Book Review Blog Update!

Although it is true that in the last five months I haven't done as much reading as I have been accustomed to in the past, the fact that I have not updated my book blog since August doesn't mean I haven't done any reading. I just didn't get around to writing about it, and then I fell out of the habit. No guarantees that I'll fall back into the habit (I don't think my book blog gets much traffic even when I am posting more consistently), but books are a big part of my life and I like trying to articulate what I think about what I read.

These two books I read in January are in some ways incredibly different. I finished The Tales of Beedle the Bard in a matter of days, reading for just a few minutes a day. It was a light, quick read, and as little time as I was devoting to reading in the month of January, it was great to have the satisfaction of finishing something. The other book, What is the What, is definitely not a light, quick read. I loved the book, but it took me over a month to finish it (again it comes down to devoting very little time to reading in January) and it was intense. The plight of the Lost Boys of Sudan, and fairy tales from the Harry Potter world - they're kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum.

But as I was writing both my reviews this morning, it struck me that they both have a common thread. Even though the tales in Beedle the Bard are framed as stories about ethical, historical, and personal concerns specific to being a wizard (the quest for a spell that will bring about eternal life is not one I can directly relate to, for example), the stories are really about very human themes, when you think about them. And even though I cannot begin to fathom the lives and experiences of the Sudanes refugees I read about in What is the What, at the heart of the book is a very personal, human story that I really can understand. In other words, both of these books represent exactly what it is that has made me love reading for as long as I can remember. They take a circumstance that is not your own, and place you right in the middle of it, and make you understand something about that other circumstance and something about yourself at the same time. A good book is both a window and a mirror.

Anyway, enough philosophizing. I've been blogging for over an hour now (I won't say how much over an hour) and it's time for me to get started with my day.

You can link to both of my new reviews here. If you have time, please do!