Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

While at the Dursley's Harry receives his first Birthday cards and gifts from the Weasleys, Hermione, and Hagrid.  It almost makes up for the fact that Aunt Marge is coming to visit for a week. That woman picks on Harry and dotes on Dudley.  But if Harry is good Vernon will sign his form allowing him to go to Hogsmeade this year.  Harry makes it until the last day but when she says something about his parents he loses it and suddenly Marge begins to inflate.  Harry realizing how badly he's screwed up performing magic outside of Hogwarts and that he's surely expelled now and maybe going to be sent to Azkaban. So he gathers his things and heads out down the street.

He stops and notices something in the dark but then the Knight Bus shows up nearly running over him.  The Knight Bus is for stranded witches and wizards and contains beds and hot cocoa and toothbrushes.  Stan Turnpike is the conductor of the Knight Bus. Stan shows him an article about Sirius Black who has just escaped Azcakan prison and was put there for using a curse to kill a wizard and several humans.  It takes him to the Leaky Caldron where he meets up with Cornelis Fudge, the Minister of Magic, who doesn't seem concerned at all about him blowing up Aunt Marge only that he is safe there and can stay there until school starts.

When Ron and Hermione show up a day before school starts Hermione wants to get an owl and Ron wants to get some treatment for his rat.  A wild cat jumps down when it sees Ron's rat Scabbers.  Hermione decides to buy him, named Crookshanks.  Crookshanks and Scabbers do not get along and Ron hates Crookshanks and therefore he and Hermione fight constantly over their animals.  Arthur Weasley wants to tell Harry something but Harry had overheard him and Molly arguing over it so he knows already that Sirius Black is after him because Black is Voldemort's second-hand man and wants to finish what he started and bring the Dark Lord back.

On the train to Hogwarts some Dementors board looking for Sirius Black.  A Dementor begins to affect Harry until Professor Lupin, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher sends him away.  He hands out chocolate to the kids because that's the cure for an encounter with a Dementor.  Dementors will be guarding the entrances to Hogwarts.  And as Dumbledore says they can see through an invisibilty cloak so any hope he had of sneaking out that way to Hogsmeade is out.

During Divination Class in his tea leaves, Professor Trelawny sees the Grim, a black dog that portends death.  It reminds him of the dark shape he saw before the Knight Bus came which was likely a dog.  Then when he's playing Quidditch against Hufflepuff he sees a dark dog image in the sky right before the Dementors come in and attack him causing him to fall from his broom.  Dumbledore keeps him from landing hard, but his broom ran into the Whomping Willow and is destroyed.  At Christmas, he gets a Firebolt, the latest broomstick from an unknown source.  Hermione insists that he have it inspected for hexes.  He barely gets it back in time for the next Quidditch match.

Fred and George feeling Harry's pain give him something that has helped them immensely since their first year: The Maurader's Map.   You tap it and say "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."  And a map of Hogwart's is revealed including secrets passages that no one knows about.  In order to keep anyone from reading the map's secrets, you say "Mischief Managed" and the map disappears.  Harry uses this to sneak into Hogsmeade.

Buckbeak, the Hippogriff attacked Draco Malfoy who was an idiot and insulted it when if he'd been paying attention he'd know that you don't insult a Hippogriff.  He got a minor scrape that he milked for all it was worth and his dad used it to try to get Hagrid fired which didn't work but he did succeed in getting a death sentence for the Buckbeak.

Sirius Black tries to get into the Gryfindor rooms but the Fat Lady won't let him in and he attacks her.  Then Harry and Hermione and Ron are in Hogsmeade enjoying a butterbeer when some professors come in and Hermione moves a Christmas tree to hide them.  While the teachers are talking Harry finds out more about Sirius Black and his connection to his family and his real treachery.

Harry has to deal with Snape who seems to hate him even more in this book.  He also has to deal with a killer being after him. In the Harry Potter series, this is the only one that doesn't have Lord Voldemort in it.  It's one of my favorites.  I love Lupin as a character. He is so kind and thoughtful as a teacher.  Black is pretty interesting too, once you meet him. Hermione shows some backbone in this novel. She talks back to Professor Trelawny constantly, she stands up to Ron over her cat, and she boldly went to fetch Harry's Cloak which was hidden in the secret passage that Snape has been guarding.  She doesn't take anything off of Harry or Ron either.  And they eventually realize she's right.  This is a fabulous book and I give it five of five stars.

Quotes

Well, well…I’m impressed. That suggests that what you fear most of all is –fear. Very wise, Harry.

-J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban p 155)   

Listed on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Prisoner-Azkaban-Rowling-ebook/dp/B0192CTMX2/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3TER1CFWAY6LI&keywords=prisoner+of+azkaban&qid=1569845531&s=gateway&sprefix=prisoner+of+a%2Caps%2C184&sr=8-3

          

Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 12 Superstars by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mark Bagley (Penciler), Scott Hanna (Inker), J. D. Smith (Colorist), Chris Sotomayor (Colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (Letterer)

In the previous comic, Doctor Conners is having nightmares about what he could possibly do to his family as the Lizard and desperately wants a cure.  Meanwhile, Spider-Man is fighting a bad guy and gets hurt and turns to Doctor Conners to stitch him up.  Doctor Conners looks at Spider-Man's blood under the microscope and sees possibilities there.  So does his assistant.  This could possibly fix his arm and cure him of being the Lizard.  But first, he asks Peter for permission to use his blood to do tests and experiments.  At first Peter is apprehensive, but in the end, he agrees. Then one night the creature they have been growing in the lab based off of Peter's blood escapes and kills the school's night guard.  It has Peter's memories and is searching for Peter when it sees someone from Peter's circle of friends and family and it kills Gwen Stacey.  It kills them by puncturing a hole in their skin and draining the life out of them.  Peter is devastated and he wants to destroy what killed the person who was close to him and he does. He severs all ties to Doctor Conner who turns himself into the police.

This comic opens up with Peter Parker having somehow swapped bodies with Wolverine.  He gets to a phone and calls home to convince Wolverine to go to school because he can't miss another day of school or he'll fail.  Wolverine, of course, doesn't want to go to school but is persuaded to go there.  He tells him to get marked as there then ask to go to the bathroom. When Wolverine does this he is told he can't go.

Meanwhile, while waiting for Wolverine to come out of the school, Peter sees a driveby shooting and attempts to stop it but winds up getting arrested.  He uses his call to call the X-Men but they don't believe him.  It's up to Wolverine to break him out of prison.  Now how will they separate their bodies?

In the second half of the comic Johnny Storm has to go back to high school to finish and get his degree.  He winds up going to the same school as Peter Parker.  He falls for a girl named Liz who also falls for him.  Then one night at a campfire on the beach he gets to close and he sets himself on fire and suddenly his secret is out and Liz is no longer interested in him.  Both Johnny and Spider-Man go to work together to stop some bad guys and try to heal his broken heart.

Peter is still mourning the loss of Gwen and how he wasn't there for her and he wonders if she ever forgave him for her father's death that he had nothing to do with.  M.J. tells him that right before she dies they had a heart-to-heart conversation where Gwen said that she no longer blamed Peter for her father's death and that she wanted M.J. to know that she had no feelings whatsoever for Peter and to not worry about that just because they lived in the same house.  It could have been the beginning of a wonderful friendship rather than the coda to two people who barely knew each other.  This book, on the other hand, is kinda funny with Wolverine and Peter switching places and Johnny Storm coming to high school with Peter and having an adventure with him.  This was a great book and I give it five out of five stars. 

