Just for Fun

Here's some Harry Potter fun:



I'm a Ravenclaw!

Go to: Sorting Hat to get yourself sorted or take year end exams.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

Fiction. Paperback from Scholastic Books. Published in 2001. Purchased at a Scholastic Book Fair.

Book three in the Harry Potter series.

Publisher's summary:
For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was Black's downfall as well. And the Azkban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts...he's at Hogwarts."

Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
from amazon.com, click here: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis

Fiction. Audio from Blackstone Audio. Published in 1956. Recorded in 2000. Purchased at Audible.com

C. S. Lewis is known for his ability to spin a good yarn while still pointing his readers to God. Knowing that he once said that everything he wrote was evangelistic, I went into this tale expecting to be able to tell right away what message he was trying to get across. However, as I listened, I found myself puzzled as to what part of his tale could be considered evangelistic. It's a very engaging story, but I wasn't really finding any big messages hidden it in. Then as I got to the last hour of listening time, it all became much clearer and Lewis lived up to his reputation. Even if you are not familiar with the story of Cupid and Psyche, this is a great read. (And if you are not familiar with it, Lewis gives an overview of the story and talks about about his adaptation as an end note.)

Publisher's summary:
This timeless tale of two princesses, one beautiful and one unattractive, and of the struggle between sacred and profane love is C.S. Lewis's reworking of the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche, and one of his most enduring pieces of fiction.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Book: Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
Audio: Till We Have Faces
from amazon.com, click here: Book: Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
Audio: Till We Have Faces

Something Rotten by Japser Fford

Fiction. Audiobook from Recorded Books, LLC. Published in 2004. Purchased at Audible.com

Book four in the Thursday Next series.

Publisher's summary:
Jasper Fforde's time-traveling and fiction-jumping detective Thursday Next is an international hit with fans and critics. Beginning with The Eyre Affair, a Book Sense Top 76 Pick, Thursday's adventures have all cracked The New York Times best seller list.

After spending her time chasing a stray Minotaur into pulp Westerns, filling in for Joan of Arc, and raising her infant son, Friday, Thursday needs a break in the real world. But her return to Swindon is far from relaxing. Rogue fictioneer Yorrick Kaine and the evil multinational Goliath Corporation are trying to rule the world, and a deadly assassin called the Windowmaker is tracking Thursday's every move. To top it all off, her husband is still missing after being eradicated from the timestream before they met.

Fans of Douglas Adams and Monty Python won't want to miss this charming detective adventure sure to tickle the funny bone and stimulate the literary mind.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Something Rotten
from amazon.com, click here: Something Rotten: A Thursday Next Mystery

For the UK boxed set, click here: Next Boxed Set: "The Eyre Affair", "Lost in a Good Book", "The Well of Lost Plots" AND "Something Rotten"

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fford

Fiction. Audiobook from HighBridge Audio. Published in 2004. Purchased on Audible.com

Book number three in the Thursday Next series.

Publisher's summary:
Thursday Next, the forthright and unstoppable detective of Jasper Fforde's first two novels, The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book, rides again in The Well of Lost Plots. Get ready for time travel, adventure, mystery, romance, and crime in a literary caper that pokes fun at fiction itself.

When soon-to-be single parent Thursday Next emerges from her comfortable life inside an unpublished book, she steps into a new age of fictional narrative. The entire book world is abuzz with anticipation of an improved Text Operating System that moves from the 8-plot to the new 32-plot story system. But danger lurks when Jurisfiction agents keep turning up dead. When Thursday steps in, she encounters Dickens' Miss Havisham, passes through Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and deals with a mispeling vyrus, holesmiths, and unionized nursery rhymes. The Well of Lost Plots, the place where all fiction is created, is an exhilarating romp through literary classics, an insightful look at how books are made, and a jewel in the long tradition of British nonsense.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Well of Lost Plots
from amazon.com, click here: Well of Lost Plots

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

Fiction. Paperback from Scholastic. Published in 1999. Purchased at a Scholastic Book Fair.

The second book in the Harry Potter series.

Publisher's summary:
The Dursleys were so mean that hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny.

But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone--or something--starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects...Harry Potter himself?

