The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I read this in High School last, I believed that I loved it more than all the other Shakespeare plays combined, and it still holds a ton of charm for me now, although not quite as much as before.

For one, the thief was slightly more annoying than a charming plot device.

For another, it's hard to believe that even divorce could be so reconciled. :)

Granted, this is an almost magical divorce, so why not ramp up the reconciliation to wipe away the tragedy of a child's death, the loss of the newborn as well, the wrongful accusation and downfall of a true wife, and his betrayal of his loyal servant JUST BECAUSE he's been regretting all his actions for 20 years?

It's a very strong story if we're meant to feel pity for the old man. He regains everything except his eldest child because he was sincere in his remorse. It's damn beautiful, even, but in the end it's pure fantasy.

This was written at the end of Shakespeare's career and it was possibly meant to be his own expression of remorse. It fits the narrative, anyway, in the same way that Mozart wrote his own Requiem.

However, from an alternative reading of the text, I can't help but hate the blasé disregard for Hermione, the way she quietly retired away out of anyone's company for 20 years after the events (or she really did die and come back as a reanimated statue, which is slightly more palatable because at least she wouldn't have been so bored or lonely,) or the way that the rest of the world could even ALLOW THESE EVENTS TO HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE.

*groan*

Look. I'm just upset at the state of the world here. I suppose Shakespeare is upset about it as well. After all, he focuses the second act entirely upon letting young people choose who they want to love and paint all other choices as tyrannical, and Perdita herself certainly knows her own mind, so it's not all black-and-white in the play. Her mother also knew her own mind when she used her wits to do as her husband bade, too, but we all know how that turned out.

Double-standards and insane jealousy seems to be the name of the game for us all, no? *sigh*

Still, it's undeniably a brilliant play. :)

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Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What began as a literary treasure hunt flirtation between a couple of cute kids quickly became...

A truly delightful and innocent romance. :)



Believe me, no one is more shocked than me how much I fell into and loved this little book. I mean, it wasn't just the literary side or the well-spoken Snarl or the impulsive Lily. It was the entire shape of the novel with all of the normal conventions: the shy flirtations, the near misses, the almost-meetings, and then, most dangerously, the other boys and girls. It was all delightful and sooooo innocent. :) Even the Crimson Alert and the Sweaty Santa, it evokes a different sensation in adults, still managed to come across as INNOCENT on the page.

And I liked it. I really really liked it.

It's like opening a door to an alternate dimension and discovering that everything is gentle and loyal and honorable and smart. *shiver* It's so odd! And pretty! :)

And of course, the writing is also quite beautiful, too. And charming. :)

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We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm jumping on the Bobwagon here!

I love the light tone throughout and the geek humor mostly relegated to names one AI clone gives to oneself when faced with a profundity of oneself. Riker? Number 2. Of course. But the rest is just a fantastic ride of popular references and snark, right, Admiral Akbar?

Seriously, that was just one of the coolest things in the novel... but the next runner-up has got to be the effortless way we start colonizing the galaxy with each replicant, going back to Earth, exploring the star systems, finding aliens, and of course fighting one little pernicious Brazilian who is racing Bob among the stars and who happens to be a rather dedicated idiot.

Oh, humanity is practically wiped out. At least he still has his mission! Sheesh.

While this is a light book, it's full of great voice and activity and comradeship between oneself. :) Truly surprising just how much we can argue with ourself when we have a whole universe to grow within. I'm trying to find fault with Arthur, but I just can't.

This is delicious SF fun and I have to say it's totally accessible for anyone. It may be appreciated more by geeks, however. :)



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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a wonderful ride this has been. A long-overdue re-read was just what I needed.

I can step back from the hoopla and step back from the movies and really get into all the Grindelwald passages and connect the dots with Dumbledore. Best friends, no? One creates the wizarding war and sends his wizard troops out to conquer based on a young Dumbledore's words, only to end in a duel that leaves Dumbledore with the Elder Wand that was in his friend's hands for so many years. Of course, we get to skip the first one that ended in the death of Dumbledore's sister, but who knows, we will probably be seeing no only Dumbledore but perhaps some Pensives. :)

Such delicious stories to pick up soon with the sequels to Fantastic Beasts, no? Especially since we get such a nice close-up of our favorite villain!

Just what is the connection between the Obscurials and the Deatheaters, anyway? Oddly suspicious, no? And Ariana Dumbledore? I really need to know how Grindelwald's darkness leads to the informing of Voldemort's powers. :)


Okay! Maybe I really ought to talk about the book? I liked it better this time than the first time. A lot. It helps to have EXPLANATIONS over the movies, no matter how pretty all the action scenes are. :) It sounds like a recurring theme, no? Well, there are things that books do so much better than any other medium, and when it comes to UNDERSTANDING, it's peerless.

