Harry Potter

I am an unabashedly enthusiastic Harry Potter fan. In May I decided to read the series for a third time in anticipation of the final film, coming out July 15^th. I figured I should give myself seven weeks to complete the task: one week for each book, knowing some I would finish sooner and others would take a bit more time. I underestimated myself though, and finished the seventh book a mere 29 days after having begun the first. This is a pretty clear indication of their engrossing nature.

I did not jump on the Harry Potter bandwagon right away. I am wary of bandwagons in general and tend to reject anything associated with a particular following to avoid unwanted judgment. However, there comes a point when one has avoided something long enough. I gradually came to the understanding that anything with a bandwagon and groupies must be at least somewhat entertaining if it has so many dedicated followers. I decided to give these movements a try before I get the reputation for being a trend-aversive hater.

Thus began the love affair. I can’t imagine why anyone would reject the opportunity to fall into a deep state of joyful glee when faced with books about a fantastic world of wizards, witches, centaurs, elves, and mail delivered by snowy owls. This is a place full of people just like us who experience the same emotions and challenges, but exist in a world where gardens have to be de-gnomed, dishes will do themselves with enough coaxing, goblins run the economy, sports are played on brooms…in the air, and when you turn eleven, you go to Ollivander’s to get your first wand.

What further compels me to go back and re-read the stories are their universal age-appeal. While they are written at progressively higher levels (an eleven-year-old who begins the series may get quite bored as the themes intensify and the characters progress through adolescence), each age group will find something to appreciate. Older children will enjoy the first couple books, as the themes are serious but not overwhelming. However, as the story progresses, the themes intensify and it becomes clear that childhood has been left behind. How often can a young person grow up with a set of classmates in a book from age 10 through high school? I’m so excited to read the series again with nieces, nephews, and my own children. Think of the new perspectives! The renewed delight!

Furthermore, the virtues of loyalty, deep love, and honoring the value in all creatures that the series is built around are universally appreciated. The moral of the broader story is that with enough courage, love can best evil. This is a tall order; I’ve seen love fail. But if we compel ourselves to focus our energies on respecting the value in all things, then I imagine many troubles could be remedied without anger, hurtful words, or unpardonable shaming.

If you haven’t given the books a try, please give yourself the opportunity. Don’t reject fantasy outright and don’t hate on people who find pleasure in something as innocent and positive as a set of lovely books. Get over your fear of nonsense and understand that there is so much about our lives on this planet that already doesn’t make sense. Miscarriage, for instance, doesn’t make sense. Just because we’re used to it doesn’t mean it is logical. Magic, therefore, isn’t so absurd: even before I read the books, I longed for an accio charm to telekinetically summon things to me; in my laziness it just made sense.

Harry Potter haters can file their emotions under “Unappreciative Cynic,” “Imagination Deficiency,” or “Bezoar-Hearted Nincompoop.” This is one bandwagon worth joining.

Why friends help strengthen a marriage

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304490004576422323560214658.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Three and a half million words later...

Last night I finished book 10 of 10 in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Have you ever had a friend recommend a great book, only to learn that it is part of a larger series? It's nice to be hooked on a series, but I didn't realize the three year ride I was in for with this one. It is best described as an epic science fiction/fantasy series spun out of a role playing game.

Three years ago, I started "Gardens of the Moon." It was a paperback, and only a few hundred pages. Not too intimidating. The first five books each focus on a single conflict that is resolved by the end of the book. In the last five, the story is leading up to a final conflict in book 10 "The Crippled God". The author also increases the length of the books to roughly 1000 pages each. I read the first seven one right after another. The next three were published one year at a time. If I were to read these again, it would be all 10 in a row to keep up with the most complex plot and set of characters I've ever seen in a book series. Take a look at this list of Dramatis Personae to see what I mean.