Listed On Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Spider-Man-Vol-12-Superstars-ebook/dp/B00FSRFQZO/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ERSCERI710X9&keywords=ultimate+spider-man+vol+12&qid=1569585643&s=gateway&sprefix=ultimate+spider-man+vol+12%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-1

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

On January 7, 1858, it was decided to undertake a grand endeavor and create the ultimate English dictionary. It would contain the earliest use of the word and several quotations of the word as it has changed in its usage over the years.  They would require help from volunteers from all over the Britsh Territories and America.

One of their most prolific volunteers was Dr. W.C. Minor, an American who was retired from the military due to madness.  He was treated at a hospital and released and decided to go to Europe for a restful tour.  Instead, he ended up believing that people were going through his rooms.  Then one night he believed someone had been through his room and rushed out to find him and shot a man he believed to be the intruder.  He killed the man and was put on trial for his murder and found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to Broadmore, a hospital for the criminally insane on April 17,1872.

Since he was a model patient and had his Army retirement money coming in he was given two cells that he filled with books and had his sketchbook that he made drawings from.  During the day his cell was left unlocked and he could stroll the grounds if he wished.  While reading a magazine he came across an ad for a request for readers for the dictionary and he sends off a reply to offer his services.

James Murray had been involved with the dictionary project from the start but on April 26, 1878, he was made the editor and put in charge of it.  The project had been lagging and Murray put some much-needed oomph in it.   Murray got it back on track getting more readers.  Murray stopped going to school at fourteen because his family couldn't afford to send him farther.  He was a self-taught man who knew a great deal, especially about languages and words.

Murray and Minor had been corresponding for twenty years before Murray finds out about Minor's situation.  What will he find when he gets there?  While Minor and Murray share a love of words, they couldn't have been more different. Minor, an American, grew up in an affluent household and received a grand education, while Murray, who grew up poor in Scotland was self-taught.  Minor had seen war, while Murray had not.  Minor was schizophrenic while Murray was sane as can be.  However, the two of them looked exactly like each other: both bald with long white beards.

This was an interesting book that explores the massive undertaking of the Oxford English Dictionary which would take seventy years to create.  Minor was a major contributor to this endeavor and the first volume is dedicated to him.  They are currently working on the third edition of the OED which is expected to be completed in 2037.  Minor is a sad person who if he existed today could have received treatment but then would he have contributed to the OED? His work on the OED was his therapy and it worked for a good long while until it stopped working and he became beyond help.  I really enjoyed this book and the look at the two men it studied who were so different yet shared the same passion.  I give this book five out of five stars.

Listed on Amazon:     https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Madman-Insanity-English-Dictionary/dp/0060839783/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2BGXZTD7AVZE6&keywords=the+professor+and+the+madman&qid=1569413363&s=gateway&sprefix=the+professor+and%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-3

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

 A house-elf named Doby shows up at the Dursley's and tries to convince Harry Potter from going back to Hogwarts.  He uses magic to cause a desert at an important dinner they are holding to hover in the air and fall.  He has kept the letters from Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid.  In response to this Vernon locks Harry in his room and puts bars on his window.  Soon, however, Ron, Fred, and George show up in a flying car in the middle of the night to rescue him.  This gets them in trouble with their mother who didn't know the car could fly and is against using a flying car even for a noble cause.

This is Ginny Weasley's first year and she's nervous about being around Harry as she has a crush on him.  The group gets together to travel by Floo powder to Diagon Alley.  Harry messes up and winds up in Borgin and Birks and sees the Malfoys selling Dark Arts materials.  He finds himself in Knockturn Alley, a dangerous place, but Hagrid is there buying slugworms and saves him and gets him back to the Weasleys.  It turns out that the famous Gilderoy Lockhart is going to be their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.  He's written many books about his adventures.

When they go to meet the train the family is running late and Harry and Ron are the last to make the run for the platform and the doorway remains sealed.  They can't get on the platform.  They don't know if Ron's parents can get back. But they have the car so they take it and fly to school, which is a direct violation of underage use of magic.  Not to mention that some people saw the flying car because the invisibility function on it didn't work completely. But Dumbledore doesn't expel them, much to Snape's disappointment.  Instead, he leaves it to McGonagal who gives them loads of detention, Harry with Lockhart answering correspondents and Ron with Filch polishing trophies.

Harry gets invited to Nearly Headless Nick's 500th deathday party and takes Ron and Hermione with him.  It's an interesting party where everyone there is dead and the food is rotten.  When they are leaving Harry hears the voices in the walls that he had heard once before while he was working with Lockhart.  It was saying things like "Kill".  He had told Ron and Hermione and they follow the sound of the voices he hears and come across the message on the wall: The Chamber of Secrets Has Been Opened. Enemies of the Heir Beware.  Hanging from a torch bracket is Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat.  It seems she has been petrified.  Dumbledore assures Filch that Professor Sprout has some mandrakes she is growing that can be used to undo the damage once they have finished growing to adulthood.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry decide to create a pollyjuice potion which will make them look like Crabbe and Goyle and some female Slytherin that they can imitate to get close to Draco whom they suspect as being the Heir of Slytherin and the one who opened the Chamber.  But it takes a month to make so they're making it in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.  She's a ghost that haunts one of the girl's bathrooms that no one uses because of this.

While playing Quiddich Harry gets hit by a rogue bludger and breaks his arm. Though he does catch the snitch and beats Slytherin, though they have the latest model of broomsticks bought and paid for by Malfoy in order to put Draco on the team.  Lockhart tries to fix his arm and removes all of the bones in his arm instead.  While in the hospital regrowing bones, Harry is visited by Dobby who apologizes for the bludger and for locking him out of the platform but he was only trying to protect Harry. He also let slip that the Chamber had been open once before.  Dobby leaves while Dumbledore is bringing in a young kid named Colin Creavey who followed Harry around taking pictures and who has now been petrified.

People are beginning to talk that Harry is Heir of Slytherin especially when it gets out that he is a Parsalmouth.  Salazar Slytherin was a Parsalmouth.  There are more bodies stacking up and the students and the staff are getting scared.  Who opened the Chamber fifty years ago and what happened to them?  Who has opened it now?  Where is the Chamber?

This book is better than the first book because you aren't stuck at the Dursely's for very long being bored to death.  However, Hermione isn't in much of this book, which I feel causes it to lack something special to the friendship dynamic.  Her absence is felt deeply.  Because of this, I give this book four and a half stars out of five stars. 

Quotes

Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brains.

-J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets p 329)

It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

-J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets p 333)

Listed On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Chamber-Secrets-Rowling-ebook/dp/B0192CTMW8/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=chamber+of+secrets&qid=1569240690&s=gateway&sr=8-1

All New Wolverine Vol 1: The Four Sisters by Tom Taylor (Writer), David Lopez (Artist), David Navarrot (Artist), Nathan Fairbairn (Colorist), VC's COry Petit (Letter)

Someone is trying to kill this young man and Laura is trying to stop the assassin. She gets to the assassin and stops them, but they call in a drone strike before jumping to their deaths from a tower after insisting that Laura should be helping them.  Laura calls for her boyfriend, Archangel's help to get to the drone to stop it from taking out the car.  She stops the drone.  One thing she noticed about the assassin was that it felt no pain and that it looked exactly like her but didn't have her powers.

She finds out from Alchemex Genetics that they used her DNA to create a group of women with special abilities to use as bodyguards to diplomats and humanitarian organizations.  Then suddenly they turned on them and burned down the lab and the doctors in it and ran.  Laura knows there's more to the story than that.  They want her to hunt them down so they can take them out. Laura wants to hear their side of the story.

Laura hunts them down and finds out that they didn't start the fire but used that as a chance to escape.  Their pain and feelings were removed from their brains which they see as unfair and they just want to be free.  They are dying from that procedure.  They don't want to kill anyone. That was just the one sister.  Though, Bellona wants to kill Captain Mooney for his treatment of them in the facility.  Due to a tracker, Mooney slipped into Laura's skin, Mooney and his goons track Laura to the Sisters.  Laura disables them without killing them and they hightail it out of there. Laura takes them to Dr. Strange in hopes of finding a cure for what is wrong with them.  He examines them and they set off some of the things in his house that need to be taken care of.

Can the famous Doctor cure these odd Sisters of what ails them? Will Mooney capture them and kill them first?  Each sister is different. Gabby is sweet and innocent. Zelda looks out for the others. And Bellona wants to take everyone and everything out with her gun.  This is a great comic and a great way to show Laura as X-23, Wolverine.  I give it five out of five stars.

Listed on Amazon:   https://www.amazon.com/All-New-Wolverine-Vol-Four-Sisters/dp/0785196528/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=all+new+wolverine+the+four+sisters&qid=1568980747&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Sometimes I Lie By Alice Feeney

The book opens with the words: My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I'm in a coma. 2. My husband doesn't love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie.  Amber awakes inside a hospital on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas.  She is alone. The police have been unable to get in touch with her husband.  Then the book goes back in time to the 19th of December and Amber getting ready for her job as an on-air assistant for the famous Coffee Morning with Madeline.

Madeleine hates her and wants to fire her, but then Madeline hates everyone and is a bitch.  Amber's boss gives her until New Year's to change Madeline's mind about her.  So she talks to her friend Jo who comes up with a plan of action to take Madeline down.  Feeling down about it and walking down the street, she runs into an old boyfriend, Edward, who is now a successful doctor.  He gives her his card to talk to him because he can see that she needs someone to talk to.

Back in the hospital, she finds that according to the cops she had been driving her husband's car without wearing her seatbelt and went through the windshield.  The cops believe due to the strangle marks on her neck that something else happened and neighbors heard them arguing.  The cops suspect that she was in the passenger seat and her husband was driving.  She also learns that she lost the baby she was carrying that she hadn't told her husband about.

Edward is a doctor at the hospital and he tells her that he intends to keep her in a coma.  She's trying to remember what happened that night and why Edward is so against her.  Amber's sister Claire and her husband, Paul do not get along.  Claire was the child that Amber's parents loved best.  And Claire can be demanding in her needs.

What happened that night?  Can anyone save her from Edward?  This book has so many twists it'll give you a major case of whiplash.  There's a twist right on the last page.  This book is a real page-turner and pardons my french but mind fuck.  It's an excellently written book that has well drawn out characters.  I give it five out of five stars.

Quotes

It can be dangerous to ask a question when you already know the answer.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 11)

A lot of people would think I have a dream job, but nightmares are dreams too.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 15)

Lies can seem true when told often enough.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 81)

Life is more terrifying than death in my experience. There’s little point in fearing something so inevitable. 

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 117)

Memories can’t hurt anyone, unless they’re shared.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 132)

Grief is only ever yours and so is guilt.  It’s not something you can share.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 186)

Some people are ghosts before they are dead.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 325)

We are all just ghosts of the people we hoped we were and counterfeit replicas of the people we wanted to be.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 345)

It made me realize that people who do nothing are just as dangerous as those who do.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 357)

Little girls are different from little boys: they’re made of sugar and spice and scar for life.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 358)

People say there’s nothing like a mother’s love—take that away and you’ll find there is nothing like a daughter’s hate.

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 363)

It took a lot of love to hate her the way I do. 

-Alice Feeney (Sometimes I Lie p 427)

Listed on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Sometimes-I-Lie-ALICE-FEENEY/dp/125014485X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=sometimes+i+lie&qid=1568808381&s=gateway&sr=8-1

   

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two of the Playscript by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thomas

The Cursed Child, as this book is commonly known is a play that first opened in London on July 30, 2016.  Honestly, I bought the book when it came out but put off reading it and then the reviews came out and they weren't good and people I talked to said they hate it so I kept it on my bookshelf and never read it.  But my daughter wants to read it and the book is found in the adult non-fiction section of the library so I must read it before she can.  The only reason it's in the adult section is that the young adult section doesn't have a non-fiction section.

The story opens right where Deathly Hollows ends with Harry Potter and Lilly and Ron and Hermione putting their children on the train to Hogwarts.  It's Albus Severus's first year and he's worried about being placed in Slytherin but Harry reassures him that the hat takes his choice into consideration.  When they get on the train Rose, Ron and Hermione's child tells Albus that they have their choice of friends and must be careful who they make friends with and that these will be the friends they will have for life. In a compartment by himself is Scorpius Malfoy looking pretty forlorn when the two of them arrive he cheers up and offers his candy. Albus is touched but Rose believes he is trying to buy his friendship and then do bad things to him.  Besides there are rumors about his mother that she took a Time-Turner and went back in time and had sex with Voldemort and Scorpius is his child since she and Draco couldn't have children of their own.  But Albus doesn't care about that and refuses to move on with Rose and sits with Scorpius and makes a friend.

When it's time for the Sorting Hat, Albus gets sorted into Slytherin and becomes a pariah.  He also can't seem to do anything right like ride a broom or do a potion or a spell.  He feels less and less like his father's child every day and more and more like a failure.   Scorpius is having similar problems though he is great at school work everyone believes he is Voldemort's son and they hate him.  Albus is his only friend.  Meanwhile, as time passes, Harry and Albus grow farther apart as the two fail to understand the other.

The Ministry of which Harry is the Head of Law Enforcement and Hermione is the Minister, find a Time-Turner capable of going back years.  This could be the Time-Turner used by Draco's wife if indeed she used one or it could be a dangerous artifact.  Harry receives a visit from Cedric Diggory's father who wants him to use the Time-Turner that it is rumored that the Ministry has to bring back Cedric.  Albus is listening in and meets Diggory's niece Delphi who takes care of him at St. Mungo's Hospital for the Sick, Old, or Insane.  The next day Harry tries to give Albus the blanket that is all Harry has left of his past. It's something that means a great deal to him and he's trying to reach out to his son with this gift but Albus doesn't like it and says that he wishes Harry wasn't his dad and Harry says he wishes Albus wasn't his son.  He doesn't mean it and wishes he could take it back the second the words leave his mouth, but his son gets so under his skin.

