1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J. K. Rowling)
A gift from a very dear friend of mine, I went into this series not expecting too much. After all, if everyone everywhere is so wild about this series it must be pretty full of fluff without too much to think about. And it's written for 10 year olds so how deep could the series go? Getting into it, I felt rather silly because the language is very simple and I could tell it very much was written for 10 year olds. I did find the ending to be interesting though as I was honestly NOT expecting Quirrell to be the villain. This set up the tone and basic style for the first three books or so. Overall, I wasn't thoroughly taken aback with it but I was intrigued enough to get into the second book.
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J. K. Rowling)
The story picked up, more or less, where the first one had left off and the tone was very similar. I was surprised when the chamber opened up and initially thought that Rowling had killed off the cat, Mrs. Norris. Struck even more when the same thing happened to Hermione. I didn't think Rowling would let that happen to a principle character. I was, of course, surprised again by the ending; couldn't believe it was Ginny. After this, I began noticing the pattern that Rowling loves to set up someone to look evil and then prove they're not and set someone else up to look good and then pull the rug out from under your proverbial feet. Fortunately, this did NOT spoil future books because, even when you knew Rowling was setting someone good up to look bad, you couldn't figure out HOW they could NOT be bad and you simply had to wait and see how she would vindicate their apparently heinous actions. On finishing this one, I was eager to get into the third!
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J. K. Rowling)
A great read. By this time, I had developed an attachment to the characters and, starting out, I hadn't even been introduced to some of the big names in the later books such as Sirius or Lupin. Thought the dementors were a great idea even if they had a distinct likeness to Ringwraiths from Tolkien's work. Lupin's full moon transformations came as a surprise but I had grown used to surprises from Rowling by this point and wasn't as taken aback as I might have been. Thought the Scabbers/Pettigrew link was astounding. This was the first time a revelation was made that shook up my understanding of the previous books in the series. Couldn't believe it. Thought the transformation of Sirius from mass murderer to godfather was brilliant. I could understand a transformation from a bad guy to a decent guy but a transformation from bad guy to a new father figure for Harry was unexpected to say the least. I could feel Harry's hope at being able to go and live with Sirius and the crushing disappointment at how things turned out acutely.
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J. K. Rowling)
Cedric's death came as an absolute shock to me. As did Voldemort's return. First time I got genuinely upset at something that happened in the book. And I wasn't even aware that I'd developed an appreciation or connection with Cedric's character until he was struck down. I was even more astonished at how Fudge reacted to the news. I could understand panic or fear from him but absolute denial of what had happened came as a blow to me. Rowling managed to slip under my nose with "Moody" so I was extremely shocked when he was revealed as an imposter. Crouch's son's escape baffled me and I was left shaken up after that revelation. If I couldn't trust the Moody which Rowling developed I couldn't trust anyone in the series save the 3 main leads. Who would be exposed next? This book was the point at which I began to notice Neville Longbottom as being more than met the eye and he eventually turned into one of the 2 favorite characters I came away from the series with.
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J. K. Rowling)
Four things that are extremely memorable from this volume:
- Luna Lovegood. Reading this one again right now. Luna is one of the most humorous, honest characters in the series. She is my other favorite next to Neville. She honestly doesn't really care what other people think of her which I absolutely love. Rowling's introduction, where she's reading the magazine upside down on the train is a brilliant intro to her character. You get a sense of who she is right from the very beginning.
- Harry's hearing at the Ministry of Magic was a source of apprehension for me. I could feel the churning of his stomach as he sat before the entire Wizengamut and the confidence he felt as Dumbledore came and sat down next to him.
- Umbridge was a source of extreme hatred to me in this novel. But I loved hating her. My blood would boil as I read her various "Educational Decrees" and the scenes where Harry was in detention with her made me want to throw the book across the room. I hated her more than I had ever hated Snape, Rita Skeeter, Malfoy or any of the slytherins. I wanted to see her suffer. I was happier than you can imagine at every attempt made by the students to enrage her or cause her any trouble at all. Fred and George became heroes to me in this book. I was unspeakably delighted when they flew off, passing the baton to Peeves who also garnered a great deal of respect from me. I was disappointed to find she had not died after her encounter with the centaurs in the forest.
- The battle at the ministry was very memorable but Sirius' death was quite a blow. The way he died just seemed so anticlimactic. His absence was acutely felt for the rest of the series and it made me hate Bellatrix LeStrange more than any of the other outright villains for the rest of the series.
Have to read this one again as I've forgotten some of the specifics that made it great. I thought Slughorn's character was interesting and the idea of retrieving a memory from him was really quite original. Broke my heart when Harry had to keep ladling the potion to Gandalf out on the island. Some part of me was expecting him to die right then and there, leaving Harry to get back to Hogwarts by himself. After they left I thought to myself that there's no way Rowling's going to kill off Dumbledore now. Not so soon after putting both characters within an inch of it. The climax back at the school was mind blowing but I had come to expect it from 6 full volumes of Snape being portrayed as scummy and up to no good. Rowling used Dumbledore's death to absolutely convince me once and for all beyond a shadow of a doubt that Snape was evil through and through. In my mind there was no way of redeeming him after that scene. Truly brilliant.
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J. K. Rowling)
I'd heard the Harry Potter series described as epic but I couldn't quite catch the full view of it until this novel. It's true that it's not epic in the sense of Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit but it is epic literature in its own right. Harry not returning to Hogwarts tipped me off that this book would be like none of the other 6. It moved from the stone hallways and rules of Hogwarts to the wide world where you genuinely didn't know what to expect. Whether it was because of an extremely blue mood I was in or just the attachment I'd developed to Dobby the elf, his death was the hardest thing for me to take. I was by myself in my room and I was so glad I wasn't reading that section in a public place because I could not hold back the floodgates. If my roommate had walked in he would've thought my dad had died or something.
