The Books I Read - Just for Fun - July of 2022

Started 7/22                                                                Finished 7/27
Woohoo! I’m caught up! Book 3 is the best one so far. J.K. is a master of mixing the back story of Voldemort and Harry’s parents with what’s going on with Harry today. The tension keeps rising until the very last chapter. That’s when J.K. brings it quickly to a satisfying ending. WOW!

I also noticed some lines in the last chapter that I loved. That I had to share with you . . . 

1. “It didn’t make any difference,” said Harry bitterly. “Pettigrew got away.”  
                     It’s easy to blame ourselves about the choices we make, but, if you wait long enough, you can find your silver lining.

2. “Didn’t make any difference?” said Dumbledore quietly. “It made all the difference in the world, Harry. You helped uncover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate.”
                       This silver lining wasn’t what Harry wanted. But sometimes we get what we need, not what we want.

3. "You did a very noble thing, in saving Pettigrew’s life . . . Pettigrew owes his life to you. You have sent Voldemort a deputy who is in your debt. When one wizard saves another wizard’s life, it creates a certain bond between them . . . and I’m much mistaken if Voldemort wants his servant in the debt of Harry Potter.”
                    It’s true, whenever someone does a good deed for me, I remember it, and I work to pay it back, sooner or later.

4. “You think the dead we have loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night.”
                     My favorite line of all time, that love never dies. That our loved ones are alive in us. We just need to look for them.

5. “I know,” sighed Hermione, “but I can’t stand another year like this one. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I’ve handed it in. Without Muggle Studies and Divination, I’ll be able to have a normal schedule again.”
                  I love this reference to time. You never have enough, ever! When Hermione gets a time-turner, it’s too much, even for her. She stretched herself too thin, and there’s always a consequence for that. My best advice, do what you can in a day. That’s the easy part. The hard part – to be happy with it.

Amazon’s Description:
Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go.'

When the Knight Bus crashes through the darkness and screeches to a halt in front of him, it's the start of another far from ordinary year at Hogwarts for Harry Potter. Sirius Black, escaped mass-murderer and follower of Lord Voldemort, is on the run - and they say he is coming after Harry. In his first ever Divination class, Professor Trelawney sees an omen of death in Harry's tea leaves... But perhaps most terrifying of all are the Dementors patrolling the school grounds, with their soul-sucking kiss...

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Started 7/19                                                                Finished 7/22
I read this one in three days, WOW! It was almost like the good old days when I could read a Harry Potter book in one day.

In Book 2, J.K begins to reveal some of the secrets from the back story, like what happened the last time the Chamber was opened. She strings the clues out like gingerbread crumbs. They lead to the treasure – the truth about the Chamber of Secrets, Hagrid, and the Heir to Slytherin. It’s a great story, and J.K. is a master of raising the tension, then delivering a satisfying ending.

This time a quote from the last chapter caught my attention. Harry was worried when the Sorting Hat saw him in Slytherin. Harry said no, but he’s still worried that’s where he belongs, not in Gryffindor. When he asks, here’s Dumbledore’s answer . . .

- “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Choices matter, even if we get them wrong. I believe if you do something for the right reasons, even if it turns out wrong, it’s OK. We can learn and grow from it. We’re WIP’s . . . Works in Progress . . . Working to become the best we can be.

PS- I prefer the old covers. Harry looked younger, nerdier, more like a real boy. This one just looks wrong with a flying car that’s only in two scenes.

Amazon’s Description:
Harry Potter's summer has included the worst birthday ever, doomy warnings from a house-elf called Dobby, and rescue from the Dursleys by his friend Ron Weasley in a magical flying car! Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, Harry hears strange whispers echo through empty corridors - and then the attacks start. Students are found as though turned to stone... Dobby's sinister predictions seem to be coming true.

Having become classics of our time, the Harry Potter eBooks never fail to bring comfort and escapism. With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new readers.

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Started 7/12                                                  Finished 7/19
I used to read Harry Potter books in one day, but that was when I was still teaching, and it was the beginning of summer vacation. Now that I’m writing full-time, it took me a week, and that’s about right.

This time, I read The Sorcerer’s Stone as a writer. It’s the beginning of a series, but it leaves room for its sequels. The first couple chapters are so sharp, the way she set them up. Then I remembered . . . she couldn’t have done that the first time. She did multiple revisions, until she got it right. J.K. is brilliant!

I also noticed some lines in the last chapter that I wanted to remember. That I wanted to share with you . . . 
1. “. . . To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”
                      I’ve always viewed it that way. Maybe that’s why I’m not afraid of it, yet.

2. “Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.”
                      I believe in facing fears head-on. It’s much better than dancing around them.