Albus and Scorpius leave the Hogwarts train and head to St. Mungo's and talk to Diggory and Delphi about bringing Cedric back.  It just so happens that Delphi has some Polyjuice potion brewed up for them to use to sneak into the Ministry of Magic. Albus decides to be Ron while Scorpius is Harry and Delphi is Hermione.  They sneak into her office with some difficulty and have to figure out where the Time-Turner is.  But Scorpius figures out where it is and they leave with it.

The first time Albus and Scorpius use it Cedric still doesn't live but Hermione and Ron don't marry and Hermione is a teacher not Minster of Magic.  The second time they use it is when things go seriously wrong afterward.  Can things be fixed?  And who exactly is the cursed child? Is it Scorpius for being Voldemort's child or is it Albus for being Harry Potter's kid?  Will Harry and Albus ever get the chance to repair their relationship?  Will Harry ever figure out how to fix it? Will Draco and Harry become friends finally?

This book isn't as horrible as I thought it would be. That's not to say it was great.  It lacked a sense of dangerous adventure to it that the Harry Potter books had in them.  I will say that I loved the character of Scorpius. He was delightful in his love of reading and homework and his quest to get Rose to fall in love with him.  He may have been in Slytherin but he was a sweet and caring boy.  If it hadn't been for family tradition maybe he would have been in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw.  Rose is a bit of a bitch and reminds you of Draco Malfoy with her speech of who you should be talking with on the first train ride to Hogwarts.  Of course, Scorpius reminds you of Hermione.  Which leaves Albus to remind you of Ron or Neville.  Overall I think Rowling wrote this in response to those fans who kept decrying that she saved Buckbeak but not the Potters.  That it was more important to save a Hyppogriff than to save James and Lilly.  This play shows that the farther back in time you go the more things you can screw up.  This book was okay and did have some good characters in it.  I give it three and a half stars out of five stars.

Quotes
Harry: “The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.” Dumbeldore.

-J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thomas (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child p 48)

Dumbledore: To suffer is as human as to breathe.

-J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thomas (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child p 258)

Listed on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Cursed-Child-Playscript-ebook/dp/B073P962D9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FJQK6K3REA6U&keywords=harry+potter+and+the+cursed+child&qid=1568635697&s=gateway&sprefix=harry+potter+and+the+cu%2Caps%2C369&sr=8-1

      

Black Panther Vol 6: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda Vol 1 by Ta-Neshisi Coates (Writer), Daniel Acuna (Artist), David Navarro (Artist), Jen Bartel (Artist), Paul Reinwand (Layout), Triona Farrell (Colorist), VC's Joe Sabino (Letterer)

Set in the Intergalactic Empire that the Wakandan's have taken over and mined Vibranium.  The Imperials are the highest caste and claim to be the blood of the descendants of the Empire of Wakanda.  The Miners, aka The Nameless, are the those subjected to work in the mine who have had their memories wiped.  The Askari is both the police force and the arm of the Wakandan slave trade. Hated by the Nameless and looked down on by the Imperials they are made up of different races often conquered by Wakanda.  The Rebels, aka The Maroons, are those who fight back and are made up of the nameless and are led by Captain N'Yami of the Starship Makandal.

The main characters are T'Challa, a nameless warrior in search of himself and his memories.  He fights with the Maroons and could be the legendary warrior they have been looking for to lead them to victory.  Nakia is a tactical leader of the Maroons and is the one who freed T'Challa and wants to have a relationship with him.  Nakia remembers her life of privilege but hates it.  N'Yami is the chief of the Maroons and spent most of her life laboring in the mines.  She is a Taky-Maza and is often underestimated in combat.  M'Baku is one of the Maroon's greatest warriors.  While a great fighter he is in no hurry to recover his memories.  Taku is N'Yami's chief intelligence officer and a Rigellian whose people were mostly not enslaved but captured by the Wakandans.  Her knowledge is invaluable.

The Askari attack the home base in high numbers and they are forced to flee. A powerful slave named Manifold attacked them while they were leaving.  T'Challa grabbed the famous spear and it responded to him which just goes to show that he is the chosen one. Someone dies in the battle and years pass and T'Challa is no closer to getting his memories back.  He feels something for Nakia too but can't go forward without knowing his history.

This was an excellent opening to a new series with a whole world set up with Wakanda being the bad guys.  It's a very creative twist to the story.  The gods are also involved.  The art is very creative and very raw and open.  I really enjoyed this book and I give it five out of five stars.

Listed on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Black-Panther-Book-Intergalactic-Wakanda-ebook/dp/B07L43294C/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=black+panther+vol+6&qid=1568375766&s=gateway&sr=8-1

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

Now a STARZ TV showed bassed on this novel and its sequel Stilleto, this novel is about a woman, Rook Myfanwy [pronounded Mif-any]Thomas, who wakes up surrounded by dead people wearing latex gloves that she has just killed and must make a decision about what to do.  In her jacket is an envelope with instructions on what to do and a hotel to go to and check into under a certain name where she'll be safe.  There she finds another envelope that tells her she can either agree to be Rook Thomas and continue on with her life and find out who did this to her or she can choose option B and just start over under another name.  She chooses option B and goes to the bank until she finds out that the people who did this to her are still after her and try to take her out at the bank which causes her to change her mind and choose Option A especially after she knocks out a group of people wearing latex gloves.  So she goes back to the apartment and pretends to be the Rook Thomas. Luckily its the weekend and she has a couple of days to spend going through the suitcase and the letters and purple binder Rook Thomas left behind that tell her all she needs to know to be her.

It seems that Myfanwy received several messages from people letting her know that her memory would be taken from her and she'd be standing in the rain with several dead bodies with latex gloves around her and someone else's eyes would open up inside her body.  So she had spent some time preparing for this moment while also trying to figure out who did it.

When Myfanwy was nine she was taken from her English parents, which is how the British organization Checquy [pronounced Sheck-ay] Group worked with kids with supernatural abilities.  Most kids with abilities were discovered in the womb or shortly after birth and their parents were happy to be rid of a child whom they did not know how to deal with. But even if they wanted to keep them they weren't offered this choice.  The families were paid monthly for the services of their offspring.  Myfanwy has the ability to control people's systems within their bodies, such as their nervous systems or their digestive systems.  They can put someone to sleep or make them hungry, or worse.  As a child she was very shy and therefore her abilities, while great, she herself was useless in using them and therefore it was pointless to put her in the field, but she had a real head for figures and therefore she made it to the High Court and the position of Rook based on her skills in the office.   Pawn is the lowest position then there's Rook, then comes to Chevalier, then Bishop, then Lord and Lady. All High Court positions have special abilities.   Lady Ferrier knows immediately that Thomas has lost her memory and promises to keep her secret because she owes Thomas a debt.

