You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Once you've finished reading the book you've chosen for the Star Wars Throwback challenge, report in this thread.

List your WoF name, link to the book you read and tell us which loveable character you chose and why you chose that character (besides the fact that your book title began with that letter). Also give us a small blurb about your reactions to the book.

Thanks for setting the thread up Jayme.

I picked Wicket the Ewok and read The Wedding People. I picked the character because my neighbor recently adopted a dog and she says he looks like Wicket the Ewok, and that comment was fresh in my mind when the challenge was posted. I don't think he does, though. :D

The book was entertaining and I gave it 3 stars. I think it will make a fun discussion with my book club. However, it is the kind of story that has way too many convenient things happening, and the ending way too neat. But in the overall it was a quick, fun read.

WoF Jayme
I ended up picking Chewbacca and read The Collaborators by Michael Idov.
I picked the character because I think everyone needs a first-mate with unwavering loyalty and heart to help you fight the empire or hangout with on a Saturday night. Chewie and Wicket were my two favorite characters in the Star Wars movies. I like my heroes furry and cuddly. 🐻

The book I read was your typical spy thriller - fast-paced globe trotting, lots of murders and a little romance. The plot required a lot of thinking to muddle through, so don't. Just enjoy the espionage. 3 stars.

WoF Shirley
I chose the character Chewbacca because, to me, he is one of the most recognizable Star Wars characters.

I read Cleopatra: A Novel. The story is the author's take on the life of Cleopatra. I quite enjoyed it, but felt that it was "padded" out with lots of mundanity, and with Cleopatra mulling over her thoughts and feelings. Reading this book did prompt me to read more about Cleopatra, and to wonder what she was really like. 3 stars

WoF: Grainne

I choose R2-D2 and I read The Remains of the Day. It is a quintessentially British book written by a Japanese author whose powers of observation are second to none. It's uncanny how he writes about the engrained British culture and customs of the 1900's. I always find that past remarkable, how writers who write historical fiction books can speak as though they actually witnessed it themselves.

WoF Marnie

I chose R2-D2 and read Rules for Ruin which is subtitled The Crinoline Academy. It reminded me of the Imperial Academy which is the Imperial training place for the Galactic Empire.

I enjoyed this one especially the part about the MC trying to solve her own problems with her wit and abilities. Also the message that where you start doesn’t determine where you end up.

WOF Marie UK

I chose R2 D2 and read The Rome Apartment

This book follows a woman's trip to Rome to find herself after her Husband decides she is just too dull to stay married to.

In rome she stays with Ronnie and Marina who challenge her to broaden her Horizons, to feel more, sense more experience more.

Of course she achieves this with just a little soul searching and not a great deal of effort as everything just seems to happen so easily.

This book is readable but predictable and of course has a follow up book Secrets at the Rome Apartment. I am not jumping at the bit to read it

I would rate it 2 stars - it has a much higher GR rating with two and a half thousand readers having rated it. I admit to not being a romance fan

Wof Janice

I read Reel of Fortune for the R2-D2 prompt.

I enjoy this series primarily for the humour and silliness of it. Fortune has returned to Sinful, Louisiana under her own name and now a retired CIA Agent. She immediately becomes embroiled in solving a murder. The mayhem ensues.

WoF Alexandra

I read You Gotta Have Balls for Yoda.

This witty, heartfelt novel follows Ruth Rothwax, a neurotic, sharp-tongued New Yorker juggling her successful greeting card business, family relationships, and her larger-than-life father Edek. When Edek decides to open a meatball restaurant with a pair of glamorous Polish women, Ruth’s orderly life is thrown into comic chaos. Beneath the humor, the book touches on themes of family, love, resilience, and embracing the unexpected.

I enjoyed it a lot. Lily Brett has a knack for blending eccentric characters, quirky situations with sharp, laugh-out-loud moments, and the humor here is spot-on.

WoFSharonBiskit

I read Roses of May. I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It was the second book in The Collector Series.

I chose R2D2 as my character. I loved his character in the movies…somehow his sarcasm might remind me a bit of me. This book does a great job of including an accompanying plot to let us know what is happening with “The Butterflies” from the first book. The main emphasis was on a different serial killer who murders girls every May and surrounds them in different flowers. Priya, the MC, lost her sister to this killer and now he is after her. It was perfect in that Priya can also be sarcastic and reminds me a bit of R2D2’s wit. I know the book isn’t for everyone, but I enjoyed the suspense and trying to figure it all out.

