Rachel Kovaciny's Blog, page 38

"The Christmas Pig" by J. K. Rowling

Having just finished rereading the Harry Potter series, it was super exciting to have a brand-new Rowling adventure to enjoy before the end of the year!  And The Christmas Pig did not disappoint.
Jack's favorite toy, Dur Pig or DP for short, has been his constant source of comfort throughout his short and sometimes troubled life.  When his father leaves, DP comforts him.  When Jack and his mother move to a new house, DP bolsters his courage.  When Jack gets bullied, when life is unfair, when noth...

"The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Wow.  Wow, wow, wow.  I'm not even sure how to review this book!  My friend Jennifer gave it to me because she has recently fallen in love with this series, and she thought I would too.  And she was right.
I mean, I basically cried from joy through the last 30 pages, it was so good.
The Vanderbeeker family lives in Harlem in the first two floors of an old brownstone.  The family is devastated when their grouchy, never-seen landlord Mr. Beiderman calls them a few days before Christmas to say their ...

"Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Christmas Stories" by Anthony Trollope

I got this book because the first story, "A Christmas at Thompson Hall," was one of the selections for the  #DickensDecember2021 reading group this year.  And I went ahead and read the whole thing because... Christmas!  I'm not sure that I've read anything by Trollope before, but I really want to read something else of his now because he has a very engaging and conversational style, and I like that.
Anyway, here's what I thought of each story in this collection:
+ "Christmas at Thompson Hall" was ...

"The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices" by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins

I think the best thing I can say about this book is that... I've read it, so now I never have to wonder if I ought to read it.
Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins went on a trip around the northwest part of England together, and they wrote up a fictionalized version of their trip to include in Dickens's magazine Household Words.  And it's both nonsensical and dull, which is kind of hard to make work, but they do.  The most interesting part, for me, was the beginning where they go hiking up a mount...

"A Very Bookish Christmas" by Rebekah Jones, Sarah Holman, J. Grace Pennington, and Kate Willis

I liked A Very Bookish Thanksgiving  and A Very Bookish 4th of July , but I think A Very Bookish Christmas is my favorite yet.  Probably because I love Christmas so much, I suppose.  Or maybe I just connected to more of the stories?  I don't know!  But I had such a lovely time reading these four novellas.  My favorites were Sincerely, Jem by Kate Willis and Molly and Anna by Sarah Holman, but I enjoyed the other two stories too!
Gingerbread Treasures by Rebekah Jones is kind of inspired by the Sher...

"The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern

I've seen It's a Wonderful Life (1946) dozens of times.  I remember first seeing it at my grandparents' house in July when I was probably eleven or twelve.  My aunt found out we had never seen it and insisted on loaning us her copy so we could rectify that omission in our cultural education.  I've been a fan ever since.
But I'd never read the short story it's based on, until now.  Isn't that silly of me?  I must admit I've been a bit hesitant to read it because... what if it wasn't as wonderful a...

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

This is only the second time I've read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I read it once back in 2007, the night was released, which was a wild ride.  And now, I've finally read it again.  I liked it better this time through, though I still agree with my original assessment that it's about a hundred pages too long.  It takes a long time to get going, and I think it could have very easily lost fifty pages of preparation for Bill and Fleur's wedding and fifty pages of nothing happening while H...

"The Beautiful Ones" by Emily Hayse

Remember how much I liked These War-Torn Hands ?  Yeah, well, I downright loved The Beautiful Ones.  Everything I loved from book one is still here -- the sweeping vistas, the epic fight of good versus evil, and Jack Selby.  Not a lot of Jack Selby, but still a bit here and there to keep me happy.  Same for Raymond Lacey, who was my second-favorite in the first book.  I'm afraid he's dropped to third now because... Kate Carnegie, man!  Did she ever step up her game in this book!  I want to hang o...

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J. K. Rowling

Whew.  I blazed through this book at about four times the speed of Order of the Phoenix .  Even though I also cry during this one, it didn't have the same sort of dread for me, so I didn't keep putting off reading it.
These books continue to feel extremely timely, with social and political upheaval disrupting ordinary life, dangers encroaching on wary and unwary alike, and so on.  I particularly loved the themes of standing by your friends and offering grace to your enemies.
I feel like this book m...

"The Tall Stranger" by Louis L'Amour

Well, boy howdy.
I grabbed this book off my shelf at random on my way out the door to my daughter's swimming lessons one day, solely because it fit in my back pocket and I was in the mood for a western.  And it did not disappoint.  By page two, I was in love with Rock Bannon.  I think it was this bit that got me:

He had neither woman nor child, nor anyone anywhere.  He had a horse and a saddle, a ready gun and a mind filled with lore of the trail, and eyes ever fixed on something he wanted, someth...