Friday, December 31, 2010

J.K. Rowling - "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"

     Well, here we are on the dawn of a new year, the year 2011.  I hope you have had the opportunity to read some wonderful books, as well as to enjoy some of the finer things in life, such as loved ones, good food, and of course, coffee! 

     Mr. Potter has done it again, he's managed to break almost every rule in the book, and not get expelled from Hogwarts for yet another year!  Harry, Hermione, Ron, the usual cast of characters, as well as some new characters appear in book three to grace us with the latest enthralling episode of the life of Harry Potter. 

     Once again, we see poor Harry's miserable life with the Dursleys while he waits for the next term at Hogwarts to begin.  Harry accidentally causes his awful aunt Marge to blow up like a balloon after she continually taunts him throughout her visit.  Needless to say, this does not go over very well with Harry's guardians!  Harry decides that anywhere is better than staying there, so he grabs his trunk and heads off on foot.  As Harry is angrily running away, he senses that he's being watched, and he is...  Harry finds himself being observed by a very large black dog; as he backs away and stumbles; suddenly the Knight Bus appears just in the nick of time to whisk him away to the Leaky Cauldron. 

     Once Harry finds himself back among wizarding folk, he discovers that Sirius Black, the man apparently responsible for the death of his parents, has escaped from azkaban and is now after Harry to kill him too.  Because Siriuis is on the loose, azkaban prison has sent Dementors (scary, azkaban guards that literally suck the happiness out of you) to stand watch over Hogwarts.  It is discovered that these terrible creatures have a unique effect on little Harry.  Also, new to the Hogwarts scene is professor Remus Lupin, the newest Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor.  He proves to be a wonderful ally to Harry throughout the tale. 

     As the year progresses full of homework, classes, Quiddich matches, and all sorts of mischief, Harry finds himself haunted by the Dementors, the Grim (an omen of death that appears as a large black canine),  as well as the threat of Mr. Black's dark desire to kill him.  Throw in a magical Marauder's Map that shows all of the secret passages in and out of Hogwarts as well as where everyone is in the castle, and I would hazard to say that you have a fairly exciting and entertaining premise for a story!  Once again, Ms. Rowling whisks her readers away to a universe where the "norm" is far from normal and where natural laws only apply sometimes.

 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) (Hardcover) 
      As was true of the previous Harry Potter book, this one too is a little darker than its predecessor.  It really is true that this series "grows along with it's readers."  I think Ms. Rowling has done a great job of weaving a tale that always has you on your toes or the edge of your seat, depending on whether you are standing or sitting...  There is always a way around a situation, a possibility to make things happen that isn't possible in the muggle world, an animal that is completely unknown to the natural world, and so many "otherworldly" objects and actions.  I can see why she's a bestseller!

I hope you have a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Jeffrey Eugenides - "Middlesex"

     I hope the Holidays are treating everyone well!  I know that some of the time off has afforded me some time to plow through a few extra books :)  Always a bonus!

     I have been working on "Middlesex" now for a couple of weeks.  Overall I generally have mixed feelings about the book, but I did enjoy reading it once I was about a third of the way through.  I was kind of on the fence both about the style of writing as well as the content, though, as I neared the end, I think I can admit that both had grown on me over the course of the 500+ pages.  I'm not a HUGE fan of the book, but it definitely met my criteria of, "I need something 'different' to read right now...hmmm?"

     Although this is the story about Calliope Stephanides, a Greek-American girl born in Detroit in 1960, it is also the story of the two generations before her and their unique journeys.  The book is a narrative by Cal, a forty-one-year-old man living in Europe and working for the US government as an ambassador.  He wants to tell his story and decides to start beond the beginning.  After he introduces himself, he launches into his entangled family history opening with his grandparents Lefty and Desdimonda Stephanides and their tiny little town in Greece at the turn of the century.  It tells of their hardship there, and their harried and necessary emigration to Detroit in the early 1920's.

     Upon arriving in Detroit, Lefty and Desdemona live with cousin Sourmalina and her bootlegging husband.  Through many twists, turns, and various other situations, they raise two children Zoe and Milton.  Milton grows up to serve in the US military through WWII, start a family (including Callie), fall in love with Cadillac cars, and start a restaurant empire (Hercules Hot Dog stands).

           by Jeffrey Eugenides (Author)Middlesex: A Novel (Paperback)

     Now we finally arrive at Calliope's turn to be the star.  She grows up as a normal girl who loves her family, has excellent grades, is annoyed by her older brother, and is just trying to survive junior high.  Aside from being a bit of a "late bloomer" everything seems to be normal.  After realizing that she may be a little different than the other girls, she becomes a bit of a loner, but is unwilling to believe that anything is wrong.  Only after an accident that lands her in the hospital is her secret revealed.  Although at birth she appeared to be a normal little girl, puberty launched a few changes that revealed another truth entirely.

