Book Review: Luke Skywalker Can’t Read

I picked up Luke Skywalker Can’t Read and Other Geeky Truths by Ryan Britt for my husband at the library one afternoon. He wasn’t particularly interested but thanked me. The book sat on the library shelf for a couple of weeks until I picked it up and thought, I’ll read ten pages while I lay down with the sick kiddo and when it sucks I’ll return it. yeah….It didn’t suck. LOL

Luke Skywalker… is a collection of essays on the nature of SciFi/Fantasy in books and film. A large portion of the book explains how the writer came to be an expert on this particular subject in an amusing manner. It did garner a number of laughs I then had to try to explain to my kiddo who always wants to know what’s so funny. There is some middle slump that made me consider returning it unfinished but I think that had more to do with the subject matter, Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes and Frodo, not my favorite topics, than the quality of Britt’s writing.

Mostly what I took away is the Britt really wants you to think about why you think what you do about SciFi/Fantasy be it position or negative. He brings up some interesting ideas about why certain films and books and cults work or don’t. He does espouse some strong opinions I totally disagree with but that’s ok. LOL

℘℘℘℘ – A solid Four Pages. It’s a short read, a couple of 100 pages, and not overly complicated in it’s terminology. Coming off Norwescon it was an interesting take on things I had heard argued so recently, in person. And I do have a soft spot in my heart for books that footnote.