The Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK Rowling

Title: The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Author: J.K. Rowling
Published: 2008 Pages: 107
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale
Rating: 3/5

Has it really been two weeks since I posted about an actual book? Time has gotten away from me, as I suspected it would, ever since the read-a-thon. Or maybe it's just because I'm not keeping with my book a week average since I'm still slogging through Middlemarch and will be for another week or so. Without the pressure of having reviews piling up, I've been taking my time--even though the reviews are piling up anyway. Ah well.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of [five] stories written for younger wizards and witches" (vii). After each story is Dumbledore's commentary on the reception of the tales for the wizarding community or insights into what the tales mean. One of my favorite stories is "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" about a group of ailing witches who make their way to a healing fountain in order to be cured of their pains or losses. Along the way they meet a luckless knight and together they try to decide who is worthy of being healed by the fountain. In the end, they overcome their problems without the aid of magic and lead happy lives. Some of the other stories, such as "The Warlock's Hairy Heart" do not end so happily, but in a way it was refreshing to haves tales that don't always wrap up neatly.

I picked this little book up because I loved the Harry Potter series and I was excited to dive into more magical stories. I have to be honest that I was a little disappointed in this book, mostly because of its length. It is a quick read--will only take an hour or so--and in the end I wanted more. I would have been thrilled if the book contained a few more stories, but maybe/hopefully there will be more in the future. I enjoyed the stories, but everything people have said about Dumbledore's commentary is true--it really does add a lot of depth to the stories and really made this collection fun. Dumbledore's commentary is also humorous and I found myself chuckling aloud at statements such as, "A simple and heartwarming fable, one might think - in which case, one would reveal oneself to be an innocent nincompoop" (11).

I think this book would be great to read to younger audiences and I will hold on to it for when I have kiddos of my own. The stories, while not always ending in "happily ever after," do have a magical and fairy tale feel to them but they stay true to the feel of the Harry Potter books in keeping with the wizarding themes. The tales teach us lessons about being kind to others, lessons about not succumbing to foolishness, and lessons of finding happiness from within. In the end, though, I felt like Rowling teased her readers with hopes of more Harry Potter. I'd recommend this book with a little bit of reservation. Probably not for those who haven't fallen in love with the Harry Potter series, and for those who have,just keep in mind that this is a short little book that will probably leave you wanting more.

On personal note, my grandfather passed away on Sunday night. I went to Salt Lake two weekends ago to visit my grandparents and I feel lucky and blessed to have had that time with them, especially my grandpa, before he passed away. My grandpa was an amazing man and a true fighter. He had a stroke 12 years ago that left him greatly weakened and partially paralyzed. As heartbroken as I am, especially for my mom and grandma, I know that he'll finally find peace. I'll be flying back to Salt Lake at the end of the week for the funeral, so I'll be a little absent from the blogging world yet again this week.

Ride the Wind - Lucia St. Clair Robson

Title: Ride the Wind
Author: Lucia St. Clair Robson
Date Finished: October 13, 2008 #58
Pages: 595
Published: 1982
Rating: 4/5

I'm tired and worn out so I'm taking the easy way out. :)
From the back cover:

In 1836, when she was nine years old, Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanche Indians from her family's settlement.

She grew up with them, mastered their ways, and married one of their leaders. Except for her brilliant blue eyes and golden mane, Cynthia Ann Parker was in every way a Comanche woman. They called her Naduah - Keeps Warm With Us. She rode a horse named Wind.

This is her story, the story of a proud and innocent people whose lives pulsed with the very heartbeat of the land. It is the story of a way of life that is gone forever.

It will thrill you, absorb you, touch your soul, and make you cry as you celebrate the beauty and mourn the end of the great Comanche nation.

My Thoughts (aka Ramblings):
If you will recall from my Death of a Salesman post, I hated the first part of this book. I think a lot of it was because I was frustrated that it was taking me longer than usual to read the lengthy descriptions and I had major time constraints the past two weeks. Scott and I were headed for New England, which would eat up a weekend of reading time (although no regrets there!!), so I was stressing myself out because I was afraid I wasn't going to finish.

