Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a very large book. Sometimes they can be intimidating, but I've found that often the large books are some of the best. (Brandon Sanderson is a great example of this.)

Harry is distraught. After witnessing the murder of a friend and fighting Lord Voldemort himself and having the whole wizarding world calling him a liar, he has every right to be. His summer is silent and no one is telling him anything. He joins his friends at Sirius Black's house and finds out there is an Order of the Phoenix that he's been left out of as well. Then when he gets to school their new D.A.D.A teacher is psycho. No answers. No Dumbledore. No help. No hope. This year really sucks. 

The characters are amazing here. I don't know of any fan base who simply hates a character as much as they hate Umbridge. Professor Umbridge is hated beyond any fictional character I know (except for maybe"F-Moash" from Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive.) She is one that we obviously just detest and some consider more of a villain that Voldemort. 

I think Rowling did a great job at showing that Harry was angry. #Angst or what have you. I remember hearing about how this was a bad book because Harry was constantly complaining and angry. They blamed it on Rowling being pregnant and therefore hormones coming out in her writing. I don't believe it's credible--if she was pregnant during that time, I don't think her hormones made Harry hormonal, he had his own problems (and teenage hormones) to worry about. Yes, he was angry. Yes, he felt like he had no one to confide in or that was willing to confide in him. He felt alone. He'd just seen death and been called a liar by everyone and everything that had lips aside from his friends and members of the Order who aren't telling him anything. Harry is going through a depression and instead of closing up, which he sometimes does, he lashes out. He's getting beat down from every side and feels like he can't get up, though he keeps trying. Rowling did it well. Depression, anger, misunderstanding, hate, fear, they are all things that are prominent here but realistic. It's sad Harry lashes out at his friends who are only trying to help him, but "they don't understand" and it makes it hard on everyone. 

Just as the books are, the plot is thickening here. More and more things are happening and lots are going on behind the scenes. 

I think it's very well written and the characters help pull this one through. 

House of the Sun

This manga was a cute, simple and muchly needed story.

Mao is a girl who's family is broken. Her parents have divorced, her mom has practically vanished, and her cold dad is now remarried to a woman who already has a young daughter. She feels replaced by her new sister and unwanted by her father. There is one place she can go and has gone to every time she's needed to get away, the shrine. The shrine is where she is always found by Hiro who always somehow saves her. Hiro has his own problems and troubles. His parents are both dead, his two siblings are living with relatives, and he is left very much alone in his parents big house.

With Mao having no where else to go and feeling very much abandoned and so much room at his house, he offers his home as a place she can rest her head and sort out her troubles. He is older than her by eight years, but have known each other for years and years so it's not super weird. Except for the fact that they start liking each other, obviously!

Eventually Hiro's brother visits, new friends are made, crushes are realized and denied, and high school love drama ensues. Although it runs side by side with the need for families to come back together. Mending broken families.

I really enjoyed this manga series. Mao is a somewhat shy but strong girl who will do what needs to be done realistically. It takes time to gain the nerve and gumpshin to do it. Broken families aren't mended in a week, normally. Often, I think, not even a year. And this goes through the somewhat sticky process of real life and people and their choices.

I enjoyed the characters and how different they were. They grew in their own ways, each with their own moments of love in different varieties. Love and loss and denial and sadness, all real things in life and they were presented well.

This is one that I would probably read again. Enjoy.

A Great and Terrible Beauty

I've had this book for years and only finally was able to read it. And I have mixed feelings about it.

in 1895,Gemma witnesses the murder of her mother, the murderer was some kind of shadow. How can she explain that to anyone? Months pass and she is sent to live in an all girls school and learn how to be a lady and curb her boisterous tendencies. Making friends is hard and making enemies is far too easy. To top it all off, shadows and ghost stories haunt her. She finds a diary of a girl who used to go to the same school and saw the same things she did; this girl had the same odd powers Gemma seems to be acquiring. What is is going on and who is the strange boy who followed her from India all the way to England?

I really liked the historical representation that was depicted her. A life of a lady was not an easy one and many felt silenced and purchased for potential wedding contracts. The idea of "lay back and think of England" instead of making love to a spouse is one of the many ways that this is shown here--nothing graphic though I guess there is some nudity which is probably unneeded. The idea of being a quiet, proper "lady" is very prominent and has many of the girls feeling stifled. So before all of their independence is snatched away they will occasionally do things that would get them in serious trouble if they are caught: necking is a gypsy boy, stealing the priest's wine/whiskey reserves, getting up at all hours of the night, going into the woods for meetings/gypsy fortune telling/whatever else. Then Gemma introduces her strange power to some of the girls and more craziness happens. But the idea of being stifled, silenced, and putting on a fake smile with even worse conversations only about "the weather and the queens health" was something that they had to deal with back then and now too in some instances though not as dramatically. It's sad and Libba Bray portrays that very well.

I think the characters were well developed and each was different and developed enough that I understood. I enjoyed learning about them and at times I felt very sorry for them. The characters were a very strong reason I finished the book.

That being said, I almost didn't finish. I am not an occult fan. This had a feel of the Salem Witch Trials to me, tarot cards, talking to the dead through medians, sacrifices to give black shadow/spirits power, and other witchy things was turning me off for a lot of it. I don't read it, because "bad ju ju feelings" are a thing and I don't need it around me. I did finish it though because the plot was very good. It was a very engaging read that had me turning pages quickly. I finished it in less than a week.

It is a good book and written very well. The reason I gave it a four instead of five stars would be because of the occult theme and the fact that it got a bit darker than I wanted. I can see this series being a good one that has many people very engaged, but as this moment I'm not going to be picked up the next one, sadly.

Orange

This manga was a sweet book that I constantly wanted to go back to. One that I would curl up with in bed.

This is a story of a group of friends who suddenly receive letters from themselves ten years in the future. They are told to save their new friend, Kakeru. These letters are accurate about the day to day things and tell Naho, our main character,  to do things that the older self has regrets of not doing. 

From stepping up to the plate in a softball game to confessing to Kakeru. She isn't the only one to receive letters,  so together with her friends they work to save Kakeru.

It is well drawn with lovable characters. Although there are six of them,  each character has his/her own temperament and quirks. I really like Sawa.

This book, though, is about coming together as friends to support and lift one another. Suicide is very prevalent throughout the story. The grief and depression associated with it is real. I think Ichigo Takano did a good job conveying that emotion, as well as the need to help but feel like you're not doing enough.

The day when all of the letters were revealed, I cried. That is one of the biggest recommendations I can give. Tears were shed. Read it!