September Status Report

September was a good month full of good books. I'm making excellent progress. I've got my books mapped out for the rest of the year and the remainder of this project. Can't believe I'm actually on target to complete a New Year's resolution. Go me!

BOOK 73: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: Harry Potter is back at Hogwarts, where a mysterious beast is attacking students. It's up to Harry to solve the dangerous mystery, and to find a missing friend.

I love the themes in this book: Friendship, love, loyalty and courage. Then there's Dumbledore's sage words near the end about how it's not our abilities that make us who we are, but our choices. What wonderful sentiments for any child, whether age 10 or 1o0.

I also appreciate how Rowling doesn't dwell on the gruesome. The scene where Harry battles the basalisk is less than a page long, and doesn't go into too much gory detail. It's nice when an author leaves some of the action sequences to the reader's imagination instead of spelling everything out.

BOOK 72: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility. But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger.

This is such an imaginative book, and whenever I read it, I feel the wonder of being a kid again. Rowling has crafted a magical world, full of lively characters who are memorable yet realistic. It's every kid's dream to find a place they really belong...and to find out that you have secret magical powers doesn't hurt the dream either.

I've read this before, but I find myself coming back to Harry, Hermione and Ron time and again in my mind. It was time to return to them on the page. I've actually convinced my husband to read them along with me. He has refused to read them in the past, dismissing them as "children's books" and unsuitable for his adult life. He's in for a wonderful surprise.

BOOK 71: 39 Clues: One False Note, by Gordon Korman

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: The search for the 39 Clues finds Amy and Dan in Vienna, and they hold a coded piece of Mozart's sheet music that's key to finding the next Clue. But tailed by a pack of power-hungry relatives, Amy and Dan can't see if they are sailing toward victory -- or straight into a deadly trap.

Book 2 in the 39 Clues series is educational, funny and action-packed. What's not to love? And this book is all about Mozart, music and Venice. More love.

BOOK 70: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: Narrated by Death, this is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out an existence for herself when she discovers something she can't resist -- books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book burnings, the mayor's library and more.

This book came highly recommended to me, and I'm glad I read it. It was an interesting tale about a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany and the unexpected places she finds love. But most of all, it was about the power of the written word. -- from Hitler's use of words for evil to Liesel's use of words for good.

So why only 4 stars? I had to dock it for vulgarity! This is a young adult novel, yet practically every-other page had a swear word or derrogotory term, or it took the Lord's name in vain. So frustrating. I also wasn't wild about the author's device of having Death narrate the story. It seemed contrived in many instances, and impeded the flow of the story in others. Still, it was an interesting tale.

BOOK 69: Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: Winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fictuion, this collection unerringly charts the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyond the barriers of nations and generations.

This is an interesting collection of short stories written about Indian immigrants to America, or second-generation Indian-Americans. But I wouldn't say that the stories were much about immigrants, or Indians, or anything cultural. Rather, they were about universal feelings, emotions, relationships...with a bit of culture mixed in for context.

All of the stories were incredibly well-written and a literary pleasure to read. But some of the tales themselves were hit-and-miss. For instance, I didn't particularly care for the title story, "Interpreter of Maladies" (a disappointment because I love that title!). But most of the others were poignant and insightful looks into every-day relationships. Among my favorite tales were "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," "This Blessed House" and "The Third and Final Continent." These weren't sensational, gripping tales. But quiet truths plainly illustrated.

BOOK 68: The Mouse and the Motorcycle, by Beverly Cleary

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: Ralph the mouse ventures out of the wall of his hotel-room home and climbs aboard the toy motorcycle left there by a young guest. He and the motorcycle take a terrible fall. Luckily, Keith, the owner of the motorcycle rescues Ralph and teaches him how to ride the bike. Thus begins a great friendship and many awesome adventures.

This is such a fun book. I read it to my 6-year-old daughter and she was giggling along at the funny parts and chewing her nails nervously at the suspenseful parts. She'd beg me to read more after each chapter -- and even snuck off with it to sneak a peak ahead on her own -- so to me, that's a winner.

I was impressed with the vocabulary in this book. It's recommended for ages 8-12, but there were plenty of big, grown-up words in here. My daughter would frequently stop me to ask what words meant, trying to pronounce them herself, and she really enjoyed the decoding process. The Mouse and the Motorcycle is entertaining and educational. I'm glad it wasn't dumbed down.

I remember reading this book when I was younger and loving it. But then, I loved practically everything by Beverly Cleary. Perhaps I need to get my daughter started on Ramona...

BOOK 67: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: The success of the rebellion hinges on Kantiss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put away her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockinjay -- no matter the personal cost.

This was a heart-pounding conclusion to the Hunger Games series. I started and finished it all in one day because I simply couldn't stand to put it down not knowing how it ended.

I was, of course, saddened by how some things turned out, but others, particularly the love triangle were handled perfectly. Well, not fairy-tale perfectly, but exactly how I thought it should turn out, and I appreciated the way Collins tied it up without resorting to killing one of them off. Though, I'll admit, with the other big characters she killed off, I started to wonder near the end if she would kill Katniss off herself!

Now I'm dying to go back and read them again. But I think I'll have to wait a bit for my blood pressure to come back down. Seriously, these were intense. Good intense.

BOOK 66: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: Seemingly as different from one another as can be, three women will come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

This is a book set in the 1960s in Jackson, Miss. It details the lives and trials of black housekeepers in white houses. Very eye opening. Made me laugh, made me cry, made me feel like I was in the same room with these characters.

The woman essentially raise the children of people who hate them because of their race, and the children in turn grow up to share their parents feelings. Such a sad cycle. But an empowering story about three women who decide it's time to share their story.

I realized yesterday that I had 4 days to read this 450 page book before it was due back at the library. I finished in in 2 days. I just couldn't put it down.