The Big Bang Theory Overview

The Big Bang Theory, originally aired in September 2007 and now in it's sixth season, is one of my husband's and my favorite shows. My husband had previously seen bits of it before and I was introduced to the show while in Rhode Island for our wedding. It became a hit with us and when we moved back to California we got the show from the library. Bored with waiting for various seasons to slowly make their way to us, my husband strategically purchased seasons one through five on DVD for our own home use. We watch it very frequently, often bounces between the seasons at random, and picking from our favorite and least favorite episodes.

The show centers around the activities, misadventures and day-to-day life of Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz, Rajesh Koothrappali, and Penny. Later added into the series as regulars are Amy Farrah Fowler as Sheldon's "girlfriend," and Bernadette Rostenkowski who dated and later married Howard. Each character, even the supporting characters of Kripke, Leslie Winkle and Stuart, are very well defined and easily distinguished from each other {which is a good thing if my family ever watches this show}. The show also has a visual appeal, with the characters dressed in bright colors tastefully grouped together, and everything overall looks clean in the show.

Anyway, Sheldon provides most of the shows' comic relief {though, since its a comedy show, everyone is comic relief}. Sheldon is a science prodigy who went to college when he was eleven, started his graduate studies at fourteen and earned his Ph.D at sixteen. He grew up in East Texas in a Christian environment. While his childhood is ideal compared to Leonard's, Sheldon often complains about having had to suffer through Christmas and birthday celebrations, etc. He also has momentary flash-backs, most dramatically when it comes to fights. Like his friends, Sheldon was bullied growing up and has the fond habit of disappearing in the worlds of Star Wars, Star Trek, online video games, and such. He has many phobias that include no touching and a fear of germs, and many quirks that confuse his friends. For example, he organizes his breakfast cereal by fiber content, has labels on everything in the apartment, continually refers to the Roommate Agreement he made Leonard sign when he first moved in with Sheldon, and is picky about where he eats out. Sheldon also lives under the delusion that he is the reason why his friends all hang out with him in a group when really, they can hardly stand him for long periods of time. He is also bad at sarcasm, thinks his practical jokes are funny and is very dumb when it comes to everyday social situations. He has an older brother, an older twin sister {who appears on the show}, and his down-to-earth mother who is called by his friends in emergencies to "fix" Sheldon.

Leonard is originally from New Jersey {btw, the show takes place in Pasadena, California which is nowhere remotely near where I live} and earned his Ph.D at the age of twenty-four. He is an experimental physicist while Sheldon is a theoretical physicist. Leonard is Sheldon's roommate - a living situation that comes many laughs from the audience and a lot of friction, tension and mishaps on the part of the characters. He also works at the same university where Sheldon, Raj and Howard work, thus giving Leonard the wonderful responsibility of having to drive Sheldon to and from work - and everywhere else for that matter. While Leonard consistently puts his foot in his mouth and makes humorous mistakes when it comes to women, he shows himself to be a lovable {mostly} upright man. Throughout the course of the show, Leonard has gone out with Leslie Winkle, Raj's sister Priya, and has an on-again off-again relationship with Penny. Leonard is also the long-suffering member of the show and the peacemaker between Sheldon and, well, everyone else. He has an older brother and sister who don't come into the series, and his mother {who does come into the show occasionally} is a detached psychiatrist.

Penny comes from Nebraska and is something of a girly tomboy. She originally came to Pasadena in the hopes of becoming an actress; in the meantime she works as a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory and puts up with her crazy neighbors Leonard and Sheldon. While viewed as an odd outsider at first by Sheldon, Penny is now an ingrained member of their group. With no degree of any sort {she didn't even finish community college - the horror!}, Penny provides a balance to the group and has the everyday street-smarts, social skills and practical thinking that the guys lack in varying degrees. She began the series as rather sweet and gentle, progressing later on to a more comfortable relaxed personality. She and Sheldon constantly knock their heads together, but they have also teamed up to teach each useful skills and life-lessons. Penny has at least one brother and a nephew. Her father appeared in an episode and provided an interesting new parent dynamic to the show. He is, so far, the second father to appear on the show.