I knew Rowling would have to kill off some big characters if she wanted to make this book epic and that the twins were a prime target yet Fred's death was still a great pain to me. I did not expect Tonks or Lupin to die and was pretty taken aback by that. After finding out that the Moody from the fourth book was an imposter I felt like I never really got to know his character so his death didn't hit me quite as hard as Rowling was, perhaps, intending.
Nothing, however, not Dobby's death nor Sirius' nor Fred's nor the hatred I harbored for Dolores Umbridge nor anything else in the entire series was as absolutely jaw dropping as Rowling's vindication of Severus Snape. When I came to that section I put the book down and sat open mouthed for perhaps a minute or two. I didn't let any expletives fly but I was tempted to. I simply could not believe it. After almost 7 full books portraying Snape as questionable at best I could not stomach that he had been so completely loyal to Dumbledore's cause as to obey EVERY command that came out of the aged wizard's mouth. Just remembering this scene makes me want so very much to start that book again! After finishing this volume I had an immediate desire to start the series over again as the later books bring so much color and significance to the earlier ones. Overall, an absolutely brilliant masterpiece.
8. Truth for All Time (John Calvin)
A gift from a friend of mine, I found that it went over a lot of stuff I already knew but Calvin did bring a couple of insights to the 10 commandments that I hadn't considered before. It's a pretty brief book but I would recommend it for anyone who's interested in reformed theology.
9. Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster)
Another gift from the same friend, I found this one quite illuminating. The author explains two large pitfalls in the Christian life, one being a feverish pursuit of good works as the believer strives to "work out his own salvation with fear and trembling" and the other acknowledging that it is "God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." Those of us who are reformed tend to lean much more closely to the latter view while Arminians lean toward the former. Both, however, are unhealthy, argues Foster. The pathway between these 2 pitfalls is to walk in the 12 disciplines detailed by Foster. These are the avenue by which God chooses to reveal Himself to our hearts. And by beholding the glory of God, as my life verse says, we are transformed to His likeness. I found this book very helpful as it detailed practical exercises the believer could do to begin placing these disciplines in his or her life. Being thoroughly impractical and theoretical in my thinking, this is something that comes as a great aid to my spiritual walk.
10. Carrie (Stephen King)
I started this novel just cause I'd heard of it before. I knew it was a story about some misfit girl who had telekinetic powers and used them at her prom to gain vengeance on her classmates but I knew no other details. This was the first full book I'd read by Stephen King. It was considerably darker and had a great deal more disturbing material in it than I was expecting but I found the writing style and content fascinating. That's the only reason I finished it. Do I regret having read it? In some ways, yes; in other ways, no. On one hand, there were a lot of images in that book that I did not need to be putting into my mind. Much more sexual content and violent images than I was thinking would be in there. On the other hand, this book exposed me to a writing style I had never read before and enabled me to come away with a greater understanding of the craft and art of writing in the secular arena.
11. Christine (Stephen King)
Started this second novel figuring there might be enough Stephen King composition left to redeem itself by bringing some deeper insight than Carrie had brought. I was wrong. This was the book that showed me I needed to stop reading Stephen King. It's not because this one had a great deal of sexuality, vulgar language, and violence in it that turned me off; it's that it had all these things but nothing positive to say that might make it a beneficial read. Nothing to redeem it. It just made me feel filthy and sick. Like I had indwelt something that was unclean. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
12. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)
This one had some vulgar language in it and a few instances of inappropriate sexuality. Two of the characters are practicing homosexuals and I would put it under the same category as Stephen King's works above but it said something that was very worthwhile. And it did not glorify sinfulness as Carrie or Christine did. It showed the brokenness and pain that sin brings into people's lives. And it had some very poignant, profound moments of clarity in its thinking. It caught my eye by the description on its back. It is the story of a person who I fancy is very much like me in some ways. Ultimately, it introduces the question of whether it's better to be active, going out and making life what we want it to be, or to be passive, allowing life to come to us and seeing what hands we will be dealt. I would recommend it for mature readers.
13. The Knowledge of the Holy (A. W. Tozer)
Wow! Amazing book! Probably the best one I've read for a while! Have a small view of God? Read this one! Tozer goes through the attributes that we've always been taught (God is everywhere, God knows everything, God can do anything, etc.) and fleshes them out so the believer can see just how monstrously HUGE and fearful God is! He explains what each of these attributes mean in the life of the believer and how a proper view of God increases our worship. And you will worship when you read this book. I mean... you... will... worship! Highly recommend for anyone because you can never have a view of God that's quite big enough!
14. Sundays at Tiffany's (James Patterson)
This was pure fluff. Didn't really say anything worthwhile but didn't make me feel as filthy or grungy as the Stephen Kings did. It was like a good, old fashioned chick flick. Like the Notebook. It had a couple quite objectionable things in it that I would not recommend for children to read (or adults for that matter) but these were not quite as pronounced or fleshed out as Carrie or Christine. I'd recommend this to someone who has nothing better to do with their time. A bit like going to a chick flick on a Friday night.
15. Life After God (Douglas Coupland)
Didn't get all the way through this one. I enjoyed the perspective it brought to the pain and heartache which atheism introduces to a culture. Like the modern poets, the point of this book isn't to slam religion or God but to show how much people need to believe in something greater than they are. It's not a scientific book. It shows the loneliness and extreme pain that comes into a person's life when they face life without a belief in God. It's a series of (sometimes interconnected) vignettes that describe various people's responses to just the normal day to day life of a group of people in California. Very poignant.
No comments:
Post a Comment