June's Books

I just finished that last listed below, and seeing as how it's the last day of June and I think I'm done reading for the day, I won't be making the list of June books any longer, so best just to post them now.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)… by J. K. Rowling

(personal collection)  -  Rowling has really done an extraordinary job with these books, and this fifth one is no exception. I think the vast majority of fantasy out there is laughable, and yet I'm a 36 year old woman who really wishes she could attend Hogwarts. Phenomenal story-telling! ...I have to figure out how to catch that train!  -  5/5 stars

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)… by J.K. Rowling

(personal collection)  -  As much of a page-turner as any book I've read. Rowling does it yet again with book six in this series. If book seven were available now, I'd waste no time in driving out to a store to pick it up immediately. I must know how this wonderful saga wraps up!  -  5/5 stars

The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho

(personal collection)  -  Just as Athena struggled with the spaces in her life, I found this book to be all about the spaces between the words, and given that, I don't think any two people will get exactly the same thing from this story. This book is brilliantly written and thoroughly inspirational. I intend to have a high-lighter and bookmarks on hand the next time I read it, and I expect I will read this book many times over the years as a prompt for insight into my own soul.  -  5/5 stars

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation… by Lynne Truss

(swapped)  -  I thought this book painfully boring at the start, but then I can't relate to punctuation sticklers or British humor. Eventually I fell in with the rhythm of the book and realized that I was learning something, and getting the jokes too.

Rather than an instructional book about punctuation, which I originally misunderstood it to be, it's more of an argument for and history of those strange bits of notation. The stories behind the development of punctuation and the people who fought for and against are actually far more interesting than I would have guessed. While I still wouldn't call myself a stickler, I do have an all new appreciation for things like apostrophes and dashes, and I'd love to get a look at an interrobang some day.  -  3/5 stars

The Keys To the Kingdom, Book 3: Drowned Wednesday (Keys To The Kingdom, The)… by Garth Nix

(personal collection)  -  "On the third day, there were pirates." How could anyone not like a book so succinctly summed up on it's fabulous dust-jacket? Arthur is finally taking command of his own fate and calling the shots, which makes things really pick up and run in this third book of the series. I can't wait to dig into Thursday's story next!  -  4/5 stars