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
from amazon.com, click here: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Fiction. Paperback from Scholastic. Published in 1997. Purchased at a Scholastic Book Fair.

In getting ready for the release of the latest Harry Potter book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I have been rereading the series. This is the first of the set.

As a side note, I've also enjoyed reading the UK version and noting the differences in the wording. Even the title of this one is different in the UK. (It's the Philosopher's Stone there.)

Publisher's summary:
Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand, and jellybeans that come in every flavor, including strawberry, curry, grass, and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! This is exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's enchanting, funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In the nonmagic human world--the world of "Muggles"--Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of wizards, small, skinny Harry is famous as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined sensibilities, and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and spoiled, piglike cousin Dudley.
A mysterious letter, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches Harry from his dreary, Muggle-ridden existence: "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Of course, Uncle Vernon yells most unpleasantly, "I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" Soon enough, however, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts with his owl Hedwig... and that's where the real adventure--humorous, haunting, and suspenseful--begins.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stonefrom amazon.com, click here: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather

Fiction. Paperback from Vintage Books. Published in 1923. From my mom's library.

Mom was reading this for her book club while we were on vacation at the "Red Neck Riviera" (that's the Alabama Gulf Coast, if you weren't sure). She passed it on to me. It is a strange little book.

Publisher's summary:
Marian Forrester is the symbolic flower of the Old American West. She draws her strength from that solid foundation, bringing delight and beauty to her elderly husband, to the small town of Sweet Water where they live, to the prairie land itself, and to the young narrator of her story, Neil Herbert. All are bewitched by her brilliance and grace, and all are ultimately betrayed. For Marian longs for "life on any terms", and in fulfilling herself, she loses all she loved and all who loved her. This, Willa Cather's most perfect novel, is not only a portrait of a troubling beauty, but also a haunting evocation of a noble age slipping irrevocably into the past.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: A Lost Lady
from amazon.com, click here: A Lost Lady

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

Fiction. Audiobook from Isis Publishing. Published in 2002. Purchased from Audible.com

This one was irresistible since it's a combination of Terry Pratchett and rats! (I know. Rats? But they grow on you. Really, they do.)

Publisher's summary:
Rats. They're everywhere: in the breadbins, dancing across tabletops, stealing pies from under the cooks' noses. So what does every town need? A good Piper to lure them away.

That's where Maurice comes in. But he's only a cat (even if one that talks), so although he has the ideas, he needs rats and someone to play the pipe. Who better than the kid to play the pipe? And Dangerous Beans. And Peaches. And Hamnpork (who doesn't really like what's been happening since The Change, all a rat leader really needs is to be big and stroppy, thinking is just not his thing). And Darktan. And Sardines. And all the others in the Clan.

Then they arrive in Bad Blintz, which is suffering from a plague of rats, and find there are NO rats anywhere (though the two resident rat catchers seem to have plenty of tails to show, at 50 pence per tail).

Someone else has had ideas, and Maurice is not pleased.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
from amazon.com, click here: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Fiction. Paperback from Bantam books. Published in 1998. From my brother's library.

I am glad that I read Three Men in A Boat before reading this book. It helped me understand many of the references to Jerome's book that I would have not understood otherwise. Not that the book would not have been enjoyable if I had not. Certainly a good read.

Publisher's summary:
From Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpredictable world of mystery, love, and time travel...

Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest. He's been shuttling between the 21st century and the 1940s searching for a Victorian atrocity called the bishop's bird stump. It's part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in a Nazi air raid over a hundred years earlier.

But then Verity Kindle, a fellow time traveler, inadvertently brings back something from the past. Now Ned must jump back to the Victorian era to help Verity put things right--not only to save the project but to prevent altering history itself.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: To Say Nothing of the Dog
from amazon.com, click here: To Say Nothing of the Dog

Reading, but not blogging....

Apologies for the profusion of posts that will be coming today and in the next couple of days. I've been reading very regularly, but have not gotten around to posting. I'm going to try and catch up today and will post a couple of them today and perhaps space the rest out over the next few days.

Happy reading to all!

You can make some, too.

