  By setting The High Republic in a time period never before explored with brand new characters, not even by the pre-Disney expanded universe, no character is safe.  Indeed, quite a few characters, including perhaps one or two fan favorites, meet an untimely death in this novel.  Thus, as the first phase of this series closes and a new phase is set to begin, fans are reminded that this is not the film eras, which means that no character is truly safe and everyone is in danger.

View all my reviews

Stuffed with Intrigue: A Review of Star Wars: The High Republic: Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland

Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With the events of The Rising Storm, things have taken a darker turn in this new era of Star Wars storytelling. The tragic events of that book can be felt throughout this one, already creating an atmosphere doubt, uncertainty, and mistrust amongst the Jedi and the people of the Republic. In this YA continuation of the series, Ms. Ireland takes the reader through a tale drowning in intrigue and mystery, but wraps things up too quickly.

(Warning!: Some spoilers from The Rising Storm are included below.) 

The Rising Storm was marked by two devastating disasters: the calamitous Nihil attack on the Republic Fair on Valo and Marchion Ro’s unleashing of the Leveler, a mysterious weapon that killed Jedi Master Loden Greatstorm and left his Padawan, Bell Zettifar, in a catatonic state.  Though only the assault on the Republic Fair is directly mentioned in this book, both of these tragedies weigh heavily on all of the Jedi and Republic forces and there is much debate about what should be done and what role the Jedi should play.

Into this story comes three characters: Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh, the pilot Sylvestri Yarrow, and Padawan Reath Silas.  Sylvestri, or Syl, is a completely new character while Reath Silas is a returning character from the previous YA novel and Vernestra Rwoh is familiar to readers of the High Republic comics or middle grade novels.  Each of them is fascinating in their own way, with Rwoh being the standout as she is both a capable Jedi Knight as well as young, unsure, teenager.  Each one of them have their own views on what the Jedi should do about the Nihil threat, which creates a nice backdrop debate for this book.

The narrative surrounds a seemingly empty part of space where Syl lost her space ship to Nihil.  But there is more going on than meets the eye and all of our characters soon find themselves caught in a web of business and political intrigue connected to another new weapon the Nihil are building.

Though I have been thoroughly enjoying the High Republic series thus far, I must confess that this is my least favorite book in the series so far.  There are two reasons for this.  The first is that it dwells way too long on the business and political intrigue aspect of the story.  Throughout the book, there are secret agendas being pushed throughout and, because of it,  our main characters don’t have as much agency as they do in previous novels.  Furthermore, the intrigue and mystery surrounding this empty space sector gobble up nearly all of the action.  By the time the big reveal happens, Ms. Ireland leaves very little room for the action to happen, whipping through to the conclusion like crazy.  Thus, I found my attention getting strained in the middle of the book and then finding myself whipsawed through to a quick conclusion at the end.

The other major drawback of this book is the number of characters.  On top our three main characters, there is a shady rich businessman named Xylan Graf, a duplicitous senator, a love interest for Syl, a Nihil named Nan, known to readers of the previous YA novel in the series, Reath Silas’s Jedi master, and Vernestra Rwoh’s empathic Padawan.  There are a few other characters that come in and out of the story too, one of which I can’t share because it would spoil one of the mysteries at the heart of this novel, but none of them, with the exception of Xylan Graf, get enough meaningful screen time.  And that is a shame because some of them, like Jedi Master Cohmac Vitus, are fascinating characters in their own right.  Because of the number of characters, the story struggles to give some of them a meaningful role to play. 

One of the characters who does get a lot of screen time, and I hope gets a lot more in future adult and YA novels in the series, is Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh.  As the youngest Jedi Knight in a generation, Vern is an interesting character in her own right.  She is incredibly capable with a good head on her shoulders and an unusual Force connection to hyperspace.  It seems the mystery of how hyperspace really works is still being held close to the chest by the Lucasfilm overseers of the High Republic series.  It was also great to see Padawan Reath Silas again.  He was the standout character in the first YA novel and it is great to see him get more comfortable going on adventures, even if he would still prefer to spend his time in the Jedi Archives.  Sylevstri Yarrow is the weaker character in this book, but still fascinating in her own right.  I hope to see more of her in the future.

I will also say that the mystery at the heart of this novel is fascinating and it does tie into a weapon that is familiar to Star Wars fans (no, it’s no the Death Star).  And though the narrative favors intrigue over action, the action parts are quite good when allowed to breathe.  Indeed, I could have seen the action at the climax of the novel go on for a little longer and I would not have minded at all.  Sadly, too much of the action does get cut short.