Thomas was a meek, and mild person who was really good at paperwork.  The woman who comes into replace her isn't sure how to portray her so she just wings it and ends up portraying Thomas as more assertive and proactive.  Her assistant, Ingrid, is invaluable in helping her through this without actually telling her what is going on.  A creature is caught and being interrogated in the Rookery and Rook Gerhart who has four bodies but only one mind, and is the one who does most of the fieldwork for the High Court for the Rookery, acts like an asshole to Myfanwy.  The creature being interrogated dies. But not before going crazy and hulking out and saying something.  Myfanwy has Dr. Clovis whom she had thought was torturing the creature, but was in fact, just compelling him to tell him what he knew without pain, examine the tape frame for frame to get what he said.  And it turns out that the creature was from Belgium and a Gestalt, a group from Belgium who had centuries ago modified themselves and their abilities and invaded the Isle of Wright and were narrowly defeated by the British, though they didn't know that.  They believed the British held many more reserves of soldiers to come back at them and attack them so they surrendered to their terms.  No more experimentation, but every so often you'd hear a rumor of something, but nothing would come of it.  It appears that they never stopped and have plans to invade England.

It also appears that they have infiltrated the High Court and members of the Pawns and others without abilities who work for the Checquy.  And Myfanwy is sent to Bath, a once very popular place for supernatural things but not so much anymore, for a highly unusual happening to deal with since Rook Gestalt is unavailable.  A fungus has taken over a group of people inside a house and every time you send anyone in to take care of it that get caught up in it too.  Except for the Pawns who attack it who get killed.  When they send in the special forces of the Pawns but they don't get killed, Myfawny goes in with the American Bishop who is there visiting and manages to take care of the problem and finds out who one of the traitors is.

This book is told in the unique way of the new Myfanwy's viewpoint as well as letters and the folder entries of the old Myfanwy.  You get a sense of the similarities and differences between the two women and how they have grown together to form a whole new woman.  The abilities people have are truly bizarre and sometimes funny.  You get the feeling the author was having a great laugh at making this book during that part.  This really is an incredible book that hooks you right from page one and keeps you going right to the end.  I really loved this book and the world that was created within its pages.  You don't know who to trust or who will make it till the end of the book.  I give it five out of five stars.

Quotes
“Yes, Minister, it turns out there was a mysterious force that caused your plane crash. Yes. Yes. What was it? We call it gravity.”  He sighed as he picked up the phone connected to me. “You know, Rook Thomas, this is why we keep ourselves secret. People look for the most supernatural excuses. No wonder the age of reason was welcome. It finally allowed the supernatural to take a break.”

-Daniel O’Malley (The Rook p 69)

The noble investors, however, had some different ideas. With the sort of power, these new processes granted them, the member of the brotherhood were in the perfect position to seize power. In any other country a, a massive, bloody war would have ensued. Horrors would have stalked the land, unholy amalgamations of flesh would have fought on the fields, and the nights would have held, new, unspeakable terrors.  Fortunately, this is Belgium we’re talking about.

-Daniel O’Malley (The Rook p 104)

She’d found a battery-powered item in the drawer of the bedside table but she was somewhat wary of using it.  Admittedly it is still mine.  And it’s only ever been used on my body. But not by me. That is an aspect of amnesia that people don’t normally talk about.

-Daniel O’Malley (The Rook p 198)      

“No,” Shantay said in a stage whisper. She was holding her large pistol in her hand and looking very tense.  “What is wrong with you?” Myfanwy whispered back, “You look like you expect someone to grab your ass.” “I’d be okay with that, as long as it was a person,” whispered Shantay, “It’s when it’s the décor reaching out to cop a feel that I get nervous.”

-Daniel O’Malley (The Rook p 233-4)

“You’re a very glass-half-empty person aren’t you?” observed Myfanwy. “That’s experience talking,” said Shanray. “In these situations, the glass is always half empty.” “Always?” “Always,” confirmed the Bishop. “Right until it fills up with some sort of spectral blood that grows into a demonic entity.”

-Daniel O’Malley (The Rook p 235)

“That should be a pleasant little interview. All I have to do is put on my scary face.” “You have a scary face?” Ingrid sounded skeptical. “Yes,” said Myfanwy indignantly. “I have a very scary face.” Indrid surveyed her for a moment. “You may wish to take off the cardigan then, Rook Thomas,” she advised tactfully, “The flowers on the pockets detract somewhat from your menace.”

-Daniel O’Malley (The Rook p 287)

“All righty,” Myfanwy said, “what are you suggesting I wear, because—oh hell no.  That is not going on my body.” “Why? What’s wrong with it?” asked Bronwyn. Compared to Brownsyn’s outfit it was quite modest, but compared to Bronwyn’s outfit, outright nudity was quite modest. “Because it suggests that I’d gladly trade sex for a cocktail. In fact, it suggests that I might even trade sex for eye contact.”

-Daniel O’Malley (The Rook p 314)

You need to find yourself a man and use him.

-Daniel O’Malley (The Rook p 333)

Listed On Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Rook-Novel-Files-Book-ebook/dp/B004QX07EG/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Rook&qid=1568198930&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Under Currents by Nora Roberts

This book is about physical, emotional, and mental abuse and for those who are triggered by that I recommend skipping this book.  The book opens in 1998 with the oh, so perfect Bigelow family. Graham, the father is a surgeon, the mother, Elias, has been president of the PTA and is on many boards and social clubs, while the oldest son Zane dreams of playing professional baseball while his parents insist on his going to get his medical degree, his younger sister Brit plays piano and does ballet.  One day right before Christmas they come home from school and find their dad beating up on their mom yet again. But Brit can't stop screaming and Zane is worried that their dad is going to hurt her so he steps in to protect both his mom and his sister and gets the crap beat out of him.  His nose is broken and his eyes are blackened.  Eliza's sister Emily was supposed to come over along with their parents but now that will all have to be moved over to Emily's house and an excuse will need to be made for Zane.  They are going on a skiing trip the next day and it will be said that he fell off his bike and won't be skiing. When he gets home it will be said that he fell skiing and that's how his face got busted up. When he gets back, he asks his best friend Marcus's dad Dave to help him work out and get stronger "for baseball".

A year later Graham hits Brit and Zane loses it and goes after him.  His mom is siding with his dad and Brit calls the cops.  His parents say that Zane lost it when he came home late from the dance and that he must be on drugs.  In the struggle, Zane's arms got really damaged.  Since Dave is an EMT he showed up at the house and Zane begged him to stay with him.  The cops cuffed Zane to the stretcher.  Graham had dosed Brit with something to knock her out.  Dave calls Emily and she shows up at the hospital to try to help.  Brit wakes up and escapes the room she's in and calls Emily's cellphone.  Emily comes to get Brit.  Zane tells Dave of the notebooks he's kept writing in since the Christmas incident and where they are and for him to go and get them.  Emily calls the Asheville cops and has them to look into this.  Pretty soon Graham and Eliza, who secretly enjoyed the pain caused by her husband, both went to jail, though Eliza for less time as she gave evidence against her husband.  He got fifteen to twenty years but got out in eighteen years.

Now there's a new face in Lakeview, North Carolina up in the mountains and her name is Darby McCray.  She is staying in one of the bungalows that Emily's parents own and share a profit with their children.  Emily takes care of the bungalows.  Darby is a landscaper from Maryland whose mother has just died and that was whom she ran her business with and now she is looking to start over.  She makes Emily a deal that she will do over a bungalow using her own money and if she doesn't like it she'll fix it but if she does they can make a deal on doing the other bungalows.  Darby finds help with Emily's son Gabe and with a local man who flits from one job to the next named Roy, who seems to now have found his calling.  She also hires a woman named Hallie and they all get to work.  She also convinces Emily to do her house and the reception area.

Brit married a cop and has a toddler girl. Zane moved to Raleigh and became a prosecutor.  Now he's ready to come back home.  Partly because his dad's getting out of prison and partly because it's just time.  He and Darby have something in common. Darby had an abusive ex-husband.  They weren't married for very long and he didn't hit her too many times before she left him and pressed charges sending him to jail.  The two begin a casual relationship because she doesn't want anything serious.  She's still a little gun shy.  But soon they will all be in trouble when Graham gets out of prison and seeks revenge on all who put him there.

There are more people in this book that have been abused by others.  They are minor characters, but it goes toward the major theme of the book.  Can they be saved?  It's always up to the person who's being abused to make the step to leave the situation.  You can only offer help. You can't force them to leave.  And it's a very hard decision to make to leave.  These abusers threaten the people they love. They work hard to lower the person's self-esteem so they feel worthless and they make them feel as though there is no way out.  Darby is an amazing character who has really turned her life around and Zane is too.  Doesn't everyone want a mom like Emily?  Or a dad like Lee, the cop, or Dave, the EMT?  This book is one of Robert's best books and I give it a five out of five stars.

Quotes

Cruelty and fear shake hands together.

-Honore de Balzac

Child abuse can shadow the length of a lifetime.

-Herbert Ward

Home is where one starts from.

-T.S. Eliot

You don’t have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it’ll go.

-Yogi Bera

Kind hearts are the gardens,

Kind thoughts are the roots,

Kind words are the flowers,

Kind deeds are the fruits.

-Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

The earth remains jagged and broken only to him or her who remains jagged and broken.

-Walt Whitman

Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.

-Hippocrates

Darby considered frozen pizza and microwave popcorn staples of life.

-Nora Roberts (Undercurrents p 154)

“They wallpapered over wallpaper. Who knew?”  He studied the walls. “The paint color might be worse.” “I know it. I know it. I may have to get a priest, a shaman, a white witch, whatever, to come in here and exorcise the spirits of evil decorating.”

-Nora Roberts (Undercurrents p 222)

“If you don’t play for the Lakeview team next season, it’s a crime against humanity.” “Crime against humanity is a little extreme.” “Baseball is humanity.”

-Nora Roberts (Undercurrents p 341)

Payback’s a religion to some people.

-Nora Roberts (Undercurrents p 375)

“Mmm. Gonna sting,” she warned when she picked up the antiseptic.  “Whey is the cure nearly as painfully as the cause?”  “Maybe to remind us to stay out of fights.”

-Nora Roberts (Undercurrents p 410)

You’ve never been stupid, except the times you thought you were.

-Nora Roberts (Undercurrents p 432) 

Listed on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Under-Currents-Nora-Roberts-ebook/dp/B07JBQTL3W/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=undercurrents&qid=1568031071&s=gateway&sr=8-1

The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal by Howard Blum

This book is about one of the greatest spies of World War II, Mrs. Betty Pack, aka Miss Betty Thorpe.  The story begins when Betty was making the rounds at her coming out and sleeping with many men and suddenly found out she was pregnant but didn't know who the father was.  So she needed to find someone to marry and fast.  So she latched on to Arthur Pack, who worked for the Foreign Service for England and at the time was stationed in Washington D.C. where Betty lived with her retired military father and her rich socialite mother.  She gets Arthur to marry her but he wants her to get an abortion because people will know that she was pregnant before she was married and that will hurt his career. However, she can't get one because she's too far along so instead he finds a kindly couple to take the child in and foster him.  This breaks Betty's heart.

Eventually, Arthur will get a prime posting in Spain right when the revolution is going on.  Betty begins a passionate love affair with a man, Carlos, she met when she was a child and wanted desperately back then.  When she became pregnant and needed to have an abortion she fled back to England and on the way she met Lord Castlerosse who was to assess her for the Secret Intelligence Office.  He was pleased and introduced her to his boss Lord Beaverbrook who decided that she was perfect for work as a spy. She came from good stock, was beautiful, was intelligent, and had a shaky moral compass. Just as important she had a good cover as a diplomat's wife.

She also converted to Catholicism and had lessons with a handsome priest with whom she began an affair with.  When the priest was rounded up by the Rebels in power she appealed to the Secret Intelligence Office to help get him out.  They let her know which jail he was being held at and she used her considerable feminine wiles on a high church official to get him out of jail and out of the country.  She had shown them she was capable.

Later from her new posting on the border of Spain and France as the war had taken over the country and caused them to leave the Embassy, only some had stayed behind at the new Embassy in northern Spain at a hotel.  When England lost contact with them they asked Arthur to go over there to find out what was going on. When Betty had not heard from him the next day she took a driver and went over there herself and got captured.  She used her feminine wiles to get out and went back.  She radioed the Secret Intelligence Service who told her they were sending naval ships to get them out but it would take four days. Betty still determined to get her husband out went back over there and got stopped again, but this time by a different man who told her he couldn't let her proceed because of the fighting. She told him she'd take the risk so he gave her a pass and let her go.  She risked her life and finally made it to the Embassy and gave her report to the Embassy Director who had a message for her to take back to England, which she did.

Later they relocated the Embassy in France and Carlos's wife came to her and begged her to find her husband who had been captured by the Rebels.  So she sought help from the Secret Intelligence Office to find Carlos.  In the meantime, she helps them sneak a prisoner out of prison.  And when they do find Carlos the only way to get him out is by order of one of the leaders of the rebellion a hard man named Indalecio Prieto.  But it's a rare man that Betty can't charm to her way of things. And England asked that she give him a list of men to be released and he released them as well.

The Service wanted Betty in Poland and made up some excuse that Arthur had made a mistake and needed a new post there.  It was 1938 and things were heating up there politically.  Betty took up a lover who provided her with information that she passed on to Secret Intelligence.  They decided to make her a formal offer of work.  To make her an official spy for Britain for pay.  She agreed.  Soon her lover dried up with information and she was told to begin sleeping with Count Lubienski who was chef de cabinet to Poland's foreign minister, Colonel Josef Beck, who was the dominant force in determining Poland's political future.

Lubienski told her everything from the secret peace talks Poland was having with the Nazis to the plans they were making with other nations to help them attack Germany.  But most important he told her about the machine the Poles had created to decipher the Enigma code of Germany. Yes, the Poles cracked the Enigma device, not England and they did so in 1934 but didn't tell anyone for five years.  In January 1939 Poland would give England a replica of their Enigma machine and the Germans would slightly change the code over the years and Alan Turing would adjust the machine to the new code as it changed.  Soon it became too hot for Betty inside Poland and her and her husband was sent back to Chili, which upset Betty because all of the action was going on in Europe right now.  But the Secret Intelligent Agency had other plans for Betty.

They wanted Betty to get a divorce which she gladly went about doing.  By this time Betty's daughter was six-years-old but Betty felt no maternal feelings toward the child.  She was desperate to get back in the game.  They sent her to America where she would be operating out of Washington D.C. and over time she would get information out of the Italian Embassy and the Vichy Embassy that would prove to be of immense importance to the war effort.  She would be constantly watched by Hoover's F.B.I. agents ready to arrest her for spying even though she was spying for the good of her country and had the backing of her president.

This book was an incredibly interesting story about a woman who sought the thrills and excitement that spying brought her and ended her restlessness and loved to use her intelligence as well as her charms to solve problems for the good of the world.  She was an amazing woman who led one helluva life.  Sadly she died of cancer at a relatively young age of fifty-three.  This book is told in a unique way by a conversation that was had at the end of her life between her and a man named Hyde who was writing a book about her as they traveled through Ireland. It's a refreshing way to tell a historical story that is completely accurate as he kept notes on the encounter.  Overall this is a fantastic book that tells a story that you'll want to hear.  I give this book five out of five stars.

Quotes

   History is a nightmare.

-James Joyce (Ulysses)

You will find it difficult to, I think to live on the surface in the company of Spaniards. We do not understand this way of existing. That is why we’re the despair of the Anglo-Saxons.  What you call dramatics, we call truth!

-Howard Blum (The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal p 103)

What also distinguished him—and this was undoubtedly the secret of Castlerosse’s success—was his quick wit and brash, mischievous charm.  A society doyenne out to get revenge for some slight approached him at a party, tapped his massive waist-coated belly with a catty finger, and snarled, “If this stomach were on a woman, I would think she was pregnant.” Without missing a beat, his lordship drawled back, “Madam, a half-hour ago it was on a woman and by now she very well might be pregnant.”

-Howard Blum (The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal p 107)

From the moment she boarded the train—tried to unsuccessfully to light her cigarette with a box of Spanish matches and in her frustration quipped, “This is the only thing in Spain that doesn’t strike,” a friendship was born.

-Howard Blum (The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal p 108)

“I could never love anyone completely. I am twenty-six already and the thing you mean is never likely to happen to me.”  Now at fifty-three, a lifetime of experiences behind her, she saw that her prediction had proven true. Her heart could soar. Yet it would never find long-term fulfillment.  A steady, companionable happiness would always elude her.

-Howard Blum (The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal p 170)

Cast a cold Eye

On Life, on Death

Horsemen, pass by!

-W. B. Yeats

He might have suggested that confusing passion for love was, in its too human way, an honest mistake.

-Howard Blum (The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal p 240)

If she continually convinced herself that she was falling in love, than one day, she wanted to believe, it would actually be true. She would be at peace and would finally settle into an imagined happiness. Her restlessness would vanish.

-Howard Blum (The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal p 271)

Spies lie by inclination, and governments are in the business of endorsing these falsehoods. Truth inevitably falls by the wayside.

-Howard Blum (The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal p 319)

He looked at her and was suddenly reminded of something Stephenson had said: Betty was “the greatest unsung hero of the war.”

-Howard Blum (The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal p 463) 

Listed On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Goodnight-Espionage-Adventure-Betrayal-ebook/dp/B00Y86F5QG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1KLRSM0WM9J7N&keywords=the+last+goodnight+howard+blum&qid=1567768198&s=gateway&sprefix=the+last+goodnight%5C%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-1

     

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling

This is the book that started the famous series.  In the beginning, we are introduced to Harry Potter as a young man who has been left as a baby on the doorstep of his aunt and uncle by people who have magical skills after the death of his parents.  Flash forward ten years and Harry is about to turn eleven-years-old.   His cousin Dudley Dursley picks on him when he can catch him and Harry is quick and skinny.  He wears glasses that have been repaired with tape and has a lightning bolt scar over his right eye.  He has brown hair that never behaves and green eyes.  And odd things are always happening around him.  For instance, when his Aunt Petunia cut all of his hair off except his bangs covering his scar right before school started it all grew back overnight.  When he went to the zoo for his cousin's birthday he made the glass partition disappear in front of the snake's cage when Dudley and his friend were standing in front of it letting the snake loose.  He was able to talk to the snake.

Then right before his birthday on July 31 he received a letter in the mailbox addressed to Harry Potter, Under the Stairs, 4 Privet Dr., Little Whining, Surrey. At the time he was living under the stairs.  So who would know that?  But before he could open it, Dudley announced that he had a letter and Mr. Vernon Dursely grabbed it and showed it to Petunia and then destroyed it.  Vernon moved Harry up to Dudley's extra bedroom just in case they could see how he was being treated.  And the next day they sent another letter and when he destroyed that one they sent more and more.  When he closed the mail slot they found other ways to get the letter inside the house. Finally, they came in through the fireplace.  Harry tried to grab one of the many that were flying in that way but Vernon grabbed him and forced him from the house.   He took them to an island far away in the middle of a storm that there was no way anyone could find them there.

But that night Hagrid, Keeper of the Keyes at Hogwarts, the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry,  arrived and pushed down the door and delivered Harry's letter himself.  Which didn't go over well with Vernon who wanted to keep Harry from going there.  Hagrid gets fed up with them and gives Dudley a pig's tail and the two of them leave with Hagrid explaining to Harry about how Voldemort, a bad wizard who had gained a lot of power and followers killed his parents and tried to kill him but failed to do so. And when he tried to kill Harry it did something to him and Voldemort hasn't been heard from again.  So Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley to get his school materials and Hagrid buys him an owl, Hedwig.  While they were getting Harry's money at Gringgot's the Wizarding bank, Hagrid got something out for Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster.  While shopping for a robe he meets a blonde-haired boy who tells him that there are certain wizarding families that are better than others and that those who have no witch or wizard blood shouldn't be allowed to go to Hogwarts.   And he bad talks Hagrid.  He honestly reminds Harry of Dudley.  They'll meet again on the ride to Hogwarts where he'll meet and befriend Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and they'll become instant enemies. The boy's name is Draco Malfoy.

The sorting hat wants to sort him into Slytherin but he doesn't want to go there so it sorts him into Gryffindor with Hermione and Ron.  They get no slack cut for them from their head of house Professor Magonigle whom they have for Transfigurations.  And Snape, whom he has for Potions seems to hate him on site.   Otherwise, the classes are hard but fun.  And greatest of all, through an accident, Harry ends up being the youngest member on the Quidditch Team in a hundred years. He plays the Seeker, the one who captures the Golden Snitch.  You capture the Golden Snitch and you earn 150 points for your team. It also ends the game.  Professor Magonigle gets him the Nimbus 2000, the latest in broomsticks to play on.  At his first game, he captures the golden snitch in his mouth and wins the game for his team.  But while the game was going on Snape was muttering words and wasn't breaking eye contact with Harry giving Hermione the impression that he was messing with Harry'\s broomstick--trying to knock him off his broom.  And he very nearly succeeds.  But Hermione goes over there and sets fire to his robes and stops him.

While out and about one night Neville Longbottom, Harry, Hermione, and Ron found a door and opened it and discovered a three-headed dog who was guarding a trap door.  Could it be what Hagrid got from Gringotts?  What exactly is the dog guarding?  Why does Snape want it? Is Voldemort involved?

This book is very slow at the beginning and can be hard to get into. The first time I read it I had to put it down and come back to it because I either wasn't in the mood or it wasn't easy to get into or both.  This time was easier to read because I knew what to expect, but time at the Dursley's is always kinda boring and in this book you spend the most time there.  Otherwise, this book is one of the most quotable books of the series it's so well written.  And it has a good story that isn't all that scary compared to the rest of them.  They get progressively scarier as you go along.  I really enjoyed this book and give it four and a half stars out of five stars. 

