Fantasy

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

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Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

By J.K. Rowling

Scholastic, Inc.

ISBN: 043913959-7

5 stars

I’m moving along nicely with this series.  I was surprised, again, by how much more I remember from the movies than the books but that’s what’s making this re-read so much fun.

The short re-cap — Harry starts his fourth year at Hogwarts, gets to see the Quidditch World Cup, finds out that Hogwarts will host the Tri-Wizard Tournament, sees his name thrown out of the Goblet of Fire as a contestant, almost gets killed by a dragon, eats some gillyweed, and sees Voldermort re-born.

As you’ve been warned — spoilers below.

There was a lot about this book I didn’t remember, one being just how mean Snape is to Hermione!  I knew it was there but re-reading it again was awful; he is just so harsh to a young girl.  As you can see, I’m moving along with my Hate Snape Campaign nicely.  There is no redemption for him.  I will not forgive him later even when he tries to redeem himself in Harry’s eyes.  Nor will I forgive Harry for forgiving him but that comes later and I’m getting way ahead of myself.  Another thing about this book I forgot is how profoundly sad it is when Cedric dies.  It’s always been a sad moment but I found myself tearing up at those bits this time around.  There’s also a lot to laugh at in this book and I like the way Rowling balances the two.  Honestly, I can’t wait for the Divination classes to be over.  I’m just as fed up with Professor Trelawney as Harry is but I find both Ron and Harry’s homework full of deathly predications to be quite amusing.  The ending of this book, while very sad, also gives you that look ahead that makes you want to pull the next book off the shelf and keep going with the story.

I’ve been pacing myself with these books.  If I didn’t, I probably would have overdosed on Harry Potter already.  It’s been fun rediscovering this story slowly and letting it unfold as it does and I’m glad I decided to go this route instead of for the all at once indulgence.  I haven’t read these books in so long that I have forgotten a lot of the little details so each one has held small surprises for me.  Those surprises are well appreciated I can tell you.

I’m excited about book five for several reasons: more Sirius Black; more angry Dumbledore; more Mad-Eye Moody; and the Weasley twins!

 

The Sunday Salon – Lazy with Crazy Acquisitions

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Hi there.  I’m still around; I was just a lazy blogger last week.  Work always gets extremely busy this time of year — I refer to it as the Vegas Syndrome.  My company has a conference the first week of November in Las Vegas and every year around this time everything explodes and that’s pretty much the state work is in at the moment which is why I was lazy on the blog front.  I plan to remedy that in the next few days since things should calm down and return to some sort of normal before I get on a plane.

While I’ve been lazy with the writing, I haven’t been lazy in the book acquiring department.  I’ve mentioned this before — we have a book buying moratorium on at the moment in our house.  Review books are still allowed, but all other books, with the exception of ebooks since they take up no space, were not.  Somehow the moratorium failed in the month of October.  My husband and I both bought several books and said, “Oh, we’ll find space for them,” which probably means we’ll have to buy a new bookcase but so be it.  We’re planning to do that anyway.

So what did I end up with?

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton — This is a review copy I requested so it’s not falling under the rule but since it came into the house, it’s getting counted.

The Hard Way by Lee Child — A co-worker loaned this one to me (He’s got most of Child’s Reacher series and I keep borrowing them.  He’s like a personal thriller library.) and again not a true rule breaker but it will be spending time here so on the list.

Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories — We have this great local bookstore a few blocks away and each time I go there, I visit this book.  The last time I went in, it came home.

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein — I’ve been in the mood for some good science fiction and it’s been a while since I’ve read one of Heinlein’s books.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman — More science fiction.  My husband read this one and loved it.  I don’t like to read about war but the science fiction part has me intrigued.

Rudyard Kipling’s Tales of Horror & Fantasy with an introduction by Neil Gaiman edited by Stephen Jones — My husband bought this one for me after a particularly long day.  🙂  It’s short stories and perfect for when you want something quick and creepy.

The Lost City of Z by David Grann — I’ve been wanting to read this one for a long time, and when I was playing around with my Nook yesterday, decided that it was time to buy it.  Besides, I need something to read on that long plane ride to Las Vegas. (ebook)

The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett — I read the first book, The Magicians & Mrs. Quent, and while I can’t say I loved it, I liked it enough to get the second one.  (ebook)

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews — I’ve read the three previous books in this series and loved them all.  It’s urban fantasy and everything about these books is fantastic. (ebook)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, to close this up, the wrap-up for last week.  I read:

The Burning Times by Jeanne Kalogridis, finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (I’m a week ahead of the read along, it’s supposed to end on Halloween, but I’m not good with reading on a schedule.), and started Corrag by Susan Fletcher.  I plan to start Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie today too.  I downloaded a free copy to my Nook weeks ago and have been meaning to read it.  I loved this book as a child and want to see what I think of it as an adult.

