A Princess of Mars

I loved this book!  I picked it up in the first place because it's a Mars book, and it  was a favourite of Ray Bradbury's.  It really wasn't complicated, there isn't a load of scientific mumbo jumbo to make your eyes glaze over, but there is lots of action, amazing martians and Dejah Thoris.  Of course, you have right here before you a John Carter fangirl... I can't help it.  He just kicks ass.  And how fortunate for me that there is an amazing movie called John Carter?  I know there has been a lot of criticism over it, and as far as following the story goes it is a bit different.  But I still love it.  As far as I'm concerned the movie has the important bits.  I felt shivers the first time I saw John jumping towards that ship...
It's always great to have images that you love that can be paired to your reading.  John Carter (and many others in the movie) will for me always be the ones I picture...
                        
As with Tarzan, there is a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the book, and I don't really mind.  I can't wait to get on with the next book to find out what happens next.  I love Burroughs' Mars and his martians.  Woola is pretty cool too...there is something irresistable about a big  creature that has the unfailing loyalty of a dog.

The Barsoom novels have earnt their place on my Mars shelf. 

Verily, A New Hope...

Okay, I will admit it.  I am a hopeless fan of the fiction sections of Quirk Publishing.  So when they come out with something as crazy as this, I am a sucker for it and will grab it off the shelf with an ‘Ooh’ of appreciation and a twinkle in my eye.  I never suspected this of myself, it was a surprise to me when I first spotted Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in the book store, and I admit that I did resist for a while, until Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters showed up under my Christmas tree, and that was it, I was hooked.
So this new book is not only something different again from the usual but has the usual quirky spin to it.  The inclusion of certain familiar dialogues had me falling out of my chair with laughter, because it was so unexpectedly surprising.  I have always enjoyed the use of those lines and passages that are so familiar to me in an interesting and often funny way, I don’t view this as disrespect of the original work but as a loving homage to what has come before, and also an opportunity to introduce such old works to a new audience, because after all, why would someone want to stop at just the one thing when there is so much more out there to enjoy?
I love the asides, so beloved of the original Shakespeare, and used to maximum comedic effect here.
So if you love Star Wars and Shakespeare this is a lot of fun, and if you are a high school English teacher I heartily encourage you to get the gratis study guide online at quirkbooks.com/ShakespeareStarWars  your students will love it!