Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: a brief review

taken from harrypottershop.com

Well folks, it's been a short while since I've been on this thing. Newborns take up a lot of time and - even more so - mental energy. Yep that's right: our beautiful baby girl was born October 4 at about 11 pm after an extremely long day (full and probably way too long birth story coming very soon). Blogging hasn't been high on the priority list these last couple weeks, and neither has reading. I did manage to pick away at good ol' HP #2 in between feedings and naps, though, and it seems that a couple pages at a time does eventually equal an entire book, and I finally finished it yesterday.

Harry goes back to Hogwarts for his second year, despite the warnings of a tiny house elf that appears at Harry's aunt and uncle's house telling him not to. It soon becomes obvious that maybe the strange elf was onto something, though, when Harry starts hearing threatening voices in his head and when classmates start falling victim to some unseen monster haunting the hallways. Harry, Ron, and Hermione dive into trying to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets, the fabled source of the school's monster.

I enjoyed this book, just like I enjoyed the first one, but I will say that I found it to be a little bit more flat. Maybe it was just how little I was able to read at a time, but the plot felt a little simplistic and slow to me. And in the end - I'll try not to give any spoilers - Harry's interactions with who ended up being the bad guy were not even close to scary or even intimidating. I felt like that scene was a chance for J.K. to continue to set a foundation for why this bad guy is terrifying and enduring and super crafty and instead it all came off seeming like a bad joke. Granted...I am a grown woman reading these books for the first time instead of a small child. So maybe I'm being a little harsh. Regardless of the less than scary bad guy, though, I'm still interested in the series and continuing to find out about Harry and all his future adventures. He really does seem to be quite the helpful little guy, doesn't he?

Sunrise Maternity Shoot

A couple months ago I asked a friend of ours if she would be willing to take some pictures for us in the delivery room, and she offered to throw a maternity shoot into the package as well. It wasn't really something that I had thought to ask for or pursue, but after seeing these pictures I'm so happy she suggested it. The babe and I are far from models, and including our dogs was only sometimes successful, but they turned out so great anyway. I think that more than anything, it got us even more excited to meet our son or daughter (as if that were possible). I'll spare you from having to read too many words this post and just let the pictures do the talking. And soon enough, I'll have pictures of a real live baby to show you.

Aren't they fantastic? I have so many favorites I can't even pick. We are so happy with how the pictures came out, and it was so much fun to take them. Our sweet friend Debralee did such a great job, and I've already started playing around with a Shutterfly album for Baby (yes...she sent me the pictures last night and I had them in an album layout within a matter of hours). Can't wait to see them in the album, can't wait to see the rest of the pictures we plan on bugging Debralee to take for us, and can't wait to someday show Baby what a great job she did capturing all the moments.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: a brief review

Well folks, it has finally happened. When I finished the last book I read, Labor Day, I looked at my 2014 reading goals and saw that I was still pretty behind on my 94-book challenge reading. So I took a gander at my bookshelves and young Harry Potter jumped out at me. Having the Harry Potter series on my 94-book list for the last year has felt a little bit like Mitch Hedburg trying to decide whether he should put a beret on in the morning: is today the time? Is this the day when I finally jump in and join the ranks of many who have gone before me and experienced what I haven't? Well last week was that time. I started reading Harry Potter, ya'll.

I'll spare you a lengthy plot summary, but here's the basic premise: 11-year-old Harry has been living with his awful aunt, uncle, and cousin for the majority of his life since his parents died tragically. A strange giant man shows up one night, though, with some interesting information for young Harry that changes his life. Harry's parents did not die in a car accident all those years ago but instead at the hands of an evil wizard who may or may not still be roaming the countryside...and Harry is also a wizard destined for an education at the prestigious Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry follows his new friend Hagrid (who is really just the best, isn't he?) to Hogwarts, where he spends his first year making wonderful new friends, annoying new enemies, and solving a mystery or two.

I realize I'm just shy of ten years too late and pretty much everyone knows this already, but this book is good. It's real good. It's an introduction, and it has the unfortunate task of laying the foundation of the plot for the entire series, but it's still good. J.K. Rowling does such a great job introducing all the characters, describing the school, and even providing one heck of a surprise ending. I legitimately enjoyed this book, even knowing that it was really just the introduction and that all the really good stuff was to come. I should also do my due diligence and mention that, as a huge Percy Jackson fan, there's a whole lot of the first Percy book that sounds just like this first Harry Potter book. Like...a lot. And even though I read Percy first, I acknowledge that Harry came much, much sooner. And therefore wins. Shame on you, Rick Riordan.

The one bummer in all of this, though, is that part of why I chose good ol' Harry to start reading is because I had only read 12 out of the 20 books I'd wanted to read this year on my 94-book list, and I figured knocking 7 out back to back would be helpful. But then I remembered, when I was about halfway through Sorcerer's Stone, that I only actually own the first three books in the series. Only the first three books are on my 94-book list, guys. What a bummer. But three is better than none, and the other four will bump me over my non-94-book list goal, so I guess it all works out. (Might all be irrelevant anyway, since who on earth knows whether I'll pick up a book the rest of the year after Baby is born...).