Howard is an engineer and boasts of his work going up on the space station. In the fifth season he himself goes up in space and orbits earth, finding himself homesick. He is Jewish and, despite being nearly thirty, lives with his mother still. She does his laundry, cuts up his meat and drives him to the dentist. They communicate mainly by yelling at each other from different rooms in their house. We never actually see his mother though. Howard considers himself a ladies' man {he isn't} and boasts of hook-ups that may or may not actually have happened, invents odd dating ideas and the most ridiculous pick-up lines. He began the series as a rather disgusting character in my opinion, but since his wife was introduced, he has mellowed out a little. As far as we the audience know, Howard doesn't have any siblings and his father abandoned his mother and him when he was a little boy.

Rajesh, or Raj as everyone calls him, is originally from India and is an astrophysicist. While he is often the brunt of rather racist jokes, he is the most optimistic of the group. However, he is extremely shy and unable to talk to women at all unless he's been drinking or under the delusion of having been drinking. A generally sweet lovable character, he can be kinda weird too from having spent too much of his time with his best friend Howard trying to pick up women. Several episodes of tension take place between Raj and Sheldon when Sheldon hires Raj in order to help his friend out and keep him in America when his job is in jeopardy. Having had crushes on each of his friends' girlfriends, Raj is still single and often becomes depressed because of it. Raj is also a bit more feminine than a guy normally should be, although he "is definitely not gay." He frequently Skypes with his parents in India who are very wealthy and loving but don't want him settling down with any American girls. He has five brothers and sisters; one of his sisters, Priya, is a lawyer and stays with him for awhile, dating Leonard while doing so.

The show is geared toward twenty-somethings and is very funny; it also has its drawbacks though. Howard's conversations are often disgusting and Raj, when drunk, can be just as bad. The characters have hook-ups, dates, breakups, relationships and sex with each other and other minor characters in the show, though nothing is showed and it's not at all graphic. Just lots of implications, suggestions, and innuendo, providing the show with enough cleanliness to make it work and just a pinch of dirty to keep things active and people on their toes. Some of the girls' dresses are also rather revealing. Religion is poked fun at, especially the Hindu beliefs, but it's not overly mocked. There isn't any foul language, which is a nice change for once. Very witty conversations and humor abound in this series. I don't recommend it for children, however; just older teens {eighteen and up} and the twenty-somethings it's intended for.

Victoria Rebels Book Review

Title: Victoria Rebels.

Author: Carolyn Meyer.

Genre: Historical Fiction, History, British History, Retelling, Humorous.

Plot: Using diary entries and letters as the inspiration and bases for her story, Carolyn Meyer weaves a wonderful fictional picture of England's "strong-willed and short-tempered Queen Victoria." The story begins when Victoria is eight years old and learns that her beloved older sister is being married off and shipped away to Germany in a few months' time. The two sisters are naturally brokenhearted over this unexpected turn of events but they maintain their affection for each other over the years that follow, with frequent letters and a few memorable visits. In the meantime, however, Victoria is left in the care of her rather controlling mother, her mother's even more controlling and unpleasant adviser Sir John Conroy, and Victoria's governess, Lehzen - whom Victoria affectionately calls Daisy and looks upon her as her mother.

As she grows up, Victoria learns valuable lessons about life, sounds out her friends and enemies, endures separations and changes she has no control over, learns to effectively fight her battles, and remains strong to the end. Once she finally comes of age and ascends the throne, she has triumphed over those who sought so hard and so long to control her life. But being queen - and an unmarried one at that - has it's drawbacks and unique challenges. She makes mistakes but she learns from them, and she becomes one of England's most famous and beloved queens.

Likes/Dislikes: This novel would fall into the category of "living history." With its roots in actual historic fact, the story moves and flows like a novel, blending the scenes and letting you immerse yourself in history without getting bored. Queen Victoria's reign was set during a pivotal point in history and is one of the most interesting periods in history. I've always wanted to know more about Queen Victoria and this novel is the perfect place to start. Very well written. The only thing I had against it was the family tree; it could have been done better, with all the cousins and such added on.

Rating: PG - 12 and up, mainly for reading level, and mildly suggested suggestive content. It'd go over the heads of most young people I think.

Date Report Written: February 2nd, 2013.

Taylor Swift: A Music Review

I've done a music review post once before, on Owl City's music, and since then I've toyed with the idea of doing another music post. I have a couple in mind, but for today I picked Taylor Swift. A lot of people don't like her and I can't quite figure that out, but my husband and I greatly enjoy her music.

