Second Time Around

I've been reading a slew of good books lately. Including but not limited to 1776, The Thirteenth Tale, and Farewell Summer - the last being the sequel to Dandelion Wine (much to my shock to see it on the library shelf and exclaim "There's a sequel to Dandelion Wine?!?!" but my fascination with Bradbury and DW is a story for another time). Most recently, I've picked up Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the second time. Yeah, I know I'm being overly trendy by rereading it before Deathly Hallows comes out (very, very soon!), but I find that I'm seeing the book in whole different light than the first time I read it. I originally marked it with a LT 2 star rating but now I think I may have been too harsh. I won't give away any spoilers but I think on my first read the ending was a bit too traumatic and I just brushed off the rest of the novel as crappy due to my disappointment. It makes me realize that there are probably a few more books out there that I judged too harshly too quickly and a more objective second read through them would probably be a good thing (unless it's by Dan Brown because I refuse to waste any more seconds of my life on poorly written over-hyped fluff....too harsh?? Uhhhh...sorry?). But on the other hand there are countless good books out there waiting to be read, so why should I waste my time on something that didn't impress me the first time around? The ultimate dilemma.

On a side note, about Harry Potter (and this is really not a paragraph worth reading if you're not an HP fan) - it really bugs me that people keep calling the last book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows when in actuality it's Hallows. This leads to the instant debunking of the theory that Godric's Hollow has anything to do with the title. So to all the thirteen year olds that actively subscribe to and propagate that myth, I just want to say "You're wrong!!!" Okay, I really only want to say it to the junior high kids heatedly discussing the issue on the Metra last week but anyways.... *deep calming breaths* So what are the Deathly Hallows? Well, my suspicions are that if you consider "hallows" from the origin of "holy" we're talking about some sort of sacred (but deathly!) items or objects. Horcruxes, anyone? Oh well. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Happy reading to all and to all a book light!

Deathly Hallows Countdown: