Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling
The Awakening of David Rose: A David Rose Novel by Daryl Rothmans (Kindle)
Ruby Milk by Lucy English (Kindle)
Penny Legend by Lucy English (Kindle)
225 best pressure cooker recipes by Cinda Chavich.
Delicious under pressure by Meredith Laurence ; photography by Jessica Walker
China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan
It's been a slow month for reading due to several factors:
1. I began teaching summer school for PreCollege at Pratt.
2. I began working on Saturdays at the Windsor Terrace Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library doing a Ready Set Kindergarten Program.
3. I began riding my bike to those above places: Pratt and Windsor Terrace BPL, which cuts down a lot of time in transit reading.
And as you can see from the above categories, Hiro also had not checked out or bought any books this month either. This is because in anticipation of moving downstairs he packed up all his favorites from his bookshelves, which are now covered in plastic, and have been rereading all the Big Nate books as well as rereading the Harry Potter series from 1-7. Plus he figures that in anticipation of the script for the Harry Potter play coming out at the end of the month, he'd better recap what went on.
So the end of the month found us as a family at the Astoria Bookshop for the much anticipated release of the new Harry Potter book at midnight in costume- this time as a 300 page script rather than a 500+ page novel. We let the kid stay up since it was a literary once in a life time event and I was a bit curious as well, since I got on the Harry Potter book bandwagon years after the 7th book was published. Of course when there is a costume contest, we are in it to win it. So the discussion on Thursday as I picked up Hiro from camp went like this:
me: so there's going to be a costume contest at this Harry Potter event. And you know that everyone who will dress up will be either Harry or Hermione. Plus we have all your Harry Potter stuff from the last birthday party in storage so there's no chance of you being a Hogwarts student even if you wanted to.
Hiro: I know I have the scar already and wear glasses but I already dressed up as Harry anyways... oooh I could put a bunch of rags on and go as Dobby instead!
me: that would be good since its so hot out, you don't want to wear a robe anyway.
Hiro: or maybe I could duct tape that wooden chair leg onto my leg and go as Mad-Eye Moody. And we can look in daddy's junk drawer and get those goodly eyed sunglasses out.
me: ok ...well see...(secretly hoping for Dobby since it's an easier costume to put together, and the wooden leg he is talking about is an ornately carved claw footed 40" high chair leg.) let's work on it Saturday morning before your NAP.
So at 11:45 pm on July 30th, a few minutes before Harry Potter (and JK Rowling's) Birthday, Hiro dressed as Mad-Eye Dobby (a morphing of the two) amongst all the kids dressed as various Hogwarts students, wins his 4th costume contest of his life (James Bond- age 2; Einstein as the Apple Store Genius- age 6; Headless Donald Trump- age 7, were the other hits). The first place winner was called up and allowed to pick his prize from the following choices: a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavored Jelly Beans, a Harry Potter craft book, $10 gift certificate, or a 5 foot tall free standing cut out poster of the book. So what does he pick?
The 5 ft tall free standing cut out poster of course, at which point my knee jerk reaction self screams out "Noooooooooooooo! We don't have room for that!!!!!!!!!" and everyone laughs and starts chanting "go for the cash, go for the cash, go for the cash!".
We got out of there at 12:10am, (with the $10 gift certificate) since I had already prepaid for the book. Hiro work up at 7:30am (after only 7 hours of sleep) and proceeded to finish the book by noon.
I spent that evening finishing it, since it is after all a script for a play that lasts about 5-6 hours tops. I was a bit disappointed in it. The story felt a bit like I was watching an anniversary TV show with all the cast members returning to make cameo appearances mixed with the story line from Its a Wonderful Life and Back to the Future. The whole premise being, what would happen if you went back and messed with time, how different would life be if George Bailey were never alive.
For the most part, when I wasn't preparing for lectures or getting together syllabi or program notes,
I spent catching up on the self-published books by high school friends which had been sitting on my Kindle for a few months. Lucy's book was a nice light chick-lit read and easy to get through. There were some problematic things about the story-line but over all I really liked the main character- Penny the social worker.
Daryl's book was a good return to my summer reading of YA fantasy/historical fiction. Awakening was a unique tale about a historical time I never had any interest in...before now.The material was thoroughly researched and I loved all the facts presented on medieval times running alongside present teenagers' lives. Each character was believable and unique, the pain of loss is palatable and the relationship between the protagonist and his little sister was sweet and touching. As another reviewer noted, I wondered about who the intended audience was supposed to be. The writing is beautiful but unsure if it would appeal to YA, though the subject matter is perfect and readers who are into Rick Riordan series will surely love this book.
Kevin Kwan's quick chick-lit was a quick read with name dropping of designers I'd never heard or or ever would be able to afford. And for the two cookbooks...just getting ready for more non stove top cooking with the new pressure cooker that everyone on Facebook is raving about.