3. “The truth . . . It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.”
               It took me a LONG time to understand this. Sometimes things should be left unsaid, until the right moment.

4. “Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign . . . to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin.” 
           It’s my favorite quote! Love is stronger than hate. It’s stronger than death, and I’m glad J.K. reminded me how important love is.

5. “There are all kinds of courage . . . It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”
            I'm glad J.K. recognized Neville’s brand of courage, and that his points put Gryffindor over the top for the house cup. Not Harry’s or Hermione’s or Ron’s. It was the perfect idea!

Amazon’s Description:
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

Having become classics of our time, the Harry Potter eBooks never fail to bring comfort and escapism. With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new readers.

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Started 7/11                                                           Finished 7/11
I finished another book on the 11th,  on the way home. Then I started and finished this one, TWICE, before we arrived. It’s full of VERY short stories! Each one is told by one of Henry’s queens from their point of view, during their last days as queen. Or, of life. Each is historical fiction, but they fit the history I know of the time period, and the stories told in Alison Weir’s series, ‘Six Tudor Queens.’
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The first three stories are part historical fiction, but they also include the words of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, and Jane Seymour. They’re short passages that are footnoted in the back. Proof that Catherine, Anne, and Jane really said, or wrote them.

The last three don’t include the words of Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, or Catherine Parr, but they match the history and take it one step further . . . to let you peek into their minds, and their feelings.

I wish you could pick up this book, but it’s no longer available, not even on Amazon. It’s too bad – it’s short and well-written. Two things that are VERY hard to do.

​Amazon’s Description:
There has been much written of Henry VIII of England, everyone knows of his struggle for a male heir, his divorces, the beheadings, his quest for marital happiness. The motives for his actions have been examined and re-examined, and his wives have been the subject of countless romantic novels, films and television.

In this pamphlet of VERY short fictional stories Judith Arnopp considers the position of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr to consider, through their own eyes, the emotional effects of life with Henry and the traumatic ending to each marriage. You can read more about Henry's queens in Judith's full length novels. The Winchester Goose, The Kiss of the Concubine, Intractable Heart and A Song of Sixpence.

PLEASE NOTE: this is a revised edition of VERY short stories. Judith Arnopp graduated from the University of Wales, Lampeter in 2007 having gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Creative Writing and a Master of Art’s degree in Medieval Studies. She now combines those skills to write historical novels, reflecting the medieval period as experienced by women.

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Started 7/11                                                                                                                                Stopped 7/12
I started to read this one, but I stopped when I wrote about ‘Many Waters.’ I discovered I’d read and written about it in April of 2021. If you’d like to read what I thought, click on this link. It’s done in short stories from the Tower of London. Some you’ve heard. Others you haven’t. Intrigued? Click on this link: Rinda Beach - Blog - Rinda Beach

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Started 7/1                                                            Finished 7/11
I thought this was book 4 from the Wrinkle in Time series when I ordered it, but the Amazon description listed it as book 2. Go figure! Now I understand why Meg’s brothers are much younger in Many Waters.

Whichever number, I loved this story! Imagine checking your dad’s computer. Then traveling back in time to meet Noah, his ark, the Seraphim, and Nephilim. BTW, they’re the good and bad angels in the Bible. I checked! Add in the time/space continuum and quantum physics, and you’ve got a story of epic proportions!

Here are my two favorite quotes from Many Waters.
- “When there is an unreconciled quarrel, everyone suffers.”
- “Do not seek to comprehend. All shall be well. Wait. Patience. Wait. You do not always have to do something. 
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Amazon’s Description:  In A Wrinkle in Time Quintet book two, Meg Murry, now in college, time travels with her twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys, to a desert oasis that is embroiled in war.

Sandy and Dennys have always been the normal, run-of-the-mill ones in the extraordinary Murry family. They garden, make an occasional A in school, and play baseball. Nothing especially interesting has happened to the twins until they accidentally interrupt their father's experiment.

Then the two boys are thrown across time and space. They find themselves alone in the desert, where, if they believe in unicorns, they can find unicorns, and whether they believe or not, mammoths and manticores will find them.

The twins are rescued by Japheth, a man from the nearby oasis, but before he can bring them to safety, Dennys gets lost. Each boy is quickly embroiled in the conflicts of this time and place, whose populations includes winged seraphim, a few stray mythic beasts, perilous and beautiful nephilim, and small, long-lived humans who consider Sandy and Dennys giants. The boys find they have more to do in the oasis than simply getting themselves home--they have to reunite an estranged father and son, but it won't be easy, especially when the son is named Noah and he's about to start building a boat in the desert.

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