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

This is the second installment of the illustrated Harry Potter books. I love reading these books with my 7-year old son. They have just enough illustrations to keep him interested from page to page, especially since this is an unabridged version of the books. There are even a few extras, like this page:

Not only is it relevant to the story, but it offers a little bit of extra information for those who can't get enough of the wizarding world.

In this story, we meet new characters like Gilderoy Lockhart, the charming, narcisistic new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. We also get to know new places, like the whimsical Burrow, where the Weasleys call home. And there are new spells and potions to learn, central of which is the polyjuice potion, which can temporarily turn you into someone else. Of course, we also get more history into Hogwarts and the Dark Lord himself, which is so important for the books to follow.

I could read the Harry Potter books over and over, and I will definitely reach for these illustrated books for my re-reads. They are every bit as beautiful as the stories they depict, and a great addition to your library.

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Susan Orlean, is a woman of many hats. She is a staff writer for the New Yorker and author of many books and articles, including The Orchid Thief. Apparently she is also a con artist, because she somehow convinced me to continue reading this book about libraries to the last page. In the same vein, The Library Book just might cross as many genres as hats worn by Susan.

First The Library Book is non-fiction. Orlean educates us about libraries in general - including their history and function in society. Then she focuses on the Los Angeles central library, which had a colorful history, to say the least.

In focusing on the Los Angeles Library, the book becomes part biography, as Orlean details the eccentric City Librarian, Charles Fletcher Lummis. Although Lummis headed the library for a relatively short time, his antics preceded him. Initially coming to Los Angeles to work for the Los Angeles Times, Lumis decided the best way to get there from his home in Cincinnati was to walk. Of course he had to inform the public of his "tramp across the continent" via weekly published letters of the same name. His world explorations included exploring Mayan ruins in Guatamala, which he claims led to a temporary bout of blindness. He also lived with Native Americans for several years, leading to a passion for these peoples and their well-being. Although he didn't have any experience working in a library, he was the Los Angeles City Librarian for a handful of years at the turn of the 20th century.

Also somewhere in this book is a bit of true crime, as Orlean describes the 1986 fire that took more than 350 firefighters over 7 hours to fight the 2,000 plus degree blaze. Hundreds of thousands of books were destroyed and the library remained closed for 7 years. As Orlean delves into the investigation - was it arson? Or accidental? she details the prime (and only) suspect, Harry Peak.

And if that weren't enough, The Library Book is also part study in sociology. I found her discussion of libraries as havens for people, particularly the homeless, interesting. I also liked how she detailed librarians as an early form of google search, where patrons would call in with their most pressing questions, you know, things like which was more evil, crickets or grasshoppers? And her descriptions of the various collections of things, not just books, that libraries hold, was eye opening.

This is one of those books that might not sound interesting, but if you're a generally curious person and like to learn the background stories behind things, it's great. It's one of those that you kinda have to trust based on a review, because who really would think a book about libraries would be interesting?

Magic Treehouse #1, #9, #10, and #17

These are short, easy to read fantasy novels for children about a brother and sister who can travel anywhere a book is set via their magic treehouse. There is a little bit of subplot connecting one book to another (specifically the first 28 - yes you read that correctly - involve the Morgan LeFay missions where the mystical Morgan tasks the siblings with various errands). But my 7-year old son and I skipped books and found them readable without much confusion. Here's a summary of the books we've read:

Book 1: Dinosaurs Before Dark
Jack and Annie find said tree house of magic filled with books. Jack picks up a book about dinosaurs and inadvertently utters the magic wishing words. They are promptly whisked away to dinosaur times and have a brief adventure. On a side note, Annie is a little annoying - even taking her age into consideration.

Book 9: Dolphins at Daybreak
Something about dolphins, the ocean, and being in one of those really small claustrophobia inducing underwater vehicles. Overall take home? Annie's borderline pathologically dangerous behavior surprisingly hasn't killed her or Jack.

Book 10: Ghost Town at Sundown
Jack and Annie are taken to the old west, where they meet a man who needs their help. I don't remember whose idea it was to go with him, but based on her track record for making reckless decisions, it was probably Annie's (girl wouldn't last a day on her own outside of fantasy lands). She's lucky the cowboy didn't have nefarious intentions.

Book 17: Tonight on the Titanic
I take my hat off to Mary for taking on the Titanic in a children's book right in the middle of it sinking. And to make matters worse, she throws a puppy in the mix. I was horrified reading this. Jack and Annie really shouldn't have made it out of that one.









I suppose these are good chapter books for young readers. I'd recommend them more for kids to read themselves, rather than being read to, as the simple dialogue and sentence structure (and Annie) can make for an annoying read. I'm not sure the top age group for these books, but it seems older kids beyond about 3rd grade would out grow them.

The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

This was a book that my third grade teacher read to our class every day after we got in from lunch. I remember how we listened to my teacher's every word about Omri, a boy who is gifted a magical medicine cabinet that brings plastic toys to life. We couldn't wait until the next day to realize the resolution of each chapter's cliffhanger.

So it seemed a great choice to read to my 7 year old son. But would a second reading, more than 30 years later, hold up to the test of time?  I had my doubts, which began with the title of the book. Could this foreshadow greater problems to come? Against my better judgment, I decided to find out.

While my son seemed interested in the story, there were some cringey moments that maybe I was sensitive to, but hopefully were lost on him.  There were references to injuns and talk of scalpings and firewater, stereotypical stuff. And the way Little Bear spoke in broken English didn't help either. And besides all of that, Omri's friend Patrick was a terrible person. I quietly seethed through most parts of the book involving him.