I didn't nearly get so annoyed at the absolutely nothing happening sections in the tale, either, unlike in the movie, because I was actually invested in all those little side characters this time. I wanted to know what was on the radio. It's kinda odd, no? The worst parts the first time around turn out to be some of the best if you CARE. :) Well, this time, I did, and I guess that's what makes a fanboy. Or a Potterhead. No?





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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Buddy Re-Read continues!

I read this last almost the day after it originally came out and was amazed at the big reveals... Guess who Dies and guess who the Prince is! ... but more than that, I was pretty blah and then very enthused as we learned more and more and more and more about Mr. Riddle as Harry kept sticking his head under water. It was a hate/love relationship for me. I wanted to know about our big bad. I really did. And then I also wanted to just get over all the cleverly-installed flashbacks and get on with the freaking story.

That was before the movie.

And so the movie came out and I was all like... Where is all the backstory for Voldemort? This is hardly anything! This is just a brief little taste! How are we supposed to feel the deep revulsion AND pity for the man if we can't get more screen time for him??? And so I fell BACK on the bandwagon for all those pretty flashbacks.

Ah, the trials and tribulations of a fanboy.

This is like knowing Frank Herbert's Dune inside and out and then watching the Lynch mindf*** and spending more than 3/4 of the movie filling in all the details that are left unsaid in the film that make the story deeper and more amazing than the acid trip that I was watching.

Okay. Maybe the HP6 film wasn't QUITE that bad and there were a lot of brilliant moments that were visual and direct link-ups to the main plot in the HP7 movies, so continuity was preserved very well. Still, the lack of time with Snape's younger cursecrafting self and the lack of all the mystery subplot with Dumbledore, himself, made the end events kind of rushed and confusing within the movie.

Not so at all within the book.

The book was a real page-turner for me. Again. I love in-depth reasons. A lot. :)


Still a great book! :)



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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! I can tell you that on a re-read, this story really stands out as both a very dark turn and a wonderfully complex story.

Why is my memory so poor, you ask? Because while I remember it being this good when I first read it, I've only had the altered perceptions of the movie to go by ever since! And that is a MISTAKE.

I should have known. Short movies like that can't do real justice to heavy, heavy tomes like this novel. :)

Notably missing: the TWINS! Sure, they get their big time to shine in the movie, but they don't get the backstory of where they got their money or the sheer amount of legwork and field-testing for their jokes right on Hogwarts' grounds. So delicious!

Also missing: an actually delightful Dobby. I can't believe how much knitting Hermione went through on her quest to free all the house elves and only Dobby was willing to take her clothing, all to save her feelings. How Sweet!

Also missing: long explanations and carefully constructed dream-plots and traps that make complete sense unlike that mess we saw in the movie that just kinda slaps us in a direction and lets us be surprised... Hey! Look where we are, and we're fighting! Sheesh.

All I can say is, "Bravo, Volemort! Yours was actually a pretty good plan even if you're missing a certain piece of intelligence."

All told, I can honestly say that I liked this one better than all the rest up to this point. There's not so much flash and dash as all the rest, except with the blowout battle with the Deatheaters and Voldemort and Dumbledore at the end, but there is way more than enough conflict and rising tension for three lesser books. We all know this is a dark story with Dolores.

What fantastic fun!

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Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fairly satisfying conclusion to the Regency Romance Magical series by Kowal.

It wraps up the series with a birth. It's the logical focus after what happened earlier in the series and the tragedy of losing a child while on the run and using glamour. Everyone knows that Glamour can make an expectant mother to lose their child, after all. It had nothing to do with being chased by Napoleon. *looks askance*

The other nice part of this novel was the plot of Vincent's father's death and the death of Vincent's older brother and the inheritance of a slave plantation. It's nothing he ever wanted and his relationship with his family had always been extremely poor, but even that gets resolved well here.

I have to say that even though the subject of slavery and interbreeding to control a whole people and the horrible conditions makes me think the book should be darker than it is... but no, the book is still rather lightweight. That's fine because it's the tone throughout the series regardless of the events. It's a romance, after all. Bad things happen, the good people come out on top. Our hero and heroine are both remarkably steadfast and capable even though I'm meant to believe that they're either ill or incapable or at other times as traitors or being poverty-stricken.

It still feels like light fare. Not that it's a bad thing, of course, but I tend to categorize such novels as popcorn. :) I'm glad I got to read the whole thing. I'm looking forward to reading completely different styles from Kowal!


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