That’s all for me today.  Buy any good books in the last few days?

Enjoy your Sunday.

Mockingjay

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Mockingjay

By Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Press

ISBN: 978-0-439-02351-1

4 stars

I didn’t think I would be reviewing this book this soon.  When I put it on hold at the library, I was 48th in line and wasn’t expecting to even read this book before next year.  I was surprised when my hold came in much earlier than expected.  I also surprised myself by showing a tad bit of restraint by waiting until I finished my current read before starting this one.

When this book came out, I read all the reviews, even the ones with spoilers because I like spoilers.  I read the last few pages of this book before I was 20 pages in and knew how it ended which made reading the book much easier for me.  If I can’t figure out where something is going, I read ahead, but if I know even basically how it will end, I will stick to the process of turning each page in order.  I wanted to be able to read this book without being annoyed at not knowing so I took a few liberties at the beginning.  So what did I actually think of this book?

In the interest of not giving too much away and providing spoilers (I know not everyone loves them as much as I do.), I’m going to do a very brief overview and then move onto my thoughts.  With books in a series, I always find it hard not to give too much away since so much of the story depends on the endings of the previous books.

Katniss Everdeen, survivor of two Hunger Games, is now the symbol of the revolution against the Capitol.  She’s hurt physically and mentally and barely surviving day-to-day let alone a revolution.  Reluctantly, she agrees to become the Mockingjay for the revolution as long as she gets a few things: they rescue Peeta and the other Hunger Games participants that can be found, grant them immunity, and she gets to kill President Snow.

Great parts of this book left me annoyed and some of it left me underwhelmed.  The tension that built up in The Hunger Games and Catching Fire felt lost here much the same way Katniss was.  I wanted more than bombing raids and body counts and I wanted less of Katniss being in a daze hiding in closets afraid of the world beyond the walls she doesn’t even feel safe behind.  Once again, the story is told by Katniss but when she’s too busy twirling the bracelet that labels her mentally unstable to tell it to you, it suffers.  And, yes, the Team Gale/Team Peeta thing…I was so annoyed by this whole love triangle thing.  Kiss Gale one day, kiss Peeta the next day.  It was awkward and annoying and in the end she basically waited it out until one of them made the decision for her.  She became incapable of making any decisions or understanding her own feelings.

Now, that last paragraph doesn’t mean I didn’t like the book because I did.  The politics of the revolution are interesting, they have to be as the story pretty much runs on them, and seeing some of the old characters return was a nice touch.  It also moves fast, really fast.  It was an emotional ride and once it had you, kept you there wondering what would happen next.  I can’t in anyway say it was a bad read.  I was riveted to this book and thought about it for days after so obviously it had some affect on me.  Katniss is meant to infuriate and annoy and she played the role perfectly here.  Being the last book in the trilogy though, I think I was hoping for more, unfortunately I don’t really know what that more is.

If you’ve read the previous books in this series, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, you’ll most likely not want to miss this one.

 

My Favorite Reads – The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe

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Alyce from At Home With Books features one of her favorite reads each Thursday and this week my pick is…

The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

Description: The leather bound version that is my book does not have a description on the back or inside cover.  It’s a collection of short stories by the author, 61 stories in fact, and includes a number of his well-known pieces that many are probably familiar with such as: Ligeia, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mask of the Red Death: A Fantasy, The Pit and the Pendulum, Tell-Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado among many others.

If you would like more information on Edgar Allan Poe, the Wikipedia page has a lot of information about his life and work, the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore allows one to read his stories, and Poestrories.com lists several as well.

My thoughts: Being that it is the month of October, I thought this book of short stories would be an interesting one to highlight.  At some point, we’ve all probably read a Poe tale or two, most likely in high school/college English classes.   When I’m craving a good, creepy story and one that will leave me wondering hours later, I pick this one off the shelf.  Earlier this year I re-read Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher both of which were originally read in high school.  I believe I also wrote a paper on Ligeia in college for an English class.

Each time I re-read these stories I find something new to appreciate — the use of language, the stillness of the stories, and the gothic nature.  I don’t think these stories are for everyone but for me they scream Halloween (yes, pun intended).

There is a Poe House and Museum in Baltimore that I have yet to get to but someday I plan to make the short drive up and visit.  He’s a writer that always seems to fascinate and give me the creeps.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

By J.K. Rowling

Scholastic

ISBN: 0-439-13635-0

5 stars

This is my favorite book in the series, and before I tell you why, there will be spoilers so feel free to look away now if you don’t want to know.

First, the short re-cap: Harry is off to his third year at Hogwarts, and before he gets there, blows up his aunt like a balloon, worries that he might be expelled, takes the Knight Bus to London, learns that a madman named Sirius Black has escaped Azkaban, finds out that Sirius is after him, and that he may not be safe even at Hogwarts.

