This was the first Harry Potter movie that I really liked, and
the book was even better. I loved the time travel stuff.
I decided to take advantage of my recent desire for purely entertaining reading and read the Harry Potter books I hadn't read yet. After the fifth, sixth and seventh,
this was a quick read, and thoroughly enjoyable.
This Lightning Thief is a lot of fun, full of exciting action and humorous characterizations of Greek gods and goddesses. The premise is that those gods really exist, that Mount Olympus now resides on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building (invisible to mortals), and that the gods are still carrying on just like they did in the old days. In fact, they've got some half-blood offspring running around in the world, kids of a god or goddess and a mortal. It won't teach you much beyond the most basic Greek mythology, but it'll remind you of some great stories. My boys loved this book and the sequels (more about them later).
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed
this. It was fun because it was a mystery and a romance, and also pretty funny. Easy and entertaining. (That's what I've been in the mood for lately.)
I've read every book by Tracy Chevalier because I loved
Girl With a Pearl Earring. None of them have captured my imagination like that one did, but they've all been interesting and well written.
Burning Bright features William Blake and his wife as characters. It was pretty good, but not great.
The Undomestic Goddess was perfect for the two flights home from New York City, when I was sick and tired and worried about the weather and just wanted something easy and entertaining to read.
On the one hand, this is quite enjoyable, nicely written and calming. On the other hand, it's too simplistic and positive. Tears of the Giraffe is the second in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which takes place in Botswana. It reminded me of the one book in the Mitford series by Jan Karon that I've read.
It took me quite a while to get through Bushman's excellent, scholarly biography of Joseph Smith, and I'm proud of myself for it, in a silly, ridiculous way. After all, I'm a fiction-reader at heart, and this is a big book! And scholarly!
It really is excellent, though, and covers everything you've ever heard about Joseph Smith. He puts Joseph into the context of his own time and, maybe most importantly for me, helped me understand what Joseph and Emma's marriage may have been like. I thought it was wonderful.
I found
this first Hermux Tantamoq Adventure surprisingly delightful. Hermux is a mouse who makes watches and sort of accidently has adventures. I'm usually not that interested in books about talking animals, but the social commentary in this was funny and clever and unexpected, the story entertaining, and Hermux was gentle and sweet. It's geared for ages 10 and up.
Beautifully written short stories, mostly about Indians who've left India for the United States. I found them interesting and hopeful, for the most part.