Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Young Adult/Fantasy
Finished on 8/19/07
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)




Publisher's Blurb:

For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was Black's downfall as well. And the Azkban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts...he's at Hogwarts."

Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.


What can I possibly say that hasn't already been written about J.K. Rowling's series? This was a re-read and probably my favorite thus far. The second half of the narrative was quite enjoyable as the suspense steadily gained momentum, and I found myself littering the book with Post-It notes, hoping to pick up on any clues to the revelations in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We shall see if I'm right -- or even close!

Where In The World Is Was Lesley? (Bookstore Visits!)

Yes! I'm finally posting about the bookstores I visited while vacationing in the Pacific Northwest.

Friday Harbor (WA) has four bookstores. I made purchases in three. (The fourth was closed when I discovered it!)




Griffin Bay Bookstore was my favorite of the three I visited. I loved the atmosphere! Beautiful hardwood floors, lots of natural light, soft music and nicely displayed merchandise. This is exactly where I'd want to work if we could ever manage to relocate to Friday Harbor!



We didn't spent much time in this quaint used bookstore. I knew exactly what I was looking for and didn't want to linger too long, as there were other shops to visit.

I didn't get a picture of the Harbor Bookstore, but it's another lovely store that overlooks the ferry dock on the waterfront.


Boardwalk Bookstore is the one I missed out on. Doesn't it look charming? Definitely a "must do" on our next trip to Friday Harbor.


Sidney is considered Canada's only Booktown, featuring 9 bookstores. And, no, I didn't get to all of them. Not even half. The majority are used bookstores and I was looking for new books for souvenirs of the trip.

I spent a fair amount of time (and money!) in Tanner's. It's another store I'd be quite content to work in. Sorry--I was too busy admiring the merchandise and failed to get any interior shots.

Outside of Tanner's

We didn't have much time in Victoria (British Columbia), but a visit to Munro's was tops on the list. It's a lovely store, but for a Monday afternoon, I thought it was quite busy and crowded. Lots of tourists compared to the other shops I visited in Friday Harbor and Sidney.


Be sure to click on the pictures for the full-size image.

Stay tuned for a post about all my purchases!

Jeremy Fisher's Goodbye Blue Monday

I'm switching gears here for a moment to talk about a musician I recently discovered (thanks to the in-store play list at work). His name is Jeremy Fisher and he's from Hamilton, Ontario. His music is a cross between folk and blues. He plays acoustic and slide guitars, as well as the harmonica, and is a bit reminiscent of Paul Simon. His lyrics are very catchy and I find myself humming the tunes long after I've left work.

Check out his new cd Goodbye Blue Monday. You can also find several videos on YouTube.

Go here and here for more information. Enjoy!

Olympus Evolt E410 10MP Digital SLR

I've had several inquiries about the camera we used on our recent trip. It's an Olympus E410 Digital SLR with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 and 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 Zuiko Lenses. We absolutely love it! You can read more about it here.

Pacific Northwest Flowers (Part II)

These are from the Roche Harbor gardens:

Hydrangea Macrophylla

Hydrangea Aspera

Red-Yellow Kangaroo Paw
Anigozanthos 'Harmony'

Angel's Trumpet
Brugmansia aurea

Anyone care to help identify these plants?

Click on photo for full-size view.

Mad Dash

Mad Dash by Patricia Gaffney
Contemporary Fiction
Finished on 8/13/07
Rating: 3.5 (Good)


Book Description

The poor thing was cold and trembling, abandoned on their front doorstep. Dash, impulsive as always, decides on the spot that they should keep it. But her husband, Andrew, thinks it’s the craziest thing he’s ever heard. A fight over a scruffy little dog doesn’t seem like much of a reason to walk out on your husband of twenty years—but the spat over the puppy is just the last of many straws.

Dash is so tired of the faculty parties at Mason-Dixon College that Andrew insists they attend even though he won’t mingle with his colleagues, tired of his constant fretting over illnesses he doesn’t have, tired of the glass of warm milk he must have every night before bed. Why can’t he see that with her mother gone and their daughter off at college, Dash needs something more?

Now, living on her own for the first time in years, Dash can do whatever she wants . . . if only she could figure out what that is. But every time she starts making plans for the future, she finds herself thinking about the past—remembering the mother she’s lost, her daughter’s childhood, and the husband she isn’t entirely sure she wants to leave behind. . . .