     The last few chapters detail how Cal (formerly Callie) began to cope with this new reality.  As he details his first few tragic months of learning to live as a male, you get a glimpse of the darker side of San Francisco in the 1970's as well.  All throughout the book, there are brief interjections that update you of his current life as he tells you of his past.

     Again, all in all, I think it was an ok book, but it took a little "try" to get through the first third or so of the story.  From the get-go, I had a hard time with the vast amount of detail in which Mr. Eugenides described every bit of the story; towards the end, I had accepted this fact of his particular writing style.  He has a truly unique way of using words to bring images to the readers' minds; it's quite poetic.  You also have to give him kudos for writing an entire epic novel from the perspective of a hermaphrodite.  That had to be quite an undertaking! 

     I did really enjoy "experiencing" what it was like to live through a lot of the different historical happenings that these characters went through.  I know it's a work of fiction, but the author did an outstanding job of really making you feel like you were right there in the story.  (I guess all of those details did indeed serve a purpose???)  There were certainly some very tragic elements to the story, as well as some parts that were hard to read due to the nature of the unusual content, but Mr. Eugenides handles a lot of these issues with a measure of poetic vernacular (as opposed to solely literal and graphic terminology).

     This work sated my need for something, "off the beaten path" for sure, but I'm not certain if it's something that I would wholeheartedly push someone to read.  I leave you to decide...

     Happy Holidays to one and all!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

J.K. Rowling - "Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets"


               Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)

   What to do, what to do, It's my first day off in 11 days????  Laundry, ironing, exercise, organize the recipe drawer, continue to unpack from the move, make the bed, or read Harry Potter for 4 1/2 hours.  I'll let you guess.  I read the last 2/3 of the book curled up on my couch on my day off with the gingerbread latte that was a sweet surprise from Hubby.  Is there anything more perfect, I ask?  Not in my world...

     I usually try to avoid reading two books from the same series too close together in order to avoid what I call, "Runover."  You know it, where the end of the previous book "runs over" the beginning of the next book, and you can't recall what happened in which book.  I experienced this throughout the Twilight series, and have tried to space my series books out a little since then.  Maybe what I should be doing instead is to work on my reading comprehension / retention instead?

     So, this book picks up with poor Harry right back at the dreadful Dursley's house, basically a prisoner, he's mighty discouraged as he's not heard a peep out of his friends from Hogwarts.  The next thing you know, Dobby the pitiful house elf appears in his room and warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts because danger awaits him.  After an eventful evening with Dobby, Harry finds himself in a flying car accompanied by the infamous Weasley twins and his best friend Ron who've come to rescue him from the Dursleys.  Through a fascinating series of events, Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Hogwarts, and yet again find themselves smack-dab in the middle of yet another mysterious scenario.  People (and animals) are becoming petrified by a dark magic that is very powerful.  Once people find out that Harry is a Parselmouth (has the ability to speak "snake") they naturally suspect him of these mysterious happenings.

     Another year at Hogwarts unfolds as Ron, Harry, Hermione, and the usual cast of characters try to discover who is behind the petrification epidemic, as well as clear Harry's name in the process.  After a few twists, turns, and other plot line happenings, the case is solved, and the trio of amigos is headed home to enjoy their summer break before returning as third year students.

     I've only read the first two in the series, and I'm already catching a glimpse of the "grows with it's readers" phenomenon.  This episode was written to a slightly older audience than was the previous.  What I mean to say is that the vocabulary was a little more broad, the plot was a little "twistier" and the experiences that the characters go through would appeal to someone on the cusp of "junior high" and still not be too far above a ten-year-old kiddo.   (For example, Hermione and the other Hogwarts girlies hint at a crush on Gilderoy Lockheart, the "celebrity heartthrob" of the wizard community.) This book was ever so slightly "darker" than the last, I think mainly due to the broaching of the subject of "possession" of a person's actions by Voldemort.  There was some of it displayed in "The Sorcerer's Stone," but this story seems to exemplify it in a more concrete way.

     I must say that Ms. Rowling certainly knows what she's doing to sell 325 million books!  Just as in the last book, the plot is full of mystery, adventure, and the unusual.  Her characters are both eccentric and quaint, and the "universe" that she has imagined and set her story in, is enthralling to say the least.  I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

     Cheers to you, and yours!