Taylor Swift grew up in Pennsylvania and relocated to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of fourteen when her music career started to gather momentum. She became the youngest songwriter ever hired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing House and went onto set new records similar to this and win quite a collection of awards. Such as her third single, Our Song, making her the youngest person to write and perform her own number one song on a country chart, her record Fearless won four Grammy Awards and made her the youngest Album of the Year winner, her fourth record, Red, had U.S. opening sales of 1.2 million - the highest recorded in a decade and making her the only female artist with  two million plus opening weeks. Her singles,  We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together and I Knew You Were Trouble became worldwide hits. She's won six Grammy Awards, eleven American Music Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, six Academy of Country Music Awards, and thirteen BMI Awards. She's sold over 26 million albums and 75 million digital downloads. In addition to music, she's also begun expanding her talents and has appeared in an episode of CSI as well as the movies Valentine's Day {2010} and The Lorax {2012}. She also supports art education, children's literacy, natural disaster relief and charities for sick children. There's a whole lot more about her but I think you get the general drift; she's a very interesting person. To learn more about the artist herself, please check out Wikipedia where I got some of the above information and her own website.

Now, onto her music. Her debut album, Taylor Swift, was released in 2006 and quickly caught people's attention. Most of the songs on the album can be described as coming-of-age songs and were written when she was in middle school, coming to the realization that her pursuit of music was causing her peers to reject her, leaving her isolated and developing a keen observation of people. Thus explaining how she was able, at thirteen, to write about relationships without actually being in one. As is characteristic of Taylor Swift, she wrote the songs herself. The release of this album must surely have been a big deal for her, since she'd been trying for so long to achieve this accomplishment. In regards to the label rejections she'd put up with, she had this to say: "I can understand. They were afraid to put out a thirteen-year-old. They were afraid to put out a fourteen-year-old. Then they were afraid to put out a fifteen-year-old. Then they were nervous about putting out a sixteen-year-old. And I'm sure if I hadn't signed with Scott Borchetta [head of Big Machines Records], everybody would be afraid to put out a seventeen-year-old." The album contains fourteen songs, three of which are bonus tracks. The songs are Tim McGraw, Picture to Burn, Teardrops on my Guitar, A Place in this World, Cold as You, The Outside, Tied Together with a Smile, Stay Beautiful, Should've Said No, Mary's Song {Oh My My}, Our Song, I'm Only Me When I'm With You, Invisible, and A Perfectly Good Heart. While my husband has his own favorite songs from this particular album {he likes all of Taylor Swift's songs for the most part anyway}, none of them really captured my attention and held it like some of her other songs. They're still great to listen to and have as background music when I'm working on a novel.

Her second album, Fearless, was released in 2008 and this is really where my attention starts getting involved. Plus, this album contains a special personal tie to my life because one of the songs on it was mutually selected by my then-boyfriend as "our song" and has remained steadfastly "our song" through the last year and a half we've been a couple. This album became a chart-topper and the best seller for 2009, setting and breaking new records for the music community and sticking Swift quite firmly in the spotlight. The songs on the album are: Fearless, Fifteen, Love Story, Hey Stephen, White Horse, You Belong With Me, Breathe, Tell Me Why, You're Not Sorry, The Way I Loved You, Forever and Always, The Best Day, and Change. These songs also helped give the artist her reputation for break-up songs. While I personally don't care for the song Fifteen and Tell Me Why mysteriously disappeared from my computer's playlist, I do actually have a couple favorites from this album. The title song, Fearless, has an energy and visual quality to it that I quite like, particularly in the line: "I don't know why but with you, I'd dance in a storm in my best dress/fearless/." The imagery of storms is one of my favorite mental pictures - especially in my own writings. White Horse, You Belong With Me, Forever and Always, and Change are the remaining songs I enjoy from this album. But it's Love Story that I play over and over again, with fond and long-lasting memories, because it's "our song."