WoF Katrisa
I chose Wicket and read Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow. I chose wicket because I have a shih-tzu poodle named yub yub because he looks like an ewok when his hair grows out. This was a reread for me because the newest book in the series just came out so I am refreshing my memory rereading the series. It is one of the most delightful middle grade fantasy series I have read. I just adore it.

WoF annerlee
I combined Chewbacca and space opera in one with Cibola Burn

Chewbacca combines a silly name with a cool character, he’s cuddly but tough and unusually for a hero, he’s ginger. Also, he makes cool chortling roaring noises. what’s not to like?

Cibola burn is the latest instalment in the Expanse series, which I am really enjoying. The story takes place on a newly discovered planet and on spaceships in its orbit.

The audiobook narration was excellent and really brought characters to life.

I love the political manoeuvrring and intrigue, the cameraderie between characters, escaping from seemingly impossible situations, humour, action, cool science and amazing world building. These are features in all the books so far, but in this one the descriptions of the new planet were so evocative, I could imagine being there. There were amazing creatures there too (some beautiful, some more deadly than others) My favourites were the mimic lizards:

“Mimic lizards are predators, and their name comes from their ability to imitate the sounds of other animals to attract food. They have the ability to expel their inner organs through their mouth as they unhinge their jaws, quickly propelling their inverted stomach toward their prey. The impact kills or otherwise incapacitates the hapless animal. The inside of their stomach is sticky, making their prey adhere to it, after which the lizards swallow the stomach and the adhered prey whole.”
https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Mimic...

honestly, how do you even dream up such a creature!

WoF: Kristie

I read What Happened to the McCrays? for Wicket. I loved Wicket when I was younger. I remember a friend of mine and I got Wicket stuffed animals for each other one year. He was so cute!

I loved my book. I was a little annoyed by the female MC. She just worked so hard at being miserable. The male MC was amazing and didn't deserve what she did to him. However, the writing is so good and the characters have depth and felt realistic. I love that you can hate what a character is doing, but still understand why they would do it.

WoF Pragya

I picked Wicket and read Wish Her Safe at Home.

This was on my TBR for a really long time and I am so glad to have finally read it. Haunting, and evokes so many emotions, I was surprised the book was written by a man, no offense. He did a really great job of it.

Wof Anna M

I read The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht: Voices from the Front Line of Scotland's Battle for Women's Rights for Wicket 🧸

It's a collection of essays by Scottish women who campaigned against self-ID. I found their stories deeply moving and the way they were treated by the pro trans camp was unacceptable. I only came across the book because it made news, the Scottish National Library removed it from an exhibition.

WoF Karin

I chose Wicket the Ewok

I read Women's Intuition by Lisa Samson

This is a story of three generations of women plus Prisma Percy (all four of them have POV sections) and I will say that Samson did a good job of giving each woman a distinct voice.

Lark's house burns while she's out, so she and her daughter move in with her mother who has plenty of room. Lark has severe anxiety and depression, but manages to eke out a living playing the organ at a Catholic church (she's not Catholic) and pay for her heating by donations to her prayer hotline. Her daughter, Flannery, is home for the summer in between getting her BFA and grad school. Lark's (her full name is Larkspur) mother, Leslie has heart troubles. Prisma is both Leslie's best friend, the chair of a big charity and long time house manager--but don't be fooled.

In addition to a great deal of family drama (there is a reason why Lark had no desire to move back home,) there are a number of other things in the mix, including an unwelcome visitor.

WoF Camilla

I chose Jar Jar Binks and read Jos minä en sinua saa - Henkirikoksen motiivina mustasukkaisuus. It's a Finnish true crime book about murders where the motive has been jealousy. It also included interrviews of physicians, psychologists etc. who are experts on this type of behavior. Quite interesting, although I don't read very much true crime; ended up giving it three stars.

WoF Aya

I chose Grogu and read The God of the Woods. I didn't watch Star Wars but I often saw Grogu on socmed.

The book was a hype last year I think, but when I read it, I couldn't focus. Maybe because of the intertwining of characters that made the story looks like going in a circle. It's actually a good book, about missing children of the owner of a summer camp, not only once but twice, and the relation between the rich and the blue collar community. It's just that I read it at the wrong time.

WoF Lynn

I chose R2-D2, and the book I read was The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II

Some incredibly horrendous and difficult chapters to get through and despite showing the worst of human nature, the author still managed to show the best of human nature too.

It wasn't an easy read but I'm glad to have read and learned about a time in history that I knew nothing about until reading.

WoF Margo

I read City of Girls for Chewbacca (my favourite!)

This was my first Elizabeth Gilbert and I did like her writing style. It's historical fiction, mostly set in 1940s New York and I think the author captured era very well.

Badges are posted. Please let me know if I've goofed.