Three Men in A Boat: To Say Nothing of The Dog! by Jerome K. Jerome

Classic Fiction. Paperback from Penguin Books. First published in 1889. Purchased at Methven's in Windsor.

A side benefit of living in the UK for several years has been the ability to bring first hand knowledge of the area to the British books I read. These "Three Men in A Boat" are going down the Thames river, which is right by where we lived. The book even mentions a stop in Datchet. The two hotels mentioned in Datchet, the Stag and the Manor hotel are both still there, though the Stag is just a pub now. It is amazing to me that places mentioned in a book 116 years ago are still there. I've noticed that Datchet shows up in books with more frequency than I would have expected. In Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell Jonathan Strange crosses the Thames at Datchet when he is going to Windsor Castle. And that is just two books I've read recently. Anyway, I've digressed, but mainly wanted to say that I've enjoyed having Datchet (and other UK places I'm familiar with) show up in the books I read. I haven't really had that experience much before.

My sister-in-law Cindy recommended this book to me, and I read it part of the way through while we were in England, only to loose in in a pile of books somewhere and end up not finishing it. My friend Mark, on seeing a comment I made about Three Men in A Boat in my now defunct Datchet blog, recommended a book by Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog. It sounded good to me and I made a note to keep my eyes open for a copy. On our recent trip to Texas we picked up my brother's 1000 book library to bring home. (He died last September.) As I was packing the books up, there was the Connie Willis book! I kept it out and plan to read it next. I figured however, that I should actually complete the reading of Three Men in A Boat before I read To Say Nothing of the Dog.

As to Three Men in A Boat, it certainly confirms that human nature has changed little in the past 100 years. The book really doesn't have much of a plot, it just these fellows and a dog boating down the Thames. As they encounter different things the narrator of the story remembers incidences from the past and does a bit of moralizing about things as well. He makes some very astute observations, ranging from the affects of having too many things to the foolishness of making plans using the weather report as a guide. I was especially tickled by his comments about tow lines; how they tangle themselves up when no one is looking. I know this to be very true of almost any long string like item. (iPod headphones and extension cords come to mind.)

Publisher's summary:
"Change of scene, and absence of the necessity for thought, will restore the mental equilibrium"

It would be unfair to say that any of the three men were hypochondriacs: it was simply that they suffered from a constant malaise, consisting of every symptom but housemaid's knee. The only cure for it was a revitalizing river trip in an open boat.

Bearing frying pans, elusive toothbrushes, pies, lemonade and whisky, for medicinal purposes only, the three men and Montmorency the dog (whose ambition in life is to get in the way) embark on their hilarious adventures on the Thames. After considerable enjoyment and irritation -- getting lost in the maze, arguing with some quarrelsome swans, falling in the river -- the three men decide that being out of a boat seems a more inviting alternative.

Despite being over a century old, its sparkling insights into human -- and canine -- nature ensure that Three Men in a Boat is as fresh and invigorating today as when it was first published.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog
from amazon.com, click here: Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog

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Lost in A Good Book by Jasper Fforde

Fiction. Audiobook from HighBridge Audio. Published in 2003. Purchased at Audible.com

The second in the series.

Publisher's summary:
The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Jasper Fforde’s magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of Jurisfiction—the police force inside books. She is apprenticed to the man-hating Miss Havisham from Dickens’s Great Expectations, who grudgingly shows Thursday the ropes. And she gains just enough skill to get herself in a real mess entering the pages of Poe’s "The Raven." What she really wants is to get Landen back. But this latest mission is not without further complications. Along with jumping into the works of Kafka and Austen, and even Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Lost in a Good Book
from amazon.com, click here: Lost in a Good Book

Audible has launched an online store for the UK. Click on the logo to visit their newest store.

Leaving Ruin by Jeff Berryman

Christian-Fiction. Paperback from New Leaf Books. Published in 2002. Purchased from Amazon.com

I know! An actual book rather than an audiobook. Audiobooks have fit a little bit better with all the things I need to get done as of late. But, this one I read a little bit at a time before bed. It took me a while to get through it.

The book seems at times to be a bit preachy/syrupy in places, but towards the end I stopped noticing it. So it either got past that or I got used to it. There are some good insights to be found buried in this novel, and some very astute observations about the nature of the church.