Quotes
 The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn’t feel brave or quick witted or any of it at the moment. IF only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.

-J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone p 118-19)

Hermione: Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to bed before either of you can come up with another clever idea to get us killed—or worse expelled.

Ron: She’s got to sort out her priorities.

-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (The Movie)

I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed--or worse, expelled. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed.

-J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stong p 162)

There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them. 

-J K Rowling (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone p 179)

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.

-J K Rowling (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone p 214)

“Harry—you’re a great wizard, you know.” “I’m not as good as you,” Harry said. “Me!” said Hermione. “Books! And cleverness!  There are more important things—friendship and bravery and –oh Harry—be careful!”

-J K Rowling (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone p 287)

After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.

-J K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone p 297)

     

Listed On Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Sorcerers-Stone-Rowling-ebook/dp/B0192CTMYG/ref=sr_1_2?crid=29O5HKNZ3Z8SD&keywords=harry+potter+and+the+sorcerer%27s+stone&qid=1567679391&s=gateway&sprefix=harry+potter+and+the+sorcerer%27s+stone%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-2
     

Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 11: Carnage by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mark Bagley (Penciler), Scott Hanna (Inker), John Dell (Inker), J.D. Smith (Colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (Letterer)

In the previous comic, Spider-Man is dismayed to learn that Sam Raimi is making a Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire in it.  They even use actual footage of him flying through the air for the movie.  And Spider-Man isn't getting paid one cent for this movie.  Which is money he could use.  Mary Jane is the only one who knows his identity but with Gwen Stacey living in the house it won't be long before she finds out his secret and she blames Spider-Man for her dad's death even though it was an imposter dressed like Spider-Man who killed her father.  Doc Octavius broods in jail but not for long as someone opens the door where his arms are being held and he can still control them even with them not being attached to his body.  It isn't long before he hunts down Spider-Man for revenge for putting him away in jail in the first place.  Spider-Man captures Doctor Octavius and Gwen comes around and sees that Peter Parker wasn't to blame for her father's death.

In this comic, Doctor Conners is having nightmares about what he could possibly do to his family as the Lizard and desperately wants a cure.  Meanwhile, Spider-Man is fighting a bad guy and gets hurt and turns to Doctor Conners to stitch him up.  Doctor Conners looks at Spider-Man's blood under the microscope and sees possibilities there.  So does his assistant.  This could possibly fix his arm and cure him of being the Lizard.  But first, he asks Peter for permission to use his blood to do tests and experiments.  At first Peter is apprehensive, but in the end, he agrees.

Then one night the creature they have been growing in the lab based off of Peter's blood escapes and kills the school's night guard.  It has Peter's memories and is searching for someone in Peter's circle of friends and family and when it sees one it kills them by puncturing a hole in their skin and draining the life out of them.  Peter is devastated and he wants to destroy what killed the person who was close to him.

This is a dark comic in that someone dies and that Peter kills the thing that killed the person whom it killed.  Peter had a mentor and friend in Doctor Connors and that is destroyed in this book.  It's a really killing blow to Peter to lose this person and he feels responsible for not saving them even though he wasn't there.  But that just shows you the type of person Peter is.  Someone who feels the weight of the world on his shoulders.  And he doesn't complain--much--only when it becomes overwhelming.  This was a sad comic, but I loved it anyway and I give it five out of five stars.

Listed On Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Spider-Man-Vol-11-Carnage/dp/0785114033/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ultimate+spider-man+vol+11&qid=1567595127&s=gateway&sr=8-1

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Meg, who is fourteen, is the daughter of two scientists, one of who is away somewhere and whom they haven't heard from in a year.  She has two twin brothers who are ten, Dennys and Sandy and a five-year-old brother Charles Wallace.  Meg doesn't fit in at school and may have to repeat her grade.  Sandy and Dennys make average marks and play sports and fit in fine.  Charles Wallace doesn't go to school yet but didn't start talking till he was four and when he did it was in full sentences but since he rarely talks around anyone but family people think he is slow.  Charles Wallace has a way of understanding Mrs. Murrey and Meg and when they might need some a cup of soothing cocoa or someone to talk to and he is there for them.

It is Charles Wallace who introduces the family to Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who, two strange creatures who live with a Mrs. Which in the haunted house.  Mrs. Whatsit wears an odd assortment of clothes and Mrs. Who wears odd glasses and quotes classic works a lot.  When Charles Wallace and Meg go to their house to visit they run into Calvin a boy from school and it seems they are fated to meet him there so they invite him over for dinner.  Calvin is great at English and stuff like that but not so good at math.  Meg is brilliant at math as long as she can do the problems her own way but not so good at geography and English so they help each other with their homework.

Afterward, Calvin and Meg go for a walk and meet Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, as well as Charles Wallace.  They are to tesser or wrinkle in space and time to get to the planet Uriel to see the Dark Shadow which is slowly taking over planets across the galaxy and is what their father is fighting.  They take them to see the medium who shows them Earth who is under darkness but is fighting it and hasn't quite been taken over yet.

The real reason for taking them out there is that Meg and Charles Wallace's father needs their help.  He is stuck on a dark planet called Camazotz. It's a cold planet where everyone does the same thing and no one thinks for themselves.  Will they be able to get their father out without losing themselves in the process?  This book is the first in a four-book series, but honestly, you don't have to read the other three.  When I was a kid I read this book but not the other three and it didn't harm me in the slightest, so don't worry about getting bogged down into a commitment to a series with this one book.  But if you want to further read about the adventures of these lovely characters you can.  This book doesn't end on a cliffhanger or anything.  This book tells what it is to be an outsider and misunderstood and angry that life isn't going the way you planned.  It tells of the importance of friendship and the love of family.  I loved this book the first time I read it and I love it, even more, the second time around.  I give it five out of five stars.

Quotes

“I hate being an oddball,” Meg said. “It’s hard on Sandy and Dennys too. I don’t know if they’re really like everybody else, or if they’re just able to pretend they are. I try to pretend, but it isn’t any help.” “You’re much too straightforeward to be able to pretend you aren’t,” Mrs. Murry said. 

-Madeleine L’Engle (A Wrinkle In Time p 12-13)

Nothihng is hopeless; we must hope for everything.

-Euripides

Experience is the mother of knowledge.

-Cervantes

We are the stuff as dreams are made on.

-Shakespeare (Prospero “The Tempest”)

Maybe I don’t like being different but I don’t want to be like everybody else either.

-Madeleine L’Engle (A Wrinkle in Time p 141)

IT sometimes calls Itself the Happiest Sadist.

-Madeleine L’Engle (A Wrinkle In Time p 141)

“Nobody suffers here,” Charles intoned. “Nobody is ever unhappy.” “But nobody’s ever happy, either, Meg said earnestly, “Maybe if you aren’t unhappy sometimes you don’t know how to be happy.”

-Madeleine L’Engle (A Wrinkle In Time p 142)

Listed on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wrinkle-Time-Quintet/dp/0312367546/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36GSI9XY6YMT5&keywords=a+wrinkle+in+time+book&qid=1567425718&s=gateway&sprefix=a+wri%2Caps%2C177&sr=8-1