UP!—Still AWED While Reading Anew!

Posted on December 6, 2014 by writersideup

(NOTE: while this post is current, scroll on the sidebar —in a separate tab or window—to click to listen to Hedwig’s Theme while reading 😀)

Nudged by Sheila at Book Journey, I recently completed (for the 4th time) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (CoS), the second book in the “Harry Potter” series, and I continue to be amazed by the storytelling skills Jo(anne) Rowling possesses. Her characters, world and plotting were (are) so well-constructed and clear in her mind (though I know she had to occasionally check on certain details as she wrote the latter books), everything stayed true from the first book through the last. This vividness has afforded us, as readers, the experience of knowing these characters and her wizard world as acutely defined and “real.” Continue reading →

UP!—SO Glad I Didn’t Miss THIS Train!

Posted on November 16, 2014 by writersideup

(NOTE: while this post is current, scroll on the sidebar —in a separate tab or window—to click to listen to Hedwig’s Theme while reading 😀)

We can miss a lot of things in life, including the proverbial “boat.” After all, there are so many things to do, people to meet and places to see, and it’s impossible to be aware of or actually do it all when it’s timely, right? Well, one big train I happened to catch when the timing was right, having walked through the barrier onto Platform 9 3/4, was none other than the Hogwarts Express, and OH, it’s taken me on the most unforgettable ride!

When Sheila of Book Journey announced her hosting a Harry Potter ReRead-a-long, I couldn’t resist, regardless of how little time I had to add “pressure” reading to my life. The thing is, though the page count is sometimes hard for me to achieve in my time frame, there’s nothing about the actual reading of this series that is a burden. For me it is a joy 🙂 Continue reading →

UP!–What Gets You to REREAD a Book?

Posted on October 28, 2014 by writersideup

I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly a fast reader. I’d say I read at a moderate pace. Typically I read novels (or any fiction longer than a picture book) at bedtime, rarely allowing myself to read them during the day. That is, of course, unless the book is one I simply can’t put down, and OH, how I love it when that happens! 🙂 My list of books To Be Read (TBR) is a very lengthy one, and stays that way because it takes me relatively long to read each book, plus new ones are added every day. So, though I may want to REread a book, I nix the idea almost immediately.