So are we going to read the second book in the series? I don't think so. And while I don't think my 3rd grade psyche was damaged in any way by the first reading, I feel the book, like those memories, belongs back in the 80's.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

It's been a year since I've completed a book (not including ones I've read with my 7-year old). An embarassingly adult book-free year. I've started a few, but either wasn't interested enough to finish them (I'm looking at you Crazy Rich Asians), or, really, just not interested enough to start any new ones either.

But I'm happy to announce my dry spell is over and Lock Every Door is the book to quench my thirst. This is the third book by Author Riley Sager, which is a pseudonym for journalist Todd Ritter.

On a side note, while not an entirely new phenomenon (as it's not uncommon with romance novelists apparently), in an article for the Atlantic, Sophie Gilbert explores the relatively increasing number of men using female or androgynous pseudonyms in the thriller novel genre. The Guardian also has an article about this for the curious, which also delves into the apparent phenomenon of the appeal of violent books to women.

But it makes me wonder if I would have even noticed if the book said Todd Ritter instead of Riley Sager, or if Gone Girl would have been just as popular if it had a male author attached to it? Would a reading of Lock Every Door be different for me if I scrutinized the female protagonist's perspective, knowing it's written by a man?

In all honestly, though, I didn't notice. Which I guess is what Sager wants, right? At least I didn't have any of those eye-rolling moments like I did while reading Michael Bussi's book. That man is seriously obsessed with boobs.

But back to Lock Every Door, which was an easy and quick read. And, while I'm not sure it's going to be the best book I read this year, I'm intrigued enough that I'd check out his other books. 

His story is a modern mystery about Jules who is down on her luck and looking for something to jump start her stalled life. When a paid apartment sitter job in a historic, posh, New York building opens up, it seems too good to be true. But newly jobless, boyfriendless, and basically homeless, Jules makes the obvious choice. What follows is part mystery, part thriller, and part suspense as we follow Jules' journey to understand if the Barthalomew is truly infamous or unfairly suffers from a bad reputation.

While I guessed one twist, the book ended up turning well beyond that. Ultimately, I was satisfied with the ending, as well as the book's execution. It was a good choice to pull me out of my shell and get me reading again.

If you like the book, Paramount TV has put Lock Every Door into development. I could see this going either way, we'll have to see.

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

Can you believe the first Harry Potter book is 21 years old?!? Harry would be in his 30's by now! Hagrid would be in his 80's! A baby could have been born when the first book came out and be able to drink today! I'm amazed at how timeless and magical the books still are. And even after my having read this one 3 times and seen the movie, there are still little treasures here and there that I discover each time.

I love Rowling's characters, the world she's created, and the little life lessons peppered throughout. This book is different from the others in that we don't have a full appreciation of all the characters. Dumbledore is really absent throughout the book, more than my memory let on. And for more than half of the book, Hermione was more of an annoyance to Harry and Ron than a confidante. They don't really become close until more than halfway through the book, when a troll brokers their friendship (and we aren't talking about the trolls that roam the internets nowadays). In many ways, things were definitely in their infancy here.

This, my third reading, was devoted to my six-year old son. He's a bit green for the book (in his ability to pay attention long enough, as well as to fully appreciate a lot of the details), but I couldn't wait to expose him to this beautiful world. We spent a looooong time reading through this book, a chapter here and there, not necessarily on consecutive nights. But we got through it.




If I had any doubts that my son was too small to listen to this story, they were quickly allayed after we read chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised. Harry becomes transfixed with a mirror that shows you your heart's greatest desire, obsessively sitting in front of it nightly for hours, as it shows him his parents, long dead. I asked my son what he would see if he sat in front of the mirror and he said "I would see my great grandma, because she only got to see me when I was a baby."

Are you hearing this?!? Melted my effing heart.





The themes Rowling weave through her writing, of family, belonging, good and evil, loyalty, bravery....I could go on and on...are so deftly handled in such creative and fun ways. I am a proud Potterhead to be sure.

Another bonus with this reading is that we read the illustrated version, which is what the pictures in this post are from. It's an over-sized, unabridged hard cover version with beautiful drawings to accompany the text. If you read the book and don't think it could get any better, pick up this version and relive it all over again.

The Exorcism of Sara May by Joe Hart

Ugh. I almost don't want to review this book because the cover image is so creepy. Christian me is clutching my holy pearls at the obviously satanic image on my blog and wondering if it will somehow infiltrate my life through my Chromebook.

But I already read the book so I guess any potential damage has been done. But STILL. Her eyes...blech!

I decided to give this one a go, despite the obvious danger to my soul, because I had read (and liked) another Hart novella, "And the Sea Called her Name."

Much like the last book, Hart creates a creepy setting, but this time it's in the 1930's in Rath, Minnesota. We've got a small dusty town, where all the kids attend school in a single schoolhouse, and farming is the livelihood of many. We hear the story as a retelling from a man who was in love with Sara May, seventy years ago. As a teen boy, Lane's simplest pleasure was getting a Coke at the local store. Things started to get more exciting for him when the father of his crush hired him and a friend to clear some land for planting. But Lane's life was complicated by sinister events that, at first, he wondered if he was just imagining. But when people around him also started experiencing strange things, it was only a matter of time before Lane found himself participating in an exorcism.

What I like about this book is the mood Hart is able to create, and so quickly. I can richly imagine the setting, and there is an undertone to his writing that is just a little bit unsettling. Because this book is so short, the events that occur aren't too spread apart and it packs enough excitement and suspense to keep me reading, and wanting more.

And I'm confident my soul stayed intact after it all was over. Pretty sure at least...