By turns poignant and hilarious—often on the same page—Mad Dash is a novel about the funny ways love has of catching up to us despite our most irrational efforts to leave it behind.

It's been few years since I've read anything by Patricia Gaffney. I discovered her debut novel, The Saving Graces, in August 1999. Reminiscent of Elizabeth Berg's Talk Before Sleep, I admired the strength of friendship between the four women, eagerly adding Gaffney to my "must read" author list. A year later, I gulped down Circle of Three, the mother-daughter relationship resonating so effectively with this mother of a then-16-year-old, that I felt a kindred spirit in Gaffney. I was a bit disappointed with her more recent novels (Flight Lessons and The Goodbye Summer), both of which left such eminently forgettable impressions, I had to refresh my memory with the publisher blurbs on Amazon. When Mad Dash appeared on the New Release shelf at the library I thought, why not? It's still summer and summertime is the perfect time for fluff. And that's pretty much what I got. I do have to disagree with Janet Evanovich, Kristen Hannah, Jennifer Cruise, and Elizabeth Buchan, all of whom wrote advance praise blurbs for the back cover. This was not "laugh-out-loud funny," nor was it "poignant" or "witty" or "inspiring." There's nothing deep or thought-provoking about Gaffney's prose. Just pure and simple entertainment. A nice "beach read." Nothing more. One that was worth checking out from the library, but certainly not $23 for the hardcover.

Pacific Northwest Flowers

More pictures from Seattle's Eastlake P-Patch. Any plant names or corrections will be greatly appreciated!

Tickseed
(Coreopsis)

Calendula?

Dahlia?

Montebretia
(Crocosmia)

California Poppy
(Eschscholzia californica)

Shasta Daisy
(Chrysanthemum maximum)

Click photo to enlarge

A Month In Review - July

This almost isn't worth the time to compose! Suffice it to say, I didn't get much reading accomplished due to the wonderful 2-week vacation we recently took. Instead of curling up with a book, I took pictures. Lots of pictures! Pictures of eagles, seals, sunrises, log rafts, gorgeous boats, flowers, kelp, heron and gulls, ferries, clouds, food and beer, dogs and cats, flags and beacons, mansions and cottages, tugboats and lighthouses, bridges, float planes, hotels, ships and submarines, and nautical "stuff." If you haven't seen the pictures, scroll down. There's plenty to keep you entertained.

However, if you're here just for the book reviews, maybe August will be an improvement. Click on the titles to read the reviews (and view the ratings).

The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Favorite of the Month: A Walk in the Woods
Books Read 2
DNF 0
Male Authors 1
Female Authors 1
New-To-Me Authors 1
Across the Borders 0
Fiction 1
Nonfiction 1
Classic 0
Poetry 0
Young Adult 0
Sci-Fi 0
Fantasy 0
Humor 0
Travel 1
Mystery/Thriller 0
Series 0
Re-read 0
Challenge 2
Mine 2
Library 0
ARC 1
Gift 0
Keeper 0

Woman In Red

Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge
Contemporary Fiction
Quit on 8/5/07
Rating: DNF





Publisher's Blurb:

A powerful story of love and redemption, and what one woman will do to overcome the buried secrets of her past.

Alice Kessler spent nine years in prison for the attempted murder of the drunk driver who killed her son. Now she's returned home to Gray's Island to reconnect with the son she left behind. Her boy, Jeremy, now a sullen teenager, is wrongly accused of rape, and mother and son are thrown together in a desperate attempt to prove his innocence. She's aided by Colin McGinty, a recovering alcoholic and 9/11 widower, also recently returned to the island in the aftermath of his grandfather's death. Colin's grandfather, a famous artist, is best known for his haunting portrait, "Woman in Red," which happens to be of Alice's grandmother.

In a tale that weaves the past with the present, we come to know the story behind the portrait, of the forbidden wartime romance between William McGinty and Eleanor Styles, and the deadly secret that bound them more tightly than even their love for each other. A secret that, more than half a century later, is about to be unburied, as Alice and Colin are drawn into a fragile romance of their own and the ghost of an enemy from long ago surfaces in the form of his grandson, the very man responsible for sending Alice to prison.


Not really my cuppa, but a dear friend sent me her copy, knowing I was heading out to the Pacific Northwest for two weeks. The story's fictional island is based on one that I visited briefly years ago (Orcas Island), but not on my recent trip. Unfortunately, I couldn't get interested in the story and didn't care for any of the characters. I gave up after 140 pages.