Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third installment of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. It is a page turner as Rowling keeps the story going tirelessly. 

Harry learns how to create a 'patronus' from Professor Lupin which combats the frightening dementors who love nothing more than to suck out every last ounce of a person's soul and happiness. When in trouble, Harry conjures a powerful patronus to scatter a host of dementors.

Quidditch is the sport of choice at Hogwarts and Harry helps the Gryffindor team to victory. He also learns more about his family history, discovering who are enemies and who are friends to him.

Dumbledore sets the rules of Hogwarts and also relaxes them when the breaking of the rules (almost always by Harry, Ron and Hermione) are put into context by the Professor's sagacity. As always, Dumbledore steals the show at the end with his words of wisdom:

"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? . . . So you did see your father last night, Harry . . . you found him inside yourself."

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The second of J. K. Rowling's fantastic works, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is just as good a read as the first. She picks up from the first novel and continues the story, building on Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Gryffindor and Slytherin, and all of the other fascinating aspects of Hogwarts.

Though but little is written about Albus Dumbledore, the Principal of Hogwarts, he seems to be the calming influence of the story, a thoughtful character whose wise words inspire those who hear them despite the drama that unfolds around the school.

Near the end of this book, Dumbledore remarks, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Jules Verne provides a great adventure

It was way back in 1864 that Jules Verne's "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth" was published and made available for public reading. At almost 150 years old, this work has stood the test of time and continues to charm its readers, particularly me!

Professor Hardwigg and his nephew Harry, accompanied by an Icelandic guide, Hans, descend into the crater of Mount Sneffels where the real journey begins. An intriguing tale of survival and discovery ensues. 

This book is written from the point of view of Harry and mixes great fiction with scientific fact and a whole barrel of thrilling discovery, which even in this year of 2013, still resonates as remarkable.

I have several more chapters to finish this delightful novel!

Teaser Tuesday (Oct 2nd)

Hi all, it's Teaser Tuesday again, which is hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along - just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) lists if they like your teasers!

My Tuesday Teaser:

"Egwene's hands trembled as Moiraine laid the stone on her fingertips. She started to pull back, but the Aes Sedai held both her hands in one of hers and gently touched the other to the side of Egwene's head."

The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan

Share your teaser with me in a comment, or leave the link to your teaser!

I do love a juicy conspiracy

Dan Brown could be labelled as a revolutionary writer as he magically creates masterpieces from very real settings mingled with a real scientific phenomenon and fictitious characters and plots. Due to this merging of reality and story, one eventually loses track of the hazy line which separates fact from fiction. And this is no mistake by Brown. Critics have attempted to identify errors in his writing and story lines, but I think they are missing the best part of his work - the fascination of conspiracy theories - something which has been forced upon the world today to the point of obsession, and the split in opinion they cause.

For example, one may read "The Da Vinci Code" and be extremely offended, or another may get through it and profess the best read of their lives, stimulating pondering about things they hadn't considered before. You either love Dan Brown or you find you have no time for his wild, page-turning thrills.

The most shocking example of how we believe in and conjure up conspiracies is shown in the aftermath of the alarming events of 9/11. Were the planes really filled with passengers? Were terrorists really able to get through American security and onto those planes? How did one of the alleged terrorist's passport turn up unharmed under all the rubble of the World Trade Centre (WTC)? Was the way the WTC towers fell, the result of a plane flying into it? Or did it look rather suspiciously like a controlled explosion? Could America, the self-proclaimed most powerful country in the world, really not possess sufficient intelligence to know of the coming attacks, or even the ability to scramble in reinforcements before it was tragically too late?

Either there was something fishy going on, or all of these circumstantial events came together in one terrible, against-the-odds coincidence. Once a conspiracy starts it's rather difficult to ever stop it, its assumptions, and quite possibly, its false claims.

Dan Brown reflects the world's suspicious attitude with conspiracies of his own, leaving us wondering what the truth really is. "The Da Vinci Code" has the on-running saga of Opus Dei, a branch of the Catholic Church, and their efforts to kill off the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ. In "Angels and Demons" the Illuminati, a secret cult, seek to bring down the Vatican. In "The Lost Symbol" what eventually turns out to be Peter Solomon's own son, seeks to kill his father.

As with all of Brown's works, it's up to the reader to pick out the genuine facts, and generally, to just enjoy the fiction!