Tuesday, January 29, 2008

"Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high...."

I finished reading my first two books last week; Friday, I believe. Well, I say two books but it really only counted as one book.

The George Harrison Biography, I Me Mine, was different than I imagined. The beginning of the book was a brief biography written by Derek Taylor, smatterings of George’s words mixed-up in between. It was an interesting approach, but I felt somewhat jipped that George did not write the whole thing. George must have been too busy taking drugs, racing cars and playing music to write his own autobiography.

I can honestly say that I would have hired someone to write my book as well. But that is only because I am lazy, not because I have too many activities that demand my attention.

The whole Biography was only about two hundred pages or so long. I was reminded of Gonzo journalism. Taylor’s colloquialisms and writing style was very seventies-ish, and slightly verbose. Though in the end, I felt I had a better insight into the man who was the Dark horse.

The second half of the book was George’s song lyrics. Since this book was published in 1978 there were a lot of great songs he had not even recorded yet. The many songs that were in the book were accompanied by small quips, quotes, remembrances and reasons why he wrote those songs. That was very, dare I say, enlightening and entertaining.

I recommend I, Me, Mine to any Beatles fan, or George Harrison-a-holic (like myself) who pines for the inner knowledge of their favorite pop icons.

My second read was the fifth installment of the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix. This was an outstanding read! Rowling has really honed her craft in this book. Her story arc, character development, character relations, intricate plot line, word usage, point of view, voice and attitude, etc.....I mean everything, was just great!

I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant when I first started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcery’s Stone. The book was written for children and, well, read like it was written for children. I was not very impressed. Don’t get me wrong, the story itself was brilliant, but the way she crafted her story was asi-asi.

Each book has gotten progressively better, with number five being the best so far. She has ascended her story into the throws of semi-serious literature with Order of the Phoenix.
I am going to save my plot synopsis because I have to be the last person on earth to have read this series. You all know what happens. However, for all you Hardcore Harry fans, I will entertain any further discussion in my comments or via e-mail.

That being said, my second of ten books is going to be—drum roll please— Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I am going to count this as one whole book, seeing as how the line between children's literature and adult literature has been crossed as definitely as Grawp is tall.

In all honesty, I have already started the book and am two hundred odd pages into the story. Pixie and I are reading this one together, so I have to wait until she gets home tonight to read any more. Hurry honey, hurry!

7 comments:

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

I'm trying. Just another 25 minutes and I'll be on my way!

JQ said...

Pixie— Wohoo! Drive Carefully!

Lynda said...

How do you read a book together? Do you look over each others shoulder or read outloud?

I haven't read the half-blooded prince yet, and we haven't even bought the last book.

JQ said...

Lynda— We each borrowed a copy from our local library. Neither one of us wants to get too far ahead of the other, though I am some forty pages past Pixie as we speak. Half-Blood Prince is pretty good so far....

Silicone Alley said...

At first I thought to myself "my first two books"? But then I read on and I understand now.

Good for both of yall (texan slang) for setting a goal like that.

A good book I recommend is House of Leaves.

JQ said...

Silicone Alley— I am pretty sure we will do more than 10 books, reading is fun.
"House of Leaves" sounds familiar, I will check it out.

Lynda said...

Oh, good idea. We always buy our books used, so I didn't even think of the library.

Of course, my husband and I could never read together. He can read 100 pages in a half hour, and I read about a fourth of that. That's probably slightly exaggerated, but he is a speed reader and I am not. Of course, I tend to pick up more details in a story, but I also only read a book once, where as he will read it over and over again if he likes it.