Lost Stars by Claudia Gray

9/10

Finished reading this with Mallory tonight. We enjoyed it very much. It was my first Star Wars book, but I enjoyed this one a lot so I will probably read several more in the near future. This one was a good first one to read as it spans the original trilogy with two characters whose stories are interwoven with Episodes 4, 5 and 6. The story had some fun moments when the story intersected with the movie and it was done really well when it happened. I was actually surprised that it didn't go over the top with it and kept true to its own story and characters overall. But it's always fun seeing a story told from a different perspective, kind of like Ender's Shadow.

The book was written well and the characters were good and interesting. I liked the development of the story with both characters dedicated to the Empire and one becoming disillusioned and joining the Rebellion and the drama that ensued. Just a fun story and I enjoyed discovering this new part of the Star Wars universe.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

8/10

I finished reading this a few nights ago. I enjoyed it. The characters were pretty well written, especially the main character. The premise of the story was a good one that was almost impossible to botch. I liked the style of the presentation, with the first-person narrator told through the three main female characters, but with one of the character's narration lagging behind but slowly catching up to the present. I also liked the amnesia style storytelling, Memento style, where the main character slowly pieces things together from her memory.

Some things that I didn't like was the ending where the killer just opens up and explains the entire murder in front of his wife. Just seemed too far-fetched. Also didn't like how the main character just shows up at the house to explain all this to the wife without even knowing whether the killer is still home or not. The language was also a bit too raunchy at times for my liking.

This was a good book that I looked forward to reading each night which is what it's all about.

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

7/10

I finished reading this tonight. I was waffling between giving this a 6 or 7 out of ten, which means it was ok but I didn't love it. I could have easily given it 6/10, but I liked the writing enough and the overall plot was interesting enough. But I can't stop thinking about how much of a wasted opportunity this book was. With such good writing and an interesting plot to write about, it feels like Conrad ultimately drops the ball on this one and fails to take the plot to more consistently interesting places and the characters are remarkably boring. Many of the characters are overall quite pointless as they appear and then are never heard from again. Some chapters were top notch only to be followed by a boring, pointless chapter (I'm looking at you, chapter about Verloc's mother-in-law's horse ride moving to her new home). The pace was quite slow, which was bothersome at times, but also really nicely done at other parts (I'm looking at you, chapter about Verloc's interaction with his wife after she learns of the bombing involving her brother).

I also came in to this book with low expectations because Conrad wrote one of my least favorite books of all time, Lord Jim. I haven't read Conrad for more than a decade because of how much I disliked that book. But this one was better and put Conrad as a writer back in my good graces.

Conrad books I've read, ranked:

1. Heart of Darkness
2. The Secret Agent
3. Lord Jim

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne

6/10

I finished reading this with Mallory tonight. It was ok I guess. Nothing special. Didn't hate it. Could have done without it. The story was ok, the characters were ok, the writing was ok. Felt fan fictiony for much of it. Don't love a whole story based on time travel. The best part of the book was probably the character Scorpius Malfoy. He did all the heavy lifting in this book and is the only reason to get this over the hump from a 5/10 to a 6/10. Maybe watching the play would be better.

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence

6/10

I finished reading this book tonight. I wasn't in love with it. It had its share of good moments and its share of tedious moments. The book is split up into two sections. The first is the "Sons" section which covers the Morel family. The second is the "Lovers" section which covers one of the Morel sons, Paul Morel, and his relationships with two ladies who he bizarrely can't have normal relationships with because he is obsessed with his mother. I actually quite liked the first section. It had more of the Victorian feel to it that I like. The second section is pretty tiresome overall and is where my interest in the story and characters began to wane. It was odd how much Lawrence had to contrast love and hate throughout the entire story. Any time he would talk about love it would quickly change to how the characters hated each other. Just tough to relate to and understand.

I did think he was a good writer and the fact that it was semi-autobiographical kept my interest level up higher than it otherwise would have been. And the way the mother's death was handled near the end kind of salvaged the book for me and was superbly done. There were relationships in this novel that I would have liked to see more of. First, the Morel parents' relationship was fascinating and I really enjoyed the father character and missed his absence during the majority of the second part. The relationship between Paul and Dawes has a really interesting one and I like where the story went with that one but wish we had more of it. And Paul and Clara in the early goings was pretty interesting but then turned boring as they became a couple. I liked the teasing, debating Paul who seemed to enjoy getting under Clara's skin.

This book was ok for me and good enough to keep me interested in reading more of D.H. in the future, although I probably won't be sprinting to do so.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

10/10

Finished reading this with Mallory tonight. What a journey. I really liked this one and felt that it was really well done. It is slow moving at first, but I liked the idea of hunting down horcruxes. Seemed like a fun quest and I liked that they had to struggle their way through it rather than just finding instant success. Some nice twists and turns. I liked Snape's role in this book and it was fun to see his story develop. And the much anticipated final face-off between Harry and Voldemort did not disappoint.

I'm glad I waited to read these books with my daughter. I think it made me like the books much more than I perhaps otherwise would have as we got to enjoy discovering this world together.

Below are my rankings:

1. HP-7
2. HP-4
3. HP-3
4. HP-6
5. HP-5
6. HP-2
7. HP-1

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

9/10

I finished reading this a few days ago. I enjoyed this one. It was well written and interestingly presented. It had great characters and a great setting for a story: Nazi Germany. Most books have a few boring characters but I enjoyed reading about every character in this one. I think my favorite part of the story was getting to see that their were some real, true, decent Germans during World War II. Many of these folks also suffered greatly, but just obviously in a different way than the Jews.

I had a hard time buying in to the Death as the narrator thing but finally came around to it. I just kept thinking that it didn't make sense for Death to know all these details about Liesel so why is he the person narrating the tale? But that part is explained and I'm fine with it. Ended up being a pretty cool perspective to have Death sharing his thoughts about the human race.

I also really liked the ending and found it pretty moving. I was happy that Liesel and Max were able to be reunited again at the end and I thought it was done superbly by not overdoing it, but simply stating that they hugged and cried and fell to the floor. They both had lost everything and everyone and I was with them in that moment.

Good writing, good characters, good story, good book.