It wasn't part of an official book club, but I read the first seven books at the same time as two friends. This kept me on my toes since they had read it previously and would quiz me on things from the books. One of my main questions throughout was why the author called the series "A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen." The Malazan army is one of the main sets of characters, but not the only one of importance. Finally, in book 10 I found a passage with an explanation. "In that Malazan Book of the Fallen, the historians will write of our suffering, and they will speak of it as the suffering of those who served the Crippled God. As something...fitting. And for our seeming fanaticism they will dismiss all that we were, and thing only of what we achieved. Or failed to achieve. And in so doing, they will miss the whole point." Later on in the book, the Adjunct (leader) of the army talks about being "unwitnessed." Her point was that for the most part, individuals of an army aren't called out in the history books, just the final win or loss outcome. In this series, we see the detailed lives of many soldiers and citizens during their military conflicts.

The overall tone of the series is very serious, and can be a downer with so much of the focus on war and death. However, the author let's his sense of humor through in several ways. One way is in the character names and how they reflect the nature of the character. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Lady Envy and her sister Lady Spite
• Mudslinger
• Sweetest Sufferance
• Rumjugs and Sweetlard
• Vastly Blank

As the last point I want to make, the author is very descriptive and I learned a few new words along the way. Here are several that kept coming up during the series:

• Gelid - very cold, icy.
• Lambent - glowing, gleaming, flickering. As in "the lambent eyes of the tiger god of war"
• Hoary - gray or white as with old age. One of the favorite curses in the book was "Hood's hoary balls." Hood was the god of death.

Go the F*ck to Sleep

A fun bedtime story for parents

The joys of garage sales

One of the best parts of summer is garage sales. It's like a treasure hunt for books! A city wide garage sale took place in my neighborhood last week. Here's a snapshot of my finds:

• The "501 Cocktail" book is for a friend.
• The "Poisonwood Bible" comes highly recommended from Angela. I enjoyed "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by the same author, so it will be great to read more of her work.
• The soup book will come in handy as the farmer's markets kick off this summer.
• "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" will be useful at work as we review training and technical content for grammar.
• The Garage Sale and Flea Market handbook is for my mom. Turns out she has a cookie jar worth $200 - $275!
• The Cupcake book is for myself, and has already yielded this fun treat:

What's your zombie plan?

Do you have a zombie plan? Do you need one? Look no further than this post for some fresh ideas. In honor of our book club's one year anniversary, we chose to read Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (PPZ for short for the rest of this post; thanks Linz). The plot is still based on Jane Austen's original, with the twist of a strange plague that grips England and spawns the unmentionables (aka zombies). The Bennett sisters have now been trained in the deadly arts. Our first book was Pride & Prejudice, so why not?

Here are my favorite passages from PPZ, including one of the several illustrations. Be sure to take notes for your zombie plan :)

"Elizabeth accepted their company, and they set off together, armed only with their ankle daggers. Muskets and Katana swords were a more effective means of protecting one's self, but they were considered unladylike; and, having no saddle in which to conceal them, the three sisters yielded to modesty." p 27

In regards to a marriage proposal from Mr. Collins, Lizzy sets out to be clear in her refusal: "You forget, sir, that I am a student of Shaolin! Master of the seven-starred fist! I am perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not make me happy and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world how could make you so. Nay, were your friend Lady Catherine to know me, I am persuaded she would find me in every respect ill qualified for the situation, for I am a warrior, sir, and shall be until my last breath is offered to God." p86.

Later in the book, Lizzy is preparing to leave Rosings, and Lady Catherine insists on an escort: "You must send one of my ninjas with them. You know I always speak my mind, and I cannot bear the idea of two young women travelling by themselves. Young women should always be properly guarded and attended, unless they are that rare sort of lady, like myself, who has been trained by the most respected masters in Japan - not by those appalling Chinese peasants." p168

Lizzy and Mr. Darcy still overcome their pride and prejudice and find love. The following passage and illustration describe the scene. "As they made for the house, Elizabeth and Darcy happened upon a herd of unmentionables which had quartered itself in a garden not ten yards from the road. The creatures were biting into ripe heads of cauliflower, which they had mistaken for stray brains. Elizabeth and Darcy laughed at the sight, and for a moment, resolved to keep walking - as the zombies had failed to take notice of them. But, sharing a glance and a smile, the pair realized they had stumbled onto their first opportunity to fight side by side. And so they did." p 302



Perhaps my favorite line is when Lizzy explains to Jane when she first fell in love with Darcy. The new Lizzy seems a little more human to me. "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing the way his trousers clung to those most English parts." p 305


If Pride and Prejudice and Zombies didn't give you enough ideas for your zombie plan, rest assured, here are some more resources:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an extensive list.

In addition to a list for zombie planning, they give ideas for more common disaster preparedness plans. Sorry, the safety and health professional in me couldn't resist giving some common sense tips.

One other resource for zombie planning comes from the Rooster Teeth clan. This group takes live game play from the Halo video game and makes cartoons. In one episode, the Red and Blue teams are at another round of capture the flag and zombie planning is part of the theme. It's only 3 minutes long, but worth the time for more priceless zombie planning tips.

Portland Oregon's Local Bookstore: Powell's

I recently spent several days in Portland, Oregon for a work conference. I had the opportunity to explore the downtown area between classes and activities.

The lobby of the Hotel Monaco where I stayed had a lovely seating area where I was able to spend time reading the local newspaper and getting ready for the day. The area reminded me of the inside of Jeannie's bottle in "I Dream of Jeannie."


Hotel Monaco lobby

I had two sightseeing goals while visiting Portland. The first was to visit Powell's bookstore. Powell's City of Books is the largest of its kind in the world. The original store is around 68,000 square feet. It takes up several adjacent buildings in downtown Portland. I spent a few hours getting lost in the nine color-coded rooms, which contained 3,500 sections of books.




My second goal was to visit Voodoo Donuts. This really has nothing to do with reading, but who could pass up a Triple Chocolate Penetration donut? It was well worth the one hour walk and one must have goals in life.

The Bible in 90 Days

My pastor is doing a Bible challenge this summer: 12 pages a day for 90 days. He is going to use his blog to process and share his experience. I think, whether one is religious or not, it would be a neat thing to do: to explore the culture, history, and spiritual significance this one set of books carries for so many people globally.

I think I'll try to squeeze it in between my Harry Potter Challenge: 7 books in 45 days in anticipation of the last film. That's not a conflict of interest when one studies the Bible is it?

Remember to visit your local book store!

This is just a reminder to visit your local bookstore the next time you would like to make a purchase.

What?! You don't know where there is one near you?!

http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder

Go exploring with REAL bookworms!!

Pride & Prejudice...& Zombies

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith is a parody of the classic love story that goes to lengths to make it both humorous and palatable for new audiences, unaccustomed to the sometimes wordiness of older writing styles by infusing the text with references of flesh-eating zombies, crane kicks, and ladies who would just as soon eat the still-beating heart of their social enemies than be dishonored by their impudence. Suffice it to say, it is an accurate depiction of what life in early nineteenth-century England might have been like during an apocalypse of the undead, had you been privy to the society of a group of His Majesty’s best-trained zombie hunters, who also happened to be totally consumed with things like social graces, bonnets, and the merits of chasing sexy militia tail.

Haha, I’m so funny. To be honest though, I had a hard time taking this book seriously, which was probably the point. Literature should be fun and it should reflect the tastes of the day and I have absolutely no qualms in taking liberties with classics in an effort to spread their appeal, this book just didn’t appeal to me in particular. I’m not interested in zombies, vampires, werewolves, etc… I just don’t care. Give me wizards, hobbits, and elves any day, but keep your undead, your cursed, and your gratuitous violence.

One of the redeeming qualities of PPZ (Lindsay’s acronym) is that my husband enjoyed it. We had a couple road trips this month when I regaled him with stories of Elizabeth cleaning house with Lady Catherine’s ninjas and I caught a chuckle here and there. I asked for a zombie tutorial from him and was surprised to learn how little there was to zombie-lore: they have a virus, they don’t feel pain, they eat brains. That’s pretty much it. Not a particularly deep mythology I guess.

I did some of my own fact-finding (thank you Wikipedia) and learned that the myth comes variously form Haitian Vodou, New Orleans Voodoo, West African Vodun, and Hollywood. Of course. Hollywood would blend ancient religious practices and modern warfare and come up with “Resident Evil,” well done western culture. Really, brav-o.