This post may be only tangentially related to my reading life, but I hope you'll indulge my tangent, dear readers. I'll give you a reading connection or two: When I was a young'un, I loved the novelization of "The Goonies." And, as an adult, I read and enjoyed Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" graphic novel. So, off we go:

Oswald Cobblepot and Chester Copperpot. Two of popular culture's more memorably-named characters have conflated themselves in my mind for years. Oswald Cobblepot, of course, is the given name of Gotham City's legendary villain, The Penguin. (Cobblepot despised his avian sobriquet, and woe betide anyone who said it to his face.) Chester Copperpot was the long-lost, enigmatic treasure hunter that inspired Mikey to round up The Goonies and go on a quest for One-Eyed Willie's treasure. 

Why do I confuse them? Basically, I think it's a matter of the poetic foot. They have exactly the same rhythm, as well as the same vowel pattern in the second foot. Counting and naming poetic feet is a kind of art, but I think, basically, you could call the pattern here trochee-dactyl. (There are other ways to name the line, but that's not the point: The point is, their rhythms are the same.)

So I confuse them. Let's play alternate universe. Wouldn't it be cool if on some pop culture family tree the two were related? Long-lost cousins. Or even brothers. It amuses me to think that the Cobblepot/Copperpot clan out there was clever enough to pair their unusual last names with such poetic, old-time names as Oswald and Chester. 

Come to think of it, these also would be good names for cats . . ;)

-cg

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there was a Rebel Alliance of Jedi Knights fighting and defeating the evil Galactic Empire. You can find out all about that in this book and the other installments of the Star Wars Trilogy (the original one, that is). Or you can just go and watch the movies, which is actually preferable anyway.

Not quite so long ago in this site's neighboring galaxy of Goodreads, there was a book page for a book entitled "The Great Goodreads Censorship Debacle" by an author named G.R. MacGoodreader, which, along with a large number of reviews, was deleted by Goodreads management, striking back against unwanted commentary on the Friday, September 20, 2013 announcement of Goodreads's new policy, which in the opinion of those who had posted the reviews, had taken the site several galaxies away from the New Hope for book lovers worldwide that it had formerly been. For the deletion of Mr. MacGoodreader's book, no explanation was given whatsoever. The reviews were deleted on the grounds that they were "off topic" (though when questioned by the reviewers concerned, Goodreads management would occasionally also take to explaining that, no, actually, their particular review wasn't off topic, it had merely been deleted because Goodreads had concluded other users might find it annoying).

Yet, to those who mourned Mr. MacGoodreader's swift passing, fear not: The Jedi have returned – with light sabers, droids, and most importantly, a real book.

It contains, I am informed, many of the deleted reviews and opinion pieces, as well as a small number of additional texts.

May The Force Be With It.

"Luke, I am Your Father" -- enough said?  That's one of the first times I remember a plot twist surprising me.  

Plenty of times I've not been sure exactly where an author was going with a book or not guessed the whodunit of a mystery until the end — but I wouldn't say "surprising."   Runner up would also be in the Star Wars universe.  

No, not that Luke and Leia were siblings because this was before the days love triangle angst was popular.  But later in Vector Prime when R.A. Salvatore killed off a major character.  

In the Eddings Mallorean and Belgariad series, I did not expect

Come to think of it, Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books held some plot twists I never saw coming.  A lot of them.  Didn't catch on

 ... she did surprise me with almost every plot twist.  

But I read the Star Wars books first And they were my first answer.