Monday, August 20, 2007

What I'm Reading Lately

Up to this point, I haven't been very interested in the Harry Potter series by J.Rowling. But with the completion of the last book, year 7, I thought I'd read the entire set over the summer vacation. I wanted to see how the author and her characters have progressed from book to book. I've just finished books 1 through 5 and am working on book 6. By far, I felt that 5 was the best so far; deep, integrated, complex and satisfying, with a embedded critique of facist government in response to outside threats. As Harry has matured, so has the books, with book 1 quite the child-like romp through the magical wizarding world. Book 6 is promising to be even better; I like the message that permeates the books that adults don't have all the answers and have their own mix of good and bad motivations as well as times when they are simply stumped.