I love this book for so many reasons.  Aunts blowing up, Knight Buses, werewolves, dementors, boggarts, Quidditch, Firebolts, and Maurader’s Maps, ahh, yes, we’re back at Hogwarts.  Let’s start with a favorite, Professor Lupin.  He, for the first time, teaches the students practical applications in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class and his classes add a lightness to an otherwise gloomy year with dementors and escaped killers running around.  Lupin teachers Harry new skills and gives him hints into his parents’ lives from the perspective of an old friend.  He’s kind and a friend to Harry when he needs one.  The dementors are a dark turn in this book and become, sadly, a way for Harry to connect with his parents.  The attacks on him cause him to grow stronger though and he uses the sadness that he didn’t know existed, to move forward.  Hagrid, now the teacher of the Care of Magical Creatures class, is still finding odd things to harbor.  And it is thanks to Hagrid that we get to meet Buckbeak the Hippogriff, creatures I just adore for some reason.  Hermione is still being her good self in this book and when she causes Harry’s new Firebolt broom to be confiscated for fear that it might be cursed, she makes no friends and even I get annoyed at her.  Does she not know the Quidditch season it right around the corner?  And then there is Sirius.  He’s a dark figure in Harry’s past and one he didn’t even know existed.  He’s Harry godfather, a fact Harry never knew until this book.  One thing that does annoy me — when Sirius explains everything and offers Harry the chance to come and live with him, Harry jumps at it.  He doesn’t know this person and it just shows you how quick he is to make decisions before thinking about anything.  Harry?  Really?  Yes, I know the Dursley’s are awful people but this man just escaped from prison, and while I like him too, give it a second will you.

I realized while reading this book that I remembered the ending from the movie better than the book.  The incident with Hermione’s time turner is much different and I was pleased by this happy little discovery and was trying to figure out where it was going the whole time I was reading.  It’s nice to be surprised by books you’re read before.

I also forgot that Hermione doesn’t get Crookshanks until this book.  For some reason, I just always thought of the cat as there but it’s really not until the third book that he arrives and plays a much larger part than I remembered.  Poor Scabbers though.  While I don’t feel anything nice for Peter Pettigrew, I did feel for Ron having to watch his rat deteriorate.

The Prisoner of Azkaban is where I feel the story begins to take a turn and you know that no one is safe anywhere.  Sirius’s escape is even announced on the muggle news which is a warning that Hogwarts or not, there is no safe place.  The dementors with their soul sucking abilities remind the students that life will not always be filled with joy.

And to end this — Snape, still disliking him greatly.

The House on the Strand

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The House on the Strand

By Daphne Du Maurier

ISBN: 0-8122-1726-8

University of Pennsylvania Press

5 stars

Time travel and the 14th Century…what more can one want in a book?  OK, a lot more, but let’s go with these two as the starter for this one.

Richard Young is staying at his friend Magnus Lane’s home in the English countryside.  Magnus is a chemical researcher at the University of London and has concocted a drink, that when taken, will transport a person to the 14th Century.  The one catch is that the traveler cannot touch any person while on the trip or they will be instantly hurled back to the present rather painfully.  Richard, while waiting for his wife and step-sons to arrive, agrees to take the potion and report back to Magnus with the results.  The potion has the same affect on Richard as Magnus and they compare their trips to the past observing the daily lives of the people who used to live in the same area where Magnus’s house is.  Richard becomes fascinated with the past so much so that he keeps returning to see one particular woman that he has become obsessed with.  His sense of reality takes a turn and he starts to have trouble deciphering the past and the present which frightens him but not enough to stop him from taking what is left of the potion like some madman believing he can change the outcome of the past.  The results of his actions make the present a terrifying place for both Richard and his family.

Time travel in books can sometimes go bad but Du Maurier does something that makes it work — she makes it unbelievable.  That might sound odd but stick with me.  For a good portion of the book, Richard isn’t sure what he’s seeing and he isn’t sure he should believe it.  When he starts to believe, things go off track in his life making him wonder if what he thinks he believes is true.  Even when some historical research proves that the people he saw and observed on his trips were real, he still isn’t sure what to think or believe.  Life becomes difficult for him on so many levels and it seems as if you’re watching a man on the brink of madness.  How Du Maurier does this is fascinating and makes the whole idea of time travel so fantastical and terrifying at the same time.

Richard was not a person I liked at first.  I didn’t dislike him either but he’s a selfish person and one who doesn’t seem to think, or care, much for his family which is truly annoying.  Magnus however was a character I would have liked more of.  His ambiguity makes it work though because you get back to the idea of Richard slowly falling into the depths of madness without Magnus around.

