Harry Potter - all of 'em

by J.K. Rowling

Over the last month-ish, I've re-read all seven HP books. I'm not sure why, since I've had such a huge pile of other books to read. I think it's a de-stress mechanism. But I stayed up 'til midnight last night to finish The Deathly Hallows. That was stupid. I need more sleep. I did, however, enjoy reading the books!

 

Funny. I have a blog entry from 2010 on HP #1-7. That must have been the first time I re-read them all. Then this entry from 2015. Now I'm listening to the audiobooks. Jim Dale does a marvelous job narrating them! The holds / wait times are long. I requested Sorcerer's Stone earlier in the summer (while working at Mackin) and listened to it sometime in August. Then I requested Chamber of Secrets. I got that last week and just finished listening (mostly in my car, but sometimes while doing chores). Now I'll request Azkaban.  

All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes

by Betsy St. Amant
Hennepin County Library paperback 305 pages
genre: Christian realistic fiction

This was nice, but a little boring. Most of the conflict was the main character's insecurities and doubts. Kat Varland and Lucas Brannen have been best friends for about a decade (teenagers to mid-20s). They're both super nice and smoking hot, but the new "feelings" they each have for the other are ignored because they don't want to ruin their friendship. Sigh. Cupcakes and an LA competition, some snarky people, yada yada. Book club discussion is tonight. It will be interesting to hear others' reactions. I am tempted to recommend it to Stacie just for all the baking (and a recipe at the end that looks really good).

page 139 - "What if her destiny, God's plan for her life, was to remain at Sweetie Pies? What if she was already living out her calling and just needed to be content where God had placed her? Put aside her dreams, put aside her desires, and bloom where planted?" I can relate to wondering if I'm following God's plan or not!

page 305 - I hated that the story ended with her smashing a cupcake into his face. Really?! And he had made it for her all by himself. That's just rude.

Men of Stone

by Gayle Friesen
PRMS hardcover 216 pages
genre: YA coming-of-age, realistic fiction

Liked:

• characters, especially Ben, with three sisters and a distant mom / friends Fish and Stan / great-aunt Frieda coming for a visit
• each character's passion (dancing for Ben)
• the connections between what he's learning in school and Frieda's story of Russia during the war
• great cover photo
• clever connection of "men of stone" theme between soldiers during the war, bullies, and Ben when he decides to get revenge

Disliked:

•  not enough to draw in most middle school readers (this one will be deleted and donated)
• Ben's determination to do things on his own
• not having a good resolution to Stan's story line

I started reading this only on lunch breaks, but wanted to finish it so I brought it home.

Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holy

by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis
artwork by Brooke Allen
Hennepin County Library paperback
genre: YA graphic novel

I'm tired and can't think straight. I liked, but didn't love this. Liked: spunky female characters, quirky story line, kept my interest. Didn't like - the line in the "pledge" that's blacked out and replaced with "then there's a line about God or whatever" . . . why not just write the pledge with what would be true for these characters? It also seemed to end rather abruptly (or perhaps it's just the pause before the next issue). In any case, good not great sums it up for me. Tough girls at a scouting-type camp. Odd boys who seem very Jekyll/Hyde. A mystery. Adventures.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

by Erik Larson
read by Scott Brick
Hennepin County Library audiobook 11 discs
genre: non-fiction, history

This was incredibly well-researched and well-written. It was also extremely depressing. Author of The Devil in the White City, Larson has once again done his homework and relies upon a tremendous amount of primary source material (letters, diaries, telegrams, record books, etc.) to piece together the events leading up to the U-boat attack on the passenger liner on May 7, 1915. It made me so sad to hear the politics and "could have beens" behind this terrible tragedy. Brick's vocal work is wonderful, drawing the listener in. The captain of the Lusitania (William Thomas Turner) and the captain of U-boat 20 (Walther Schwieger) are brought to life powerfully.

It is interesting to tie the events of WWI in this story with what was happening in The Family Romanov which I read earlier this summer.

Seeker

by Arwen Dayton
Hennepin County Library hardcover 429 pages
genre: YA fantasy, action

This was a little too violent and dark for me. An interesting story, with unique characters in the Dreads and the Seekers. Also a strong sense of history, with more to be unveiled in future books. The main teen characters, Quin, Shinobu, John, (and to a certain degree Maud, the Young Dread) weren't as fully developed as I would have liked. The athame stones, lightning rods, whipswords, and other out-of-time items were creatively written. But the ugliness in the story of what these Seekers are being trained for was a complete turnoff. I won't read book two or buy this one for my collection.

The One Thing: the surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results

by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
Hennepin County Library hardcover 225 pages
genre: non-fiction motivation

I admit defeat. This book is simply not the "right one" for me right now. It's also five days overdue at the library and I cannot renew it. So I'll have to cycle back to it at some point. The end-of-chapter "Big Ideas" would probably be sufficient to get the gist of the book. So far, I have found it to be oversimplified (but that's kind of the point).

page 35 - "Achievers operate differently. They have an eye for the essential. They pause just long enough to decide what matters and then allow what matters to drive their day." I need to be more like this and less swept along by the various and sundry things that crop up in my day!

Chapter 4 "Big Ideas" - Go small, go extreme, say no, don't get trapped in the "check off" game - I think I need to scan and save the blurbs with this . . .

page 79 - "When you gamble with your time, you may be placing a bet you can't cover." So true!

page 91 - Dweck and mindset. Interesting that I recently read an article that doesn't praise her work, but questions it.

There was also an interesting section on willpower. So many ideas running through my brain and so little time to process and discuss! I only got as far as page 104. I am torn about requesting it again . . . Perhaps I'll make note of it in my library bin and see if I have time in a few months to tackle it.