Come check out the very first video of our monthly YouTube Series:
October 2017 Book Reviews and Ben & Jerry’s S’mores Review
We talk about our favorite and least favorite books of the month, and also do an ice cream review! Mmmm
Hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it!
Happy Halloween! 🍬🦇🕸🍭🎃👻🕷🍫
Full disclosure, there’s over forty books in the Xanth series, and I’ve read about thirty of them in high school. Air Apparent is the thirty-first book and I was so excited when I found it in the library.
But after reading the first chapter, I came upon the dreaded Great Expectations Situation. When I read that classic novel, my expectations were just like the title suggested. And since my hopes were so high, the fall from those hopes was made that much worse.
Continue reading “Air Apparent by Piers Anthony Chapter Review”
Ford Prefect, an alien who works as a book researcher, saves his human friend Arthur Dent when the Earth gets demolished to build a galactic freeway, but he doesn’t even think about saving anyone else, and really, neither did I.
This is not a comedic, sci-fi, or philosophical novel. This is the perfect trifecta of all three. I laughed, I was intrigued by talk of galactic bureaucracy, and I learned a surprising amount about life. How this happened in just a single chapter, I have no idea. Imagine what the rest of the book has in store.
Continue reading “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams”
Back of Book Summary in a Sentence
American men longing for women of their past.
This is not my cup of tea. I did not enjoy this one. The story is written in a unique way, such that each sentence is its own work of art. It’s difficult to digest but the understanding of each sentence leaves one fulfilled. It’s that kind of book.
Continue reading “Wet Places at Noon by Lee K. Abbott Chapter Review”
At the age of seventeen, Cassia’s spouse is chosen for her by the government, but her heart lies on one of the corners of a love triangle.
Cassia starts off the novel daydreaming while in a silky green dress. She looks like she’s on the way to prom, but she’s actually on her way to a government function where City Officials will determine who she spends the rest of her life with. So maybe like a dystopian prom.
It’s only the first few pages of the book, but I already feel like I know the essence of the two main characters. Three if the guy peddling lightning rods makes it past the first chapter. Nothing makes a book like a wanderer in emo clothing selling metal sticks.
I’m usually a proponent of kids not talking to strangers, but in this situation, talking to the man who’s asking if your parents are home and if you’ve got money just might save your life. Especially since he has the sixth sense to know which house is going to be struck by lightning in the near future. Makes sense considering his name is Tom Fury. Apparently with that name, you can sense the fury of coming storms. I wonder if Nick Fury can sense the fury of coming alien invasions.
Continue reading “Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury Chapter Review”
We get everything here, nuclear war, radiation fears, and a college senior’s life in danger. This kid, Biron, knows more about radiation than I know about computers. And I know a lot about computers. In his mind was basically an entire story history of Earth and the story of radiation.
It’s strange, even after nuclear bombs and nuclear plant meltdowns, the common person doesn’t know much about nuclear radiation. Except if you swim in it, you’ll probably die or turn into the Hulk. Papa’s feelin’ lucky tonight! I suppose it’s necessary in the narrative. Earth is a mess. I always wonder if every generation is smarter than previous generations. Like in 4 generations, are we all going to be able to do calculus? Are we all going to be able to slap together a robot and upload some quick AI? This kid also has 2 forms of radiation detection in his room. I don’t think there’s a geiger counter within 5 miles of my house. Maybe that’s what freedom is – not needing deterrents in your house. Either freedom or captivity. Not sure.
Continue reading “The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov Chapter Review”
Technically, all the main character did in this chapter was get her hair cut by her mother, ride a bus to school, and creep on a group of teenagers from a hallway window. But I was still drawn into the book.
Seeing everything through the eyes of Beatrice, a 16-year-old dealing with a dystopian version of our future, provides both the necessary world-building to understand the setting and personal drama to empathize with the character.
I’m not used to reading books in first-person present. It’s actually pretty refreshing, like reading a stranger’s diary as they’re writing it. So just as Beatrice creeped on her classmates as they arrived to school, I’m creeping on her creeping on her classmates. It’s creepception.
Hook. It’s not just Peter Pan’s archenemy. When you first open a book, it needs to hook you in otherwise you’ll never get past the first chapter. You’ll put that book down and open up another one. Another one where the first few pages make you want to read a few more pages until you suddenly find yourself at the end with no pages left.
At First Scoops, we believe that the goal of all books should be to make the reader keep wanting more from the very first chapter. Just like with ice cream—if you enjoy that first scoop, you’ll want the rest of the pint.
We’re here to review the first chapters of novels, be they on The New York Times Best Seller list, classics we’ve been hearing about since we were kids but never had a chance to read, or a random book we found while walking the aisles of our local library.
Join us on this literary tasting to see if after the first scoop, we want seconds.