Swift's third album, Speak Now, was released in October 2010 and sold over one million copies in it's first week of U.S. release. In this album, Taylor branches out from country music and into more modern stuff, exploring and stretching her lyrical and musical talents. It also is a transitional album, leaving the Jr. High and high school themes behind and moving into more grown-up adult themes - all while somehow keeping her innocent view of the world in tact. This is probably my favorite of her albums. The songs are: Mine, Sparks Fly, Back to December, Speak Now, Dear John, The Story of Us, Never Grow Up, Enchanted, Better Than Revenge, Innocent, Haunted  Last Kiss, and Long Live. Personally, I didn't like Never Grow Up because I've spent the majority of my life trying to grow up as fast as possible, and Dear John also mysteriously disappeared from my computer. During our courtship and engagement, my husband and I {fortunately or unfortunately, we still aren't quite sure} were able to closely identify with many of the songs on this album, including Back to December and Last Kiss which became rather painful to listen to at one point. However, we also took encouragement from them, especially Mine and Long Live. My personal favorite of all the Taylor Swift songs {Love Story aside of course} is Sparks Fly and my husband and I are still continually enchanted by Enchanted.

Taylor Swift's fourth and latest album, Red, was released in October 2012 and quickly skyrocketed the sales. Her single, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together toppled iTunes charts all over the world and became a hit song. During a YouTube webchat {which my husband and I watched} in August 2012, Swift explained the meaning behind her album title: "All the different emotions that are written about on this album are all pretty much about the kind of tumultuous, crazy, insane, intense, semi-toxic relationships that I’ve experienced in the last two years. All those emotions — spanning from intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion, all of that — in my mind, all those emotions are red. You know, there’s nothing in between. There’s nothing beige about any of those feelings." While I have as yet to listen to the album in it's entirety {we're debating buying it at some point in time}, I have heard some of the songs {thank you YouTube!} but I'll get to those in a minute. The sixteen songs on the album are: State of Grace, Red, Treacherous, I Knew You Were Trouble, All Too Well, 22, I Almost Do, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Stay Stay Stay, The Last Time, Holy Ground, Sad Beautiful Tragic, The Lucky One, Everything Has Changed, Starlight, and Begin Again. Of these sixteen songs, I've heard the two hits I Knew You Were Trouble and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together in addition to Red, 22 and Begin Again. While the official music video for We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together {gosh, long title to type} had a lot of talking prior to the actual song, I did like the beat of it. 22, though, is probably my favorite of the songs thus far; it's fun and bouncy with a love of life that's comfortable and relaxed. I'm intrigued by the song Starlight; titles like that always catch my eye.

To wrap up this post, Taylor Swift's music, while in some respects probably similar to lots of other music out there, stands out in that it's innocent, clean and usually has a cheerful bounce to it. It's an enchanting thing to listen to but sometimes it's also great battle scene music and a wonderful brain teaser. Each of her songs has a personal connection and meaning to her, and a meaning to the words and the arrangement of the words. The story behind Enchanted is definitely one of my favorite behind-the-song stories. As for the artist herself; people come and go in this world. Idols rise and far, people make and break it all around us everyday. So, for now, she will stay as a favorite in my book, and I will continue to look forward to new songs from her. Pasted below are some YouTube videos of my favorite songs {I hope they can play for you}. Also, Taylor Swift released a line of perfume, named for her song Enchanted and it is actually enchanting, though expensive. My husband and I were able to try a free sample and I quite liked it.

Here is the YouTube video for Love Story.



And for Sparks Fly



And for Enchanted



As well as Eyes Open which is a single released with her Hunger Games song Safe and Sound

Deeds of the Disturber Quote

Hiya! I seem to be posting all outta order this week, with a surprise book review in the middle of the week instead of on Saturday and then a random post on Harry Potter yesterday rather than Thursday, and now this on Saturday instead of Wednesday. Ah well, maybe a little randomness will be good for my poor neglected blog.

Anyway, here is an interesting quote from the current book I'm reading, Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters. If you saw my post on books I want to read this year then you'll know all about this one. *winks*







"It is a man's world, Mrs. Emerson, and if a woman is to make her way, she must be as rude and aggressive as they are."

"Not at the risk of losing her femininity, Miss Minton. One may succeed in any profession and still remain a lady."

          ~ Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters.

Harry Potter: An Overview

When the first Harry Potter books came out, followed later by the series of movies, there was a lot of controversy about them. Homeschoolers and Christians particularly voiced their opinions of the series - and with good reason. To put it bluntly, the Harry Potter series focuses and revolves solely around a very dark form of magic. When you have people ripping their souls into seven pieces by killing other people so they can live forever {it all comes back to cheating death, doesn't it}, and spells that can be very nasty at times {and that's not even taking into account all the death spells flung around in the books}, you tend to want to tread cautiously when it comes to this series.

My family has always been wary of any and all forms of magic - even "white" or "good" magic. I can remember seeing a trailer for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, my siblings and I were convinced we wouldn't see it because it had magic in it and "magic is bad." Imagine our surprise when our mom said she wanted to see it. Later on, we kids loved all three LOTR movies and my mom didn't want to see them again. I think it was because of the orcs. Anyway, I spent my teen years joining my siblings in ridiculing Harry Potter and all the people who liked the series. We had a grand time doing that because we knew we'd never see the movies or read the books ourselves {they were bad, why would we even touch them?} and that we'd never meet any "Potterheads" so we were quite safe in our opinion. I had a few online friends who told me I should read the series just for the sake of its writing style. I smiled and bowed outta the conversation by changing it to something safer. And then I got married.

My new husband had read all the books and seen all the movies -except for the last one -, and he liked them - to a certain extent anyway. {He's also read Twilight - oh, the horror!} In his opinion {he took a Latin class, remember that please}, the magic words Harry uses to cast his spells are Latin. Say, if Harry wanted to start a fire, he'd simply wave his stick around and say the Latin word for fire. He explains it better than me. Anyway, he recommended I try out the books for the writing style as well. So, I went to the library and checked out Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone. First off, I wasn't all that impressed. Sorcerers are bad guys in most of the classic books I grew up with. That's a different blog post for a different time.

As I poked and picked my way through the three hundred plus pages of the rather worn book, I found myself rather enjoying it and curious
to find out what happened next. I was still firm in my belief that since it had magic in it, it was a bad book. But I was still intrigued and over the course of the following four to six months and one head-cold, I read six of the seven books, each becoming increasingly thick and boring.

What had attracted me, at first, to the series was the world building. The world building in the Harry Potter series is impressive. We've got a secret wizard community with a whole spin-off and definition to everything. We've got a mysterious spooky castle out in the enchanting countryside, surrounded with misty mountains and fields of flowers - oh wait, that's a different book. But you get the general drift. The author has an ability to transport you to a lovely wet rainy atmosphere with a busy energy to it. Nothing attracts a person like me more than a wet rainy atmosphere and nothing tickles my overactive brain like people {not me} running around prepping for examines and trying to find books, notepaper and such to get their homework done while wasting time talking about food, dealing with older twin brothers who play frequent pranks, and getting into trouble. In addition to all of that deliciousness, we get mouth watering snippets of humor thrown in, either via a particularly amusing sentence or at the characters' expense. Oh and did I mention that there are creatures in this series that we get introduced to during school hours and they may or may not be dangerous? Oh goody, this series is like candy to my brain!

Until the rest of it clicks in. First off, there's all the magic. It starts out as very simple and innocent. "Oh, let's fix your glasses, Harry, and then we can learn about how to make our pencils move across our desks without touching them. Isn't this fun? Yes, that match will burn you if you're not careful and yes, that stone does give someone everlasting life but you're not supposed to know that." As each book progresses and moves into the sequel, the magic steadily gets deeper, harder and darker. It got to the point where I didn't want to read the sixth book just cause of the magic. I was bored so I read it anyway; plus I was hoping it just might maybe get a little bit better but it didn't. When people start talking about, hinting at and finally telling you that certain characters can A. cheat death by doing this, mixing that and leaving behind them a print of themselves in the world {a.k.a. ghosts}, or B. can cheat death by killing someone else and ripping their soul into pieces, then hiding those pieces in heavily enchanted artifacts with lots of deadly spells as extra protection, or C. bonding two souls together so that neither one can die while the other lives - then you know you're into some very deep dangerous stuff.

Secondly, there's the character of Harry himself. While he may have suffered a great deal in his short lifetime, what with his parents being killed as a baby then living with his aunt and uncle who treat him kinda how Cinderella was treated, and then his godfather dying, that wizard dude dying, that other guy dying, and Harry himself dying {then coming back to life}, and breaking up with the love of his life {at the age of fifteen!} once he's finally figured out that's who she is. Look at the above list again. Don't you think that our precious Harry Potter is well, too tragic and too heartbroken and too deadly-accident-prone? Especially considering he's just a kid and usually ends up causing the accidents by not listening to anyone? Harry Potter's main problem, aside from complaining a bit too much {thankfully he isn't a girl; if he was then he'd be whining constantly}, is that he's too cocky, too risky. He receives a very clear instruction to not meddle or stay at home where it's safe or to leave something dangerous alone, and while he may think about the order off and on, he usually comes to the conclusion that because he's the Chosen One/survived all these attacks/knows better than the much older more experienced adults and guardians/that he alone understands the full impact or meaning of what's happening that he can go off and take on anyone and save the day. This more often than not lands him and his tag-along friends into very serious life-threatening danger that older people have to rescue him from. Of course, the problem is rather two-sided in that the authority figures don't instruction Harry better. If he does something wrong, rather than praising him for his coolness in surviving, apologizing for not having confided in him, or rewarding him for stupidly dragging so many people into danger, they should punish him. Granted, he does feel bad when he gets someone hurt or killed but he should fight his friends harder when they're begging to go with him and he's trying to ditch them. And he's stupid. He doesn't really grow in the series. He grows angrier  more vengeful toward Voldemort, more hateful of his teacher Snape, more distrustful of his headmaster; but he doesn't grow in a good way. He doesn't grow more patient, kind, understanding, forgiving or loving despite everything he's gone through, suffered, and two romantic relationships. He's a bland main character in my eyes.

Thirdly, I know villains are the bad guys and they're supposed to be bad. But Voldemort really seems to take the cake as far as bad guys goes. He's dark, very ugly and so lost. He has a very human {albeit, one I've never fully understood} desire to cheat death and live forever. But because of his background {this digs into family curses that last for generations which I'm too lazy to explain} and his interest in magic due to his "special abilities," Voldemort lets himself get sucked into a black hole of the worst kind of black magic. And he, the dummy that he is, thinks he's advanced the knowledge and use of magic for the greater good. As a character, he never has a chance to really change. We get introduced to his adolescent self in one of the books and he's already terrorizing the other children at the orphanage and stealing things. Moving onto killing people, ripping his soul, self-torture, threats, spells, leading a group of people called the Death eaters whom he's tricked or blackmailed into blindly following him, and overseeing/participating in mass killings of innocent people seems an easy step for him to make. And it's where I draw the line. Villains are bad, real life and fiction has already taught us that; but the Harry Potter series is in the juvenile section of my local library. Kids the age of ten, eleven, and twelve are reading these books. And I'm a twenty yr. old reading them for the first time and not liking what I see. Think about it; do you really want your kids, friends and siblings familiar with this creature of darkness who deals out death and destruction without a second glance and who desperately wants to kill Harry, a common teenager like everyday kids out there?

And fourthly, everything else. In this series you've got witches running around everywhere. Some are perceived as good witches, such as some of Harry's teachers. Others are perceived as bad witches, like the weird ones that hang around Voldemort. If you read the Bible and know it pretty well, then you know that God doesn't like witches and says to stay away from them. {Actually, He says to kill them.} Wizards are in a similar category. Then you've got mermaids that drown you and eat you, zombies that are dead bodies under the control of very strong wizards who are usually the bad ones {a group under Voldemort's command try to kill Harry and end up giving the poor kid nightmares}, very mean giants, werewolves - especially one in particular that targets children, these dark wreath things that suck the happiness out of people and kill them with broken hearts and soul-sucking kisses of death {that also goes a line and goes over into a very dark side of things that ya really don't want to mess with}, ghosts {some of whom are obviously bad}, and some pretty messed up people. While there is no rape, sexual assault or sexual anything in these books, they cross the line and dive headfirst into some very nasty dangerous stuff that, believe it or not, can be accessed in real life. That's one of the reasons why we're taught to stay away from it.

On a more positive note, I applaud the secondary characters. Harry's two best friends, literary through thick and thin, are Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Hermione is smart; always dashing away to the library to look stuff up and always worrying about school, her examines and books. With her bushy hair, she's quite the character. And despite way over-thinking things and saying rather stupid things or making social bumbles, she saves Harry and Ron a great many times, and is always counted on to be the voice of reason and common sense in the little group. She always tries her best to obey the rules and talk Harry outta doing something disobedient, stupid or dangerous though he rarely listens to her. A little bit annoying sometimes, but she means well and she's a wonderful girl. I especially like how she went from a very annoying stuck up kinda person to the more relaxed comfortable character that people can like and relate to.

