The Autobiography of James T. Kirk: The Story of Starfleet's Greatest Captain

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Star Trek coming up this September 8, I read The Autobiography of James T. Kirk. Exactly what it sounds like, this is a first-person account of the life of the character most famously portrayed by William Shatner, and more recently by Chris Pine. However, from the start it's made clear that this won't take place in J. J. Abrams' alternate timeline, since this Kirk grew up with both of his parents and an older brother. There is but a single nod to the new films in the fact of George Kirk being stationed on the USS Kelvin.

Kirk tells us about his childhood on Earth and then his first venture into space, including a stint on the planet Tarsus IV where he witnesses the massacre perpetrated by Governor Kodos. This comes back into play in the events of the Original Series episode "The Conscience of the King". Then Kirk spends some time talking about his time at Starfleet Academy, giving some explanation of the backstory explored in the episode "Shore Leave", and his quick rise to captain of the Enterprise at a young age.

The book continues to recount a lot of events from the TV series and films from Kirk's point of view, which some reviewers have dismissed as "recaps," but I think it's worthwhile to be inside his head and know what he was thinking at the time, and what decisions he regrets. He turns out to have a good reason for being a womanizer; a series of failed relationships and unexpected tragedies made him wary of getting close to anyone.

We come to realize that he carries a lot of guilt about the countless crew members he has lost during his missions, and about not being a present father for his son. It worked as a dramatic twist in the film The Wrath of Khan to reveal Kirk had an estranged child, but when we realize David would have been conceived during the events of the show but was never mentioned before, it feels like a cheat. So I found it especially interesting that this book delves into the relationship between James Kirk, Carol Marcus, and their son David in greater depth, and attempts to explain why they could not be a family unit.

Another value of this book is the imaginative way it fills in the gaps of established canon, showing what the crew was up to between the end of the series and the first Motion Picture, as well as some events between the films. Though sometimes it takes liberties that will certainly not become canonical themselves, such as the depiction of the reviled Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as merely a movie from a world parallel to ours, instead of events that Kirk actually participated in.

As a casual fan of Star Trek, I enjoyed this book and it gave me new motivation to watch more of the Original Series, and perhaps rewatch the films, since it puts so many of those stories into new context. It would probably appeal most to long time fans of the franchise, but I think even someone who has never seen Shatner on screen will get some enjoyment from it, and the footnotes help to explain some of the important concepts such as the Prime Directive. For insight into the more subtle references, I recommend searching Memory Alpha.

Since the book makes an effort to remain "in-universe", it and "editor" David A. Goodman do not have a specific webpage that I can link to, but you can buy the book at startrek.com.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

This book was somewhat on my radar for the last few years when it was a best-seller, and when I saw that Tim Burton was directing an adaptation that will be released this fall, I decided to read the source material. Although Burton's output has not been lately what it used to be, the gothic weirdness of this story seems right up his alley.

Jake is an ordinary high school kid with a part-time retail job until he witnesses his grandfather Abraham die. Jake is convinced the perpetrator was a monster but this claim gets him marked as insane. Abraham had spoken of a Home for Peculiar Children that he had stayed at when he was younger, showing Jake some photos (which within the book are actual vintage photography) and leaving a cryptic message behind when he dies. This prompts Jake to travel to Wales to find the titular house.

He finds his way to September 3, 1940, the time loop that the children and their caretaker Miss Peregrine live in. They've lived through the same day for several decades, and the day resets when bombs are dropped on the town. Then there's the fact that these "peculiar" children have abilities such as levitation, invisibility, pyrokinesis, and um, bees coming out of one's mouth. These elements bear a lot of exposition, and I felt like the plot took a while to get going. For much of the book, Jake is hanging out with his new friends and getting to know their world. He struggles with his attraction to Emma, who his grandfather loved while he was there, and Jake isn't sure if he wants to remain in the time loop or return to live with his parents in the 21st century.

It takes about three quarters of the novel for the strange circumstances of Abraham's death to become significant to the story again, and for a major conflict and antagonist to rear its ugly head. The climax is the rollicking adventure that I'd been hoping for the whole time, and then it ends on a sequel teasing cliffhanger. Since at times it's a dialogue-heavy book and relies on the photographs to give visual credence to the story, it may actually work better as a film than as a novel. But then if the movie doesn't make enough at the box office for Hollow City to be adapted, it will become unsatisfying.

For more about this book and the author, check out ransomriggs.com.