Little Talks

The final movie in the Harry Potter series is largely dedicated to the Battle of Hogwarts. All you really need to know about what happens in this movie is that Voldemort and his army rise and come to attack Hogwarts, while Harry, his friends, and the Order flock to the school to protect it. You might wonder at a time like this why the biggest battle in wizarding history is essentially a lot of evil lackeys and the Dark Lord versus students, teachers, and the few people who remained loyal to Dumbledore. Somehow I hardly questioned that in the book, but the movie made me question it. Then again, there is a recurring theme in the book of adults refusing to believe what is going on, but many students are convinced by Harry and the events at their school that Voldemort is alive and coming for The Boy Who Lived. Sounds an awful lot like Jesus' speech in Mark 10 when he describes the way that children are so much more willing to believe and trust than us skeptical adults. There are more b...

I had the amazing pleasure of being able to read Philippa Greggory's Counsins' War series while being in England. I even got the chance to visit York as well as tour the Tower of London, which only made this book more real to me. I am completely in love with the way that Philippa Gregory brings history to life. Not only that, but she is able to make women who lay at the margins of history to the forefront of the story in a way that makes them strong, ambitious, gentle, loving, and real. Her portrayal of Elizabeth Woodville had me amazed and inspired by a young widow who fell in love and became Queen of England. I was touched by the love she showed for her husband, her children, and her family. But I was also wary about her ambition, and at times I was downright angry with the way that she so willingly risked everything and ignored her children's wishes in order to get what she wants. She does not seem to have been a woman who was worried about making enemies. It is bo...

I've just been thinking about end of summer, my last year of university, the future, and making the most of life. I wish I had some deeper thoughts to share with you all today, but all I can say is that you shouldn't waste your time on things that you don't enjoy. Make the most of the situations you can't change, and change whatever you need to in order to live a life that makes you happy. Make time for God, find a job you love, indulge sometimes and make healthy choices when you can. That's my advice for you. Perhaps another good piece of advice, one that I've been slowly finding on my own, comes from About Time : live every day as if you've deliberately come back to that one day to enjoy it as if it were the last full day of your life. Let the small things go, and try to be present in every moment.

[Warning: spoilers] In the first part of the final instalment, Harry and his pals have left Hogwarts before their last year so that they can search for Horcruxes and destroy Voldemort before he gets too powerful. This is the point at which it starts to become real, when sacrifices must be made. Nonetheless, the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army hang onto hope. Hermione erases herself from her parents' lives in case she doesn't survive the final fight. Harry must be transported under the protection, and misdirection, of the Order. In the process, George is wounded and Moody is killed. Dumbledore's will is brought out, and each of our three heroes is given a gift which Dumbledore feels will help them in their search. Then Bill and Fleur have their wedding at the Burrow near the end of the summer. For that short time, everyone is happy and relationships are able to grow. Hermione and Harry being at the Burrow allows them to feel like they are part of a family du...

A while back I read Kady Cross's short story The Strange Case of Finley Jayne and I liked the way that it was written to be such a mysterious and female-centric tale inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, so I made the decision to purchase the first book in The Steampunk Chronicles series. With the prequel being my first real introduction to steampunk literature, I was excited to see where this book would take things. However, I was very aware while reading this that it had been written first, with the prequel being done as an afterthought, albeit a well-thought-out afterthought. The Girl in the Steel Corset was far more YA than I was expecting. The characters felt less developed, and a little more archetypal, and certainly more childish than I was expecting. They just seemed like young teenagers with all the problems of people who don't yet have adult responsibilities. I have to admit that I prefer my young heroines to have a certain level of maturity that these characters ...

I really don't have a lot to say today, so I apologize. I've been working a lot, it's late, and t's almost the end of the summer - I'm brain-dead.

[Warning: this post contains spoilers] This is a (long-delayed) continuation of my Harry Potter movie series. Yes, somehow I managed to watch the first five and then take a very long break before watching the last three. If you don't know the stories by now, I question where you've been living for the past couple of decades. But if you don't know, here's what the movie is about: Death Eaters are wreaking havoc on the muggle and wizarding worlds, while at Hogwarts security has been greatly increased. Snape finally gets the DADA position he's always wanted and Professor Slughorn returns from retirement to teach Potions. Harry finds an old textbook that says it is property of the "Half-Blood Prince" and is full of marginal notes. This book of course turns out to be young Snape's. Suddenly Harry is the best potions student, and becomes part of Slughorn's Slug Club, a small group of his most prized students whom he treats to parties and takes under h...

[Warning: contains some spoilers...although most of this story can be found in the Bible, so I consider it common knowledge.] Risen is the story* of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection as told by the (fictional) Roman Tribune, Clavius. While none of the Roman officials particularly care about Jesus, they have him crucified upon request from the Jewish leaders and people. Pilate basically explains that he's doing it to satisfy the Jews to keep them quiet and complacent. Clavius watches Jesus die on the cross, and all the Roman soldiers in attendance are shaken by the trembling of the earth as Christ dies (no pun intended, but happy coincidence). Clavius oversees the placement of Jesus's body in a tomb and, knowing the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Romans seal a great stone across the front of the tomb and set two guards to watch and make sure that no one will come and take the body away to perpetuate the "myth" of his resurrection. Soon word reach...