I talked to my friend Kari, who finished the book early (her review here), and she loved the book and urged me to press forward. I did, and I'm so glad. The book is a tough read--the descriptions are incredibly detailed and there is little dialogue. The book is long (it is no secret that I don't do well with longer books--short attention span and little patience) and spans over 50 years. The material is oftentimes graphic in terms of violence (there is a little sex, but it is minimal and tastefully written) and at points I put the book down and told Scott there is no way I could proceed.

In the end, though, I really fell in love with this book. I think I have a special connection to the book and the story because I hail from Texas and I know the landscape and the history and many of the key moments. I've been to Fort Parker, outside of Mexia Texas, where the first scenes of the story took place. I lived in the Staked Plains (Lubbock) where Naduah and her husband, Wander, roamed. But on the other hand this was a glimpse into our past that was difficult to read and really made me reevaluate the Texas history that I was taught as a child.

I think that people who like historical fiction would enjoy this book and I would also recommend it to people who are looking to read an account of Texas history as well as the Comanche history. This is just one little piece to a very large picture, but I am glad that I persevered to finish this touching and heartbreaking story.

The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

Title: The God of Small Things
Author: Arundhati Roy
Date Finished: August 8, 2008 #45
Pages: 321
Rating: 4.5/5

Let's start off being honest. It took me a good 80 pages (the first two chapters) to get into this book. I can certainly see why people are turned off from this book and my potential enjoyment of the book was incredibly questionable. But after that first 80 pages (yes, a quarter of the book!) I fell in love with the writing, the characters, and couldn't put this book down. For me, this is the type of book that comes along a few times a year and keeps me reading in search of the next one. (Yes, I am incredibly stingy with those 5/5 ratings!).

The God of Small Things is the story of how everything can change within the course of a day. Whole lives can be uprooted, fates can be changed, innocence and childhood can be lost, and death can find anyone. The story, oscillating between past and present, centers around twins (separate egg twins), Estha and Rahel, and the events that lead up to and follow the death of their English visiting cousin, Sophie Mol. Roy focuses on how so many intricate but separate details slowly come to fit together and how the ripple of all of these small things combined can still be felt years after.

Because part of the pleasure for me was slowly piecing together the timeline of the book and how everything fit together, I don't really want to give any more plot details than that. Roy gives the basic facts of the story in the beginning chapter, but the frequent jumps between past and present and the movement between so many character descriptions make it difficult to grasp anything solid in the book until later (hence my initial frustration). I'm not sure if after the second chapter I simply got used to the writing style and was able to discern whether I was reading about Estha and Rahel as children or adults or if the writing became more fluent, but I soon found myself absorbed in the story, devouring every word and being consumed by Roy's language.

I simply can't do this book justice with my thoughts--they are too many and I could write about this book forever. Some of my favorite aspects were Roy's descriptions--sometimes funny and more often heartbreaking. Her descriptions are often repetitive, taking ideas and playing with them throughout the novel, and because of that I felt I really knew and understood Estha and Rahel in all of their misunderstood childhood innocence. This repetition also helped me to remember events that were previously mentioned but soon forgotten because of the lack of development at the time. She describes everything in such detail that I could almost feel what the characters were feeling or see what the characters were seeing. And even though only little snippets of the plot were allowed at a time (teasers, really), I found myself wanting more, needing to know what happens despite the fact that I already [mostly] knew at the beginning the outcome of the novel.

In addition the the rich writing style, there was so much food for thought in this book. Roy combines a number of difficult themes that are crucial to the outcome of the story. Most important, for me, was the "Love Laws"--who deserves to be loved and how much and why. Set mostly in India during the late 1960s, untouchability was still prevalent for so many (I don't really know the history of the caste system and from what I understand this has been outlawed now??), and one of the key characters, Velutha is an untouchable. Estha and Rahel love him despite this, mostly not understanding what makes him so different, but the treatment of this special character was at times incredibly difficult for me to read. Other important themes seem to center around Western and Eastern ideals and the incongruities that exist between them. Sophie Mol's half whiteness and the ability for the grownups to immediately love her because she is white (a lot of these incongruities are seen through the children's eyes), Christianity versus Hinduism (and even Western Catholicism versus Eastern Orthodox), democracy versus communism, etc. Plot aside the book had me thinking about so many different ideals and why certain things are the way that they are.

This is a difficult book and has gotten mixed reviews from others, but this book captured my heart and will stick with me for a long time. I was incredibly affected by the book--something that hasn't happened for me since the beginning of the year (particularly with Atonement and The Book Thief) and I am glad that I finally experienced its magic. I hope to re-read this book again one day and could easily do so this weekend and discover so much that I missed. If you haven't read this book and plan to--stick through the first couple of chapters and don't forget to savor every word.

They also read it:
Joy - Thoughts of Joy
Nymeth - Things mean A Lot
Rhinoa's Ramblings
Wendy - Caribousmom
Raidergirl3 - An Adventure in Reading
Fyrefly - Fyrefly's Book Blog
(this book comes up so many times because of the 1001 list, so forgive me if I've missed you and let me know in your comments--but please leave more than just your link for some reason I find it really annoying when all I get is a link with no other commentary--eeks!)

Tender at the Bone - Ruth Reichl

Title: Tender at the Bone
Author: Ruth Reichl
Date Finished: January 30, 2008
Yearly Count: 6
Pages: 282
Rating: 4.25/5

I can say with some certainty that two of my most beloved aspects of life are reading and food (well, other than the obvious hubby, family, friends, etc). Obviously I love to read. :) But I also love food. I love to eat. I love going to restaurants and trying new things; I love being in my kitchen and baking or cooking. As soon as I turned in my last grad paper, I marched into the kitchen (after having very little sleep) and baked enough goodies to pass around to my friends as Christmas gifts with enough left over to feed our large family during graduation. I LOVE food. (Hubby could care less for either reading or food...go figure!).

So this book combines two of my favorite things. Tender at the Bone is about Ruth Reichl's coming of age as it relates to food. She begins her story as a young child anxious to save guests at her mother’s dinner parties from inevitable food poisoning, a task which enabled her to move into a more dominant role in the kitchen. Reichl remembers her school days in Quebec where she befriends an unlikely companion whose parents introduce her to fine dining. She is convinced the love of her life fell in love with her cooking first, and her cooking education continues in a Berkeley “commune,” a doomed French restaurant in Detroit, and from the various people she meets throughout her early adulthood.

Each section of Reichl’s development was a pleasure to read, and I loved seeing all of the influences play a part in her eventual role as a food critic. Her writing style is easy, and while I didn’t think her book was laugh-out-loud funny, it was entertaining and amusing. I felt, though, that the ending of the book got away from her main “thesis” when she began talking about her mother’s illness and the effect it had on her. While this was an important part of her life, it seemed to be a little bit of a digression from main theme of the importance of food in shaping who she became.

I would recommend this book to food enthusiasts; I could certainly see how someone could pick up this book and think “Who Cares!” (hubby would say that…very quickly). But I enjoyed the read—and Ruth Reichl, who was a very likeable character. Has anyone read this book and tried any of the recipes? There is a fruit tart recipe that I would love to try. :)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Author: J.K. Rowling

Date Finished: July 23, 2007

Pages: 759

Rating: 5/5

I think in a few weeks or so I'll write a proper review, but right now all I want to say is Beautifully done. I couldn't expect any more (and wouldn't expect any less) from this book.

That's all for now--I just don't want to limit myself on what I can say without providing spoilers...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling: A Review

Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Author: J.K. Rowling
Pages: 652
Date Finished: July 19, 2007 (re-read)
Rating: 4.5/5

I had fun with this one. If you've read my complaining posts recently, you know that I've been taking a lot of road trips with hubby. A few months ago I read to him for a few hours while we were driving and have since then made it a habit. It took many many hours (and 4? different trips) to finally finish this monster of a book, but we did!

This HP is not my favorite. My favorite is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (book 5). Regardless, this one certainly works to propel the adventure forward. What I like about these latter books is how heavily they rely upon one another. Maybe its just because its been so long since I've read the others, though, but these all seem a little more connected. But also what I really like about the latter books is the deeper look into the characters and the development of good and evil. Rowling has created a magical series, and I will be sad when the 7th book is finished (only 200 pages left!!). Not much of a review, but what else can really be said at this point? I'm sure there will be lots to say about book 7...