There is so much to like about this book.  The fantasy element is done well, and even though you’re not sure if it truly exists outside of Richard’s mind, it works and is believable.  There are rules and consequences to the time travel and I like that.   A free system wouldn’t work here and Du Maurier creates a system that fits perfectly within the confines of the story.  The characters all have some sort of flaw that makes even the annoying ones likable, to a degree.  You do in the end sympathize with everyone which I wasn’t prepared to do half way through the book.

I will be adding more of Du Maurier’s books to my list.  Her writing is wonderfully descriptive and at the same time sparse, as if she’s giving you time to ingest it all.

The King of Attolia

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The King of Attolia

By Megan Whalen Turner

Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 0-06-083578-8

4 stars

There will be spoilers so if you’re not interested in knowing how this one turns out, you might want to look away.  It’s the third in a series and I can’t figure out how to write this without giving at least a few tidbits away.  I think this is the best in the series so far and the longer this story goes on, the more I love it.

Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, is now the King of Attolia.  He has what he wanted, the Queen of Attolia as his wife, and something he doesn’t want, the crown of Attolia.  The court hates him, believing him to be a petulant child, and don’t understand why the Queen married him.   Political schemes are hatched, there’s open talk of death threats on the King’s life, and his attendants do all they can to make him appear foolish.  A young, naive guard named Costis, after openly stating his contempt for the King and physically assaulting him, ends up in the center of the political storm, and for the first time, actually seeing and understanding his new King.

In this book you really get to see Gen’s character, and if you play close enough attention, you see the rouse Gen is playing.  It’s a good show and sets up numerous plot lines for the next book.  It was nice to see the relationship between Gen and the Queen develop as well.  These two dance around each other a lot and sometime you do wonder if it’s all for show, and other times, if they actually like each other at all.

I love books full of court intrigue and this one has a lot of it: unhappy barons, scheming courtiers, a King and Queen who seem to loathe each other, a threat of war, and numerous back stabbing people looking to make their fortunes on the fate of others.

I always find it hard to write reviews for books in a series because I have to give something away in order to make it work.  I knew that would be the case with this one especially since Whalen Turner seems to be building up to something.

Each new book in this series has been filled with political schemes and intrigue and it’s only getting deeper and more complex with each book.  Gen’s character has been revealed with each successive book and he’s a character I’ve grown to love.  I’m looking forward to A Conspiracy of Kings.

If you’re interested you can read my reviews of The Thief and the Queen of Attolia.

Howl’s Moving Castle

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Howl’s Moving Castle

By Diana Wynne Jones

Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 0-06-029881-2

4.5 stars

Howl’s Moving Castle has been on my list of books to read for a long time, too long in fact.  I finally got around to reading it and found a lovely story complete with fantasy, magic, and wonderful characters.

Sophie Hatter lives in a small town called Market Chipping in the land of Ingary.  Market Chipping is not far from the land of the Witch of the Waste, a very spiteful and mean witch, and Wizard Howl’s moving castle which roves around the mountainside outside of town.

Sophie is the oldest of three daughters of a well to do family that owns a hat shop.  Sophie knows that as the oldest she will be the one to fail first and is happy to see her sisters seek their fortunes instead of herself.  When their father dies many things change for the small family, and with her sisters set up in safe places where they will be able to find happy futures, Sophie stays to work at the hat shop.  She unknowingly sells a hat to the Witch of the Waste who turns out to be an unhappy customer and returns to turn her into an old woman.  Disgusted with her new situation, she decides to set out and seek her fortune.  As an old lady she figures she has nothing left to worry about.  With Wizard Howl’s castle in her sights, she chases it down and settles in making herself indispensible to Howl, his assistant, and the fire demon that inhabits and powers the castle fireplace.

When I started this book I was a little put off by Sophie who was content to be last and willing to believe that she shouldn’t have a good fortune awaiting her.  She’s down on herself, has no confidence, and while talented when it comes to designing and decorating hats, she thinks nothing will come of it.  Being an old lady makes her drop all inhibitions and she begins to speak her mind, take chances, and look for opportunities.  She becomes infinitely more likable when she’s old.  Howl is also an interesting character and not at all what everyone thinks but the most likable character for me was the fire demon Calcifer who Sophie befriends, mostly by bullying him into doing what she wants.

Howl’s Moving Castle is a great warm-hearted fantasy.  There are characters to get attached to and the story of these people thrown together and tormented by the Witch of the Waste, all for different reasons and all unaware of the others’ problems, is a good tale.  In the end, everything that Sophie thought she could never have because she simply didn’t feel herself worthy, changes for her and she sees herself, her family, and her friends in a whole new way.  Happy endings sometimes are the best.

I’m a repeat reader of authors that I like and Diana Wynn Jones will become one of those authors that I repeatedly re-read.