Overall, this book has three very interesting main characters, some good action, and a decent mystery.  But it wallows too long in that intrigue and mystery and is overstuffed with side characters.  Also, by the end of the novel, it felt like it was overly concerned with setting up future stories.  Though I did enjoy this book in the end, it has not been my favorite novel of the series so far.

View all my reviews

A Fair to Remember: A Review of Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott

The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Earlier this year, Star Wars began one of its most ambitious publishing events since the pre-Disney New Jedi Order series with the publication of the first novel in the High Republic series. Taking place about 200 years before the prequel trilogy, the High Republic series sees both the Jedi and the Republic at the pinnacle of their power and prestige. Encompassing adult, young adult, and middle grade novels as well as comic books and, later this year, manga, the High Republic tells an interconnected tale across all these formats with the adult novels seemingly being the tentpoles. This being the second adult novel in the series, The Rising Storm advances the story into its next phase. And, following the best Star Wars tradition, this sequel surpasses the first in terms of action, storytelling, and raising the stakes for the entire series.

This novel takes place approximately a year after the events of the first adult novel, Light of the Jedi.  Since then, Starlight Beacon has been in operation and the Nihil, the main villains of this series, have been laying low.  Believing the Nihil to have actually been defeated, Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh and the Republic are about to welcome the galaxy to the Republic Fair, an exposition promoting “the Spirit of Unity” within the Republic and encouraging Outer Rim worlds to join them.  But the Nihil have not been defeated and have their own dastardly plans for the Fair and when the dust settles at the end of this novel, the Jedi will discover their greatest challenge yet in this series.

This novel was amazing!  The set up to the main action at the Republic Fair was great and Mr. Scott does a great job of showcasing multiple characters and their struggles throughout the narrative.  Following multiple characters around can be a bit challenging, but Mr. Scott overcomes this challenge by keeping most of the chapters relatively short.  The bulk of the action happens during the Republic Fair and Mr. Scott has a great knack for telling multiple, pulse-pounding action sequences.  I could hardly put down this book by the end.  Speaking of the ending, it was incredible!  Just when you think the Jedi are about to salvage a victory from defeat and come out on top, Mr. Scott pulls the rug out from under you one more time in a devastating climax.  This novel opens up so many possibilities for the future of this series while making the Nihil and its mysterious leader, Marchion Ro, a worthy threat to the Jedi and the Republic.

The only issue I have with this book is that a fear I had about this series might be coming true: that missing out on one format of the series means you might be missing out on things.  This is particularly true of this series’s side villains, the Drengir.  First introduced in the young adult novel Into the Dark, the Drengir are a sentient plant-life form that eats any other organic lifeforms it comes across.  Think of them as large walking, talking Venus Flytraps that eat people and aliens alike.  The Drengir playing a larger role moving forward was only hinted at the end of Into the Dark, but apparently they have been the major threat of the comics and get a brief, but significant mention in this novel.  In fact, their threat appears to have an indirect effect on the events of this novel.  Of course, if you haven’t read Into the Dark or the comics, you could be forgiven for having no idea what they are talking about.  While missing out on the comics and Into the Dark probably won’t diminish your ability to enjoy this novel, it does make me worried that skipping one format will mean missing key plot points later in the series.

Overall, this was an outstanding Star Wars novel right up there with some of the best of them.  My expectations for this series have been raised even higher than they already were.  Though you might want to at least read Light of the Jedi first before this one, I highly recommend this book to all Star Wars fans and I highly recommend this series as a great introduction to anyone looking to jump into Star Wars novels.

View all my reviews

Into the Unkown: A Review of Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray

Into the Dark by Claudia Gray

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With the end of the Skywalker saga of movies and shows like The Mandalorian, Star Wars has begun to move away from the titular Skywalker family drama and delve into the unexplored eras of that galaxy far, far away. With Light of the Jedi, Star Wars began to tell the tales of the High Republic, an era in Star Wars history between the Old Republic and the Prequel era. Not even the pre-Disney Expanded Universe had touched upon this roughly 1,000 year period of Star Wars history where the Sith are believed to be extinct and the Republic and the Jedi are at the peak of their influence and power. In this first YA novel of the series, Ms. Gray has written a great action story that connects well to the events of that first novel, but is far enough removed from that book’s events to tell its own exciting tale.

Reath Silas is apprenticed to Jedi Master Jora Malli, a member of the Jedi Council who has just taken an assignment on the Republic’s new Starlight Beacon, an assignment Reath is not particularly fond of.  While Master Malli goes on ahead, Reath takes passage with two other Jedi Knights and a Jedi Wayseeker aboard a small vessel with an unusual crew.  But when a disaster in hyperspace strands them on an uncharted space station, this motley crew must work together to uncover a hidden evil and keep it out of the hands of others.

While I have read many Star Wars novels, this is actually my first YA Star Wars novel.  But don’t let that designation deceive you.  This book is just as exciting as any Star Wars novel written for adults.  Indeed, despite there being only one lightsaber fight in the entire book, there is a great deal of excitement throughout.  But there is also a mystery too as the abandoned space station harbors an evil that is making both Jedi and non-Jedi characters very nervous.  The reveal at the end is incredibly satisfying too and sets off a climatic battle to contain this evil and keep it out of the hands those who would seek to abuse its power.

But this isn’t an isolated tale.  As part of the High Republic series, this book is connected to a larger story in two ways.  First, the hyperspace disaster that grounds our main characters on this space station is the same disaster from Light of the Jedi.  Also, the main villains from that novel, the Nihil, make an appearance in this novel.  What is great about this novel though is that while connected to and informed by this larger story, Ms. Gray is telling her own tale.  You do not have to have read Light of the Jedi to enjoy this novel and vice versa, though I would recommend that you don read both.

Another great aspect of this book is the characters.  All of the characters are engaging on every page.  Reath is a book nerd on his first big adventure; Affie Hollow is a teenage pilot with a tragic past and a colorful co-pilot; Jedi Knight Dez Rydan is a former apprentice of Master Jora Malli’s who craves adventure and acts as an older brother to Reath; Jedi Knight Cohmac Vitus harbors an old, private grief that he has never fully reconciled; and Orla Jareni is a Jedi Wayseeker, a newly introduced category of Jedi who are still a part of the Order, but have made a formal decision not to be bound by the Jedi Council’s orders so that they can explore the deeper meanings of the Force in new ways.  But the most interesting character is Geode, the third crew member aboard Affie’s ship.  As his name suggests, he’s just a very large rock.  That’s it.  No cute catchphrase like “I am Groot” or hidden transformation from rock to rock creature.  He’s just a rock.  At first, this is played for laughs as nearly all the Jedi just assume that he is just a rock, because that’s exactly what he is.  And yet, Geode plays a critical role at key points in the narrative.  He may not speak much, or at all, but I look forward to reading many more adventures with Geode.

One thing I did not like about this book was a side story with Orla and Cohmac that is told in flashbacks.  It involves a mission 25 years before the events of this book that went bad.  While it is an interesting story in its own right and does much to explain how Orla and Cohmac became the Jedi that they are now, the flashbacks are dropped in the middle of certain chapters, which kind of took me out of the present action.  I think it would’ve been better if they had been their own separate chapters rather than airdropped into the narrative.  But, as I said before, it is important for Cohmac and Orla’s character development and it happens infrequently enough to not become a nuisance.

Overall, this is another great story set in the High Republic that both connects to and enlarges the boundaries of this era.  Both adult and young adult readers should find this book highly enjoyable and I recommend it to all Star Wars fans.

View all my reviews

"We Are All the Republic!": A Review of "Star Wars: The High Republic: The Light of the Jedi" by Charles Soule

Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A long time ago in a high school and college far away, I spent a large chunk of my reading time on Star Wars novels. This was in the days of the old Expanded Universe prior to the current Disney era. Back then, the series that really grabbed buy attention was The New Jedi Order, a bold push forward into Star Wars’s future after the “Return of the Jedi” that included a fascinating new villain very different from the Sith and the other Dark Side Force users the EU had made its bread and butter. And while my interest was always engaged, no other Star Wars novel series quite piqued my interest again. That is, until now. Set 200 years before the prequel trilogy, the High Republic series will explore an interconnected story in a period of Star Wars history never covered before, not even during the pre-Disney EU era. After reading this first novel in this new series, I can say that I am incredibly excited and looking forward to more tales from this era.

As said above, The High Republic is set about 200 years before “The Phantom Menace” movie.  This is a time when the Sith are believed to have been destroyed at least 800 years before and are in hiding, so there are no Darths to speak of (though you never know if there might be a connection between this series’ villains and those wielders of the Dark Side).  At the same time, it’s about 200 years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker, so there are no Skywalkers either.  No Sith, no Skywalkers, no Solos, no Kenobis.  That may not sound particularly enticing to a new comer, but it is actually quite refreshing.  While a few characters such as Yoda and a few deep cut members of the Jedi Council from the prequel trilogy are name dropped, almost none of them make an appearance of any kind of significance.  Yoda pops up at the very end, but he doesn’t even have a single line of dialogue.  That means that almost every character is new and, most importantly, their water is uncertain.  Indeed, without any connection to major characters in the Star Wars movies, any one of these characters can fail, be hurt, or die at any moment.  And many of these characters do, including a few characters that readers might grow attached to.

Another fascinating aspect of this story is the just the era it is in.  With the Jedi-Sith Wars 800 years in the past and the Clone Wars, Galactic Civil War, and the First Order 200 years in the future, the High Republic is a golden age for the Republic and the Jedi with both of them at the peak of their power and influence.  The galaxy is largely at peace, the Republic is led by a seemingly wise and benevolent Chancellor Lina Soh, and the Jedi have never been more powerful, influential, and numerous throughout the galaxy.  And the first third of this book is, in effect, a showcase of just how powerful they are at this point.  When an accident in hyperspace obliterates a large space ship and the wreckage threatens billions of lives in one particular system and throughout the Outer Rim, the Republic and the Jedi work together to save as many lives as they can.  The Jedi in particular, show off an incredible amount of Force abilities in this first third of the book, put into sharp relief just how powerful they are at this point in Star Wars history.  Whereas the movies always have this dark undercurrent of authoritarianism, rebellion, and evil, the High Republic is an incredibly hopeful period in Star Wars history, best summed up by Chancellor Soh’s slogan that becomes a kind of mantra for Jedi and normal people in this novel, and one that could even speak to our current troubled times in America: “We are al the Republic."

The last two thirds of this novel deals with the mystery of what caused this happened and introduces the new villains of this series, the Nihil.  This is, perhaps, the weakest part of the novel and what keeps me from giving this book a full five stars (I would give this 4.5 stars, but Goodreads does not allow for half stars).  Currently, the Nihil are just a riff on the “Vikings in space” caricature.  Using some rather mysterious technology, the Nihil are able to raid planets and ships throughout the Outer Rim at will.  Sadly, at present they are just not as interesting an adversary for the Republic and Jedi as say the Sith, the Empire or even the First Order.  That said, there seems to be a bit of mystery behind the Nihil’s sinister leader, Marchion Ro, that has yet to be fully revealed.  The Nihil may not be super interesting right now, but with Marchion Ro beginning to enact a grand plan to cripple the Republic and the Jedi and his motivations for doing so not completely clear, it will be interesting to see these villains develop.

One last gripe I have with this series thus far is how exactly everything fits together.  Unlike the previous Star Wars EU, while adult, YA, and middle grade/children books were all connected, they also operated within their own bubbles.  But the High Republic series appears to incorporate adult, YA, and middle grade/children books into one overarching interconnected series.  But since I don’t always have the money to buy every single book in the series, which books are the most important to read.  Can one just stick to the adult novels and be satisfied or will the YA and middle grade/children’s books have significant plot points too?  For all the online media Star Wars has been generating since announcing the High Republic, that question has not been answered in a satisfactory way.

Overall, I am incredibly excited about this new publishing event.  The High Republic showcases the Republic and the Jedi at their peak and with this series set far enough away from other major characters and events in Star Wars, there is a level of uncertainty and unpredictability that is absolutely refreshing for Star Wars novels.  Whether you are a lifelong fan of Star Wars or new to it, I would highly recommend this first novel in the series to you.

“We are all the Republic!”

View all my reviews

February 2021 24in48 Readathon Live Blog

 

A Photo of Jefferson and my tea taken from my Instagram.

February 6, 2021, 1:08 a.m.

I didn't intend to truly start this readathon until the morning, but because it officially started at 12:01 a.m. EST (9:01 a.m. PST), and because I got to my reading late earlier today, I unintentionally kicked my readathon off at the same time as everyone else.  I started off by reading the first two chapters of Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin out of my Library of America edition of his early novels (see below for some links) and then read 100 pages of Jefferson while enjoying some nice Sleepytime Extra tea.  It took a little longer for me to finish all this reading than I expected, though not as long as I feared.  If I keep this pace up, I do believe I can finish Jefferson, Giovanni's Room, and The Light of the Jedi this weekend.  But will I be able to finish Felix Ever After or Children of Virtue an Vengeance (let alone start it) this weekend?  Doubt is creeping into my head.  Hopefully I can, but I am going to get some rest now and truly dive into this in the morning.

February 5, 2021: The Day Before!

