Collect All 21! Memoirs of a Star Wars Geek - John Booth
Being twelve and getting a signed picture of Princess Leia in the Jabba's Palace Slave Girl outfit? Cool. Sharing it with your parents when they ask, "What was in that letter today?" Squirmy.
John Booth is a fellow GeekDad writer who is really into Star Wars. I mean, really. He's a few years older than me and was the perfect age for the first movie to really "sear itself" into his head. He was totally hooked, and wanted the books, the action figures, the T-shirts, the Star Wars birthday party.
This book is a collection of essays about growing up with his obsession, and the way that it changed from elementary school to high school, when he became more of a closet Star Wars fan, to later, when the second trilogy arrived and he was married and had a kid of his own. For me there's also the connection that he worked for the Orlando Sentinel around the time I was in high school and college, so some of his memories take place near my old hometown.
It's a really fun read, even if you (like me) aren't the biggest fan of Star Wars and don't have every line memorized. His excitement is a little contagious, and it's delightful just to read about his anticipation of each movie and his quest to collect all the action figures (before there were so many that it became a much less probably goal).
Initially I decided to buy the book because of Booth's call for a thousand fans. I got a copy for a friend first, and then one for myself, mostly just to support Booth. But now that I've read it, I'm really glad I did. If you have any interest in or nostalgia for Star Wars, it's definitely worth checking out.
Fed to jonathan's brain | May 20, 2010 | Comments (0)