I, Iago is a retelling of Shakespeare's Othello told from the perspective of Othello's right-hand man, Iago. I have to admit that I've never read or seen Othello, but the book summary attracted me. The novel is separated into two parts: the background and introduction to the characters and then the retelling of the play. If you've never read Othello (like me) then you might like to know that Iago is the villain in Othello, but the aim of this book is to prove that he is not (entirely) at fault for the things that go wrong in the play. At the beginning, I loved Iago. He was honest to a fault, but he felt like the only real, down-to-earth person in the rich world of medieval Venice. I also loved that his wife, Emilia, fit in as little as he did. They were the kind of characters I could completely relate to because they didn't care about doing things the popular way. And they were so in love. Then there was a somewhat dramatic shift into the second half of the boo...

I decided to make this a special edition of Sunday Sayings in case some of you still hadn't seen the finale last night. I apologize in advance if you still haven't watched it, because I'm not going to hold back on anything I want to say. I am so glad to have started this show when I did. In January, when I was just settling into my apartment in England, it was often quiet and lonely. So I started watching Orphan Black when I realized that it was on UK Netflix. For years I have wanted to see the show and understand what it was all about, and I'm beyond thankful that I was able to binge watch 4 seasons in a couple of months and then come home in time to watch the final season. While I wish this show had been in my life longer, I don't regret that I could see the show from start to finish in just about seven months. There are so many things that I admire about this show: it's raw, it's real, it's full of deep character development and well-incorporated ...

A Bloody Storm   is the dramatic conclusion to the trilogy of Castle books featuring Derrick Storm once he's been brought out of hiding. This one felt far less like a film noir or classic spy thriller, and much more like a CIA/military kind of action story, although still full of deceitful spies. In this book the Russians have been dealt with, but it is clear that the gold is still being kept in an undisclosed location, and Storm's handler believes that there is a mole in his operation, so he sends four ex-operatives to find the gold (which, by the way, they were only able to locate because of Storm and April). Storm is also desperate to get April back after she was kidnapped from the hospital in London. So, of course, there is some romance element to the whole thing. Somehow this book felt more like modern shows and less like the cheesy novels that the previous two were, although it wasn't much different. The change of setting and mission in each book makes them all quite...

Following the story that started in A Brewing Storm , this sequel finds Derrick Storm and his female FBI partner/counterpart April Showers (yes, he names his characters as badly as Ian Fleming - but I think that's on purpose), but this time they are investigating the death of a senator who seems to have had some connections to Russian communists and some hidden gold. They go to London to meet with a communist figure who had been in contact with the senator through some secret dealings. Derrick's swagger and confidence fade a little when he feels that he can't completely trust anyone involved in the case, but it allows him to open up a little bit more with April. The tension between them increases, but it seems that she's mostly just leading him on. She is powerful and ambitious and fiercely independent in this book, which I enjoyed. She breaks from the stereotypical mold that was cast for her in the first book. Dare I suggest that the ghost writer for this book might a...

[Warning: mild spoilers] Yes, I watched a few 30s films this year. It was for school - unfortunately, that's probably the only thing that will ever make me watch some of these old classics. It's not that their badly made, but their very typical of interwar attitudes and British films, like the ones I watched, were shaped by the censorship of the age. On the bright side I feel more educated and cultured now that I've seen and analysed some of these films. If you haven't heard of The 39 Steps (has anyone in my generation actually heard of it?) you might be interested to know that it's a Hitchcock film. Considering that his name was attached to this I wasn't expecting it to be so...bland. It's black and white - that's fine with me. It's your classic old romance film - I can deal with that. And it was a spy thriller - apparently. Yes, the storyline is a spy story. The soldier at the heart of the movie meets a mysterious woman at a music hall and when ...

Before I start: no, this is not going to be a post in which I preach at you. This is simply a review of a book I have read, as so many of my posts are. I just want to give people ideas about these books, and to open discussions about them (should anyone wish to have a discussion). This book, in my opinion, handles it's topic very well. Kevin DeYoung not only has gay and lesbian friends, but he is a pastor and is therefore very careful to say only what he can support with scripture. And he is aware that the world is complicated. He makes it quite clear from the start that homosexuality is not a choice any more than heterosexuality. And for this reason, the thoughts and desires associated with homosexuality are no more sinful. Yes, lust is a sin, but it is a sin no matter your sexuality. The problem with these thoughts occurs when we choose to act on them. Therefore, Kevin DeYoung's argument in this book is that the acts associated with homosexuality are sinful. And he explain...

Starting in a new positions at my job, I have to admit that I've been feeling pretty co rodent about it. It seemed simple enough. And then I hit an unexpected snag. I can across some problems that I didn't know how to solve because I've never experienced them before. And I admit that when I saw the first problem I started to panic a bit. But I reached out to my friend, and when he told me what to do I realized that it's okay if things don't always go as they should. After all, I'm human, so I'm going to make mistakes. Plus I'm still very new at this job, so no one will be expecting me to be perfect yet. If the fault is mine, they'll tell me what I've done wrong and hopefully I won't do it again. But I choose to see this as a learning experience, a small wave on an otherwise calm sea that has already passed me by. It won't stop me from enjoying life if I just let it go. This doesn't affect any of the important things in life.

[Warning: contains some spoilers] This short little ebook is the first in a trilogy of books based on those written by the title character of ABC's Castle  (one of my favourite shows). I decided to give this little series a go because I wanted to shake things up, read a different genre than my usual go-to. Plus I wanted something light and fun. And this is certainly both of those things. The Storm books are certainly cheesy - pulp fiction, some might say. They feel like the kind of mystery books you could pick up at a convenience store in a train station or an airport. But I enjoyed it! There was a film noir-esque narration style, and it was very typical for a spy thriller. There's a macho, dark male lead who has a thing for pretty women, especially the feisty and powerful ones, but he's running from his past. He had to fake his own death, and he's afraid to face the woman he left behind when their CIA boss calls him back for a new mission (luckily he doesn't have t...