It's been a few months since I have done an honest to goodness readathon and if I am ever hopeful of whittling down my TBR, then readathons are my only hope.  Fortunately, the wonder folks at the 24in48 Readathon have been working hard at organizing a great readathon and I am so happy to be joining them.

What is a readathon you ask?  A readathon is where you try read for as long as you can in a certain time frame without stopping, sort of like running a marathon (read + marathon= readathon).  One online place that is famous for organizing this is Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon.  They famously choose 24 hour period to just read non-stop during that period (their next one is on April 24).  There is also a bunch of social media done on Facebook, Instagram, Twitterm, etc. that folks can participate in as they are reading.  

The 24in48 readathon is similar in that you try to read for 24 hours straight, but they break it up over two days.  That means you can tackle your 24 hours of reading in any combination you like.  Read all day Saturday or all day Sunday?  Go for it!  12 hours on Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday?  Absolutely!  8 on Saturday, 16 on Sunday?  That works too!  Any combination of 24 hours of reading you can think of works for this particular readathon.

One thing they are doing differently this year is that they have chosen two group reads for folks to participate in, one fiction and one non-fiction.  Their non-fiction read is Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, a YA Romance starring a trans male as the protagonist.  The non-fiction read is White Negroes by Lauren Michele Jackson about cultural appropriation.  I personally plan on reading Felix Ever After myself, but no one is obligated to read these books if they want to read something else.

On top of Felix Ever After, I have a few books I either want to finish or make progress on.  First, I want to finish reading the Library of America collection Thomas Jefferson's writings that I have been working on since January 1.  This has been an interesting read, but at 1600 pages it is huge!  I had planned on finishing by the end of January, but life interceded.  I also plan on making progress on Library of America's collection of James Baldwin's early novels.  I just finished re-reading Go Tell It On the Mountain last night and I hope to have Giovanni's Room finished by the end of this readathon.

Next, I am going to finish reading Star Wars: The High Republic: The Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule.  My reading obsession originated with my love of Star Wars novels (the pre-Disney original Expanded Universe novels that is) back in high school and college, but I haven't really read many Star Wars novels since then.  However, this High Republic series sounds incredibly exciting.  I've been enjoying this book very much and I plan on finishing it this weekend.

Lastly, I plan on at least starting Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi.  This is the second book in her Legacy of Orïsha series, the first one being Children of Blood and Bone.  I read that when it first came out and I loved it!  I'm looking forward to diving back into this amazing YA fantasy world.

Of course, this is just the plan.  I have no idea if I will be able to actually do any of this.  Fortunately, like pervious readathons, I plan on live blogging this one.  Just come back to this page throughout the day tomorrow, February 6, and Sunday, February 7.  I'll be regularly adding updates to this page about my progress.  And while you're at it, be sure to check out any one of these great books or authors I have mentioned.  And if you want to join the 24in48 Readathon, head over to their website and fill out their online form.  Happy reading everyone!

A Literary Princess: The Lessons from Carrie Fisher's "The Princess Diarist"

In the past I have feared that this blog has been a a bit of an exercise in ego stroking and that no one would appreciate or care about what has been written on this blog.  Heck, I'm not even sure if my thoughts in the past have been coherent enough to be understood by others.

Thus, reading The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher's reflections on her time filming the first Star Wars has actually been a little reassuring to me.  As Jaime Herndon best put it in her recent blog on Bookriot reflecting on Ms. Fisher one year after her death, "She was outspoken, brash, and to be blunt, didn’t give a shit what you thought of her."  Her diaries and her recollections from that time are incredibly open, honest, and vulnerable.  

This is especially true of Carrie Fisher's recollections about her short affair with Harrison Ford during filming.  In her recollections, she was open and honest about what their relationship was and what it wasn't.  And her diary excerpts reveals a young woman filled with self-doubt, enamored by her co-star, but very unsure whether or not she should be pursuing this relationship at all.  She never gives any salacious or humiliating details, but she provides a window into her own heart.

When writing our personal reflections whether on film, literature, or other topics, we should all aim for such openness and honesty.  It is sad that I am only now getting to know this side of Carrie Fisher, the actress who brought one of the first strong female characters I knew in media, over a year after her death.  I can't say whether or not I will be reading any more of her works.  But her literary example of self-reflection and honesty should be one that all bloggers and memoirists should aim for. 

I know I haven't been updating this blog for a while and I apologize to everyone who has been interested in provincial scribblings.  One of my New Year's Resolutions is to write more blogs in the future.  Next week, I hope to be writing about The "S" Word: A Short History of an American Tradition... Socialism by John Nichols.  Thanks for being patient and happy New Year to all of you!