Ron Weasley, with his genetic and characteristic red hair and adorable dumbness, is the comic relief for the group and the story. The tallest in the group, he isn't very bright and therefore copies Hermione's homework or gets her to help him out. He occasionally has bouts of objectivity to Harry's schemes but goes along with them most of the time for the sake of friendship, loyalty and adventure. Blown away by the fact that the famous Harry Potter is his friend, Ron is rather like a puppy begging for attention sometimes and I quite understand his feelings. The youngest son with five older brothers, Ron takes very good care of his only sister, Ginny, who is younger than him and often resents his care and protection - especially when it relates to boyfriends. Ginny herself is a wonderful character. First appearing in the background then taking center stage in the second book before retiring comfortably back to the edges, she's always there. Never a part of Harry's inner circle yet always hovering on the edges, aware of everything and keeping her eyes open. She's very sensible and down-to-earth which, in this particular series, is a rare and wonderful thing.

Neville Longbottom, a secondary character but so important in his own way, is probably one of my favorite characters in this tedious series. He's so forgetful, so innocent, so loyal and true, and such an honest clean comic relief. He takes things in stride so well, regardless of whether it was his fault or he'd forgotten something or almost died. He's genuine. And I feel so sorry that he's stuck in such a sad series.

Among the other characters in the books that I enjoyed getting to know {even if briefly} were the rest of the Weasley family. All with noticeable red hair, a genuine cheerfulness and loyalty, each was a wonderful addition to the story. From Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, one so hard working and the other rather like me with a scary temper, to their large number of offspring - Bill who works at the special bank and marries a character Harry meets in one of his adventures, Charlie who works with dragons in Romania, Percy who works for the government and creates a rift between himself and his family {didn't much like him}, Fred and George, the mischievous identical twins who open a joke shop together, with Ron and Ginny concluding the roll call. Each was so distinct and creatively done yet they all blended into one big family. Other characters include Luna Lovegood - she's so random and weird; I could relate extremely well with her and that doesn't happen too often, Tonks was a clever girl; so tough and so vulnerable at the same time, Lupin - albeit a werewolf he was a very reasonable character, Sirius Black, and Hagrid - a lovable gentle giant.

Luna Lovegood

Tonks -movie version with purple hair.

Lupin

Sirius Black

Hagrid

In conclusion {and bonus points for anyone still reading this!}, the Harry Potter series has its good points and its bad points, but it's not the series for me. While the writing aspect of the stories is impressive with its world building {which sadly left the books around the fourth installment} and its characters are well drawn {some better than others}, the darkness that saturates the stories isn't worth it. And I haven't even talked about the movies yet! *winks*

The Body in the Library Book Review

Title: The Body in the Library.

Author: Agatha Christie.

Genre: Classic, Mystery, Murder Mystery, Thriller, Adventure, Historical Fiction.

Plot: Mrs. Bantry is enjoying a lovely dream as the servants make their way about, slowly and routinely waking up the house. But when the calm of the morning is stirred by a surge of activity, sleepy Mrs. Bantry realizes that this morning is far from routine. For, to the maid's horror and the greater shock of Colonel and Mrs. Bantry, the body of a blonde girl dressed in white is found, strangled, in their cozy little library with no clue as to how it got there nor even who the mysterious girl is.

Knowing the social repercussions from this gruesome discovery will break her husband, Mrs. Bantry - a bit overexcitedly - calls for help from the only person she trusts to actually do anything about the trouble; Miss Marple. The amateur but very shrewd lady-sleuth teams up with Superintendent Harper and Sir Henry Clithering, retired from Scotland Yard, and together they hunt up the different puzzle pieces and try to stick them together with a bit of tape and glue. Ms. Marple, however, knows there is a missing piece and when a second body turns up, her suspicions are quickly formed, confirmed and acted upon. But the question remains; who did it?

Likes/Dislikes: This is the 3rd book in the Miss Marple series by Agatha Christie and it is my first Miss Marple book, although I'm quite familiar with the amusing shrewd spinster sleuth from the Masterpiece Theater shows. Anyway, this book is wonderfully and beautifully written, packed with great description, colorful characters and perfectly-timed plot twist- all woven in without making the reader bored to death or overwhelmed by it all. The characters were probably my favorite part, as we followed them along, trying to decide who was the villain and what everyone's secret was. Very well done.

Rating: PG-14 and up, mainly for reading level but also due to content such as two murder victims {not graphic} and some drinking and suggestions that will fly way over most people's heads. A wonderful book!

Date Report Written: January 23, 2013.