Publisher's summary:
Loreen is her name -- the gnarly old woman in the angel costume who accosts Cyrus Manning near the dance floor of the Down Under. A gift is coming, she tells him. "The gift is to die for".

For 11 years, cyrus has pastored First Church of Ruin, a town deep in the barrens of West Texas. His life, much like the surrounding plains, looks bleak -- strained relationships at home, ineffective ministry, and a congregation that no longer wants him. Hoping t hear a word from God, he gets little more than the occasional headache and the silence of a near-dead wind.

The arrival of a former lover, the death of a dear friend, and a blatantly rejected prayer increases Cyrus' inner pressure, and the call of missed lives become palpable. Loping toward the unknown, Cyrus faces roads filled with fevered dreams, wandering messiahs, and the occasional rare gift -- remember Loreen, the prophesy -- and he is horrified and amazed to discover that his life may not turn out at all like he'd planned.

In this richly-textured novel, the world of the small-town church is revealed -- its natural wonders, its natural cruelities and, here and there, breathtaking moments of unnatural grace.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Leaving Ruin
from amazon.com, click here: Leaving Ruin

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Fiction. Audiobook from HighBridge Audio. Published in 2002. Purchased at Audible.com

Once when I was visiting in Austin, my Mom and I went to a Terry Pratchett book signing. While standing around afterwards waiting to get a copy of Monstrous Regiment signed for my brother, we started chatting with a fellow who was there for the signing, too. He recommended Jasper Fforde to me, and I wrote down a couple of the titles that he mentioned. Eventually I ran across the books and read them from the library in Windsor. Recently while perusing Audible looking for something to listen to on our trip to the Alabama Gulf Coast, I found Jasper Fforde and decided that I would enjoy rereading them by listening to them this time.

I've really enjoyed how the author brings classic fiction characters to life and mixes them with a slightly twisted version of our world.

Publisher's summary:
Great Britain, circa 1985: time travel is routine, cloning is a reality, and literature is taken very, very seriously. Baconians are trying to convince the world that Francis Bacon really wrote Shakespeare, there are riots between the Surrealists and Impressionists, and thousands of men are named John Milton, an homage to the real Milton and a very confusing situation for the police. Amidst all this, Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man In the World, steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, who then disappears from every volume of the novel ever printed! But that's just a prelude. Hades' real target is the beloved Jane Eyre, and it's not long before he plucks her from the pages of Bronte's novel. Enter Thursday Next. She's the Special Operative's renowned literary detective, and she drives a Porsche. With the help of her uncle Mycroft's Prose Portal, Thursday enters the novel to rescue Jane Eyre from this heinous act of literary homicide. It's tricky business, all these interlopers running about Thornfield, and deceptions run rampant as their paths cross with Jane, Rochester, and Miss Fairfax. Can Thursday save Jane Eyre and Bronte's masterpiece? And what of the Crimean War? Will it ever end? And what about those annoying black holes that pop up now and again, sucking things into time-space voids

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next)
from amazon.com, click here: The Eyre Affair

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Suzanna Clarke

Fiction. Audiobook from Audio Renaissance. Published in 2004. Purchased on Audible.com.

This was a long book. But, I picked it in part because it was a long book, so that is not a complaint. Some of the reviews on Audible thought the book was a bit rambling, and I think that might be a valid complaint, but I think listening to the rambling might be easier than reading it. The only complaint I had about the recording was that there were so many footnotes and the narrator did not indicate when the footnote was over and he was going back to the text. It was a bit confusing at times.

I enjoyed the story, and liked the fictional world of this book. If you don't mind sticking with a book for a while, I'd recommend it.

Publisher's summary:
English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory.

But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr. Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French.

All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative, the very opposite of Mr. Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr. Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Mr. Norrell, their power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both England and Faerie, and the most legendary magician of all. Eventually Strange's heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens to destroy not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear.

Sophisticated, witty, and ingeniously convincing, Susanna Clarke's magisterial novel weaves magic into a flawlessly detailed vision of historical England. She has created a world so thoroughly enchanting that 32 hours leave readers longing for more.

To buy from amazon.co.uk, click here: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
from amazon.com, click here: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell