I feel this post needs no justification.  I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, but originally, yet again, I was not interested in the books at all.  I read the Philosopher’s Stone in grade 9 because I had nothing else to read.  I blew through it in a a few hours and was on to the next.  It took about 3 weeks to finish the fist 4 books then I had to wait for the next 3 to be released.  It was agonizing.  What I would like to bring attention to is the cover selection.  There’s the UK and the USA cartoon covers which I’ve never been a fan of, the new signature covers which are okay but I don’t get, and then there’s the adult covers which I love. I think the photography captures the darkness of the books, which you really can’t get with a smiling cartoon. Anyways, no matter what the cover, the books are great.  I’m going to read them to my children repeatedly.

The Millennium Trilogy was another series I really had no interest in, but my sister really liked them and the world seemed to think they were awesome so I gave it a shot.  I’m glad I did.  I have a love hate relationship with most characters in the book but it really couldn’t be any other way (you’ll have to read the books to understand.)  My one issue is I greatly dislike how they end.  Thoughts?

I noticed this because the cover has so much going on and I was a little turned off when I read the title.  I mean, hello spoiler alert.  But I’ve started reading it and aside from being horribly confused and I am 100% intrigued and now I have to know how John dies.  How morbid of me.

Apparently this is already a movie! But done independently with no distributors and only seen at sundance? Not sure, I’m still looking for details (but treading lightly, as I don’t want to accidentally read the ending!)

I really had zero interest in The Hunger Games when I first heard of them, but ofter being told repeatedly by my most trusted friends that I would love them I gave it a shot.  Now I’m done the trilogy and I’m suffering from separation anxiety.  The young adult novels about war and rebellion and a teenager struggling to survive love and life will consume you and you won’t want to finish reading them.

Almost everyone is familiar with Laroux’s novel, The Phantom of the Opera, or at least Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical(maybe even Joel Schumacher’s 2004 movie starring Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler) but how many are familiar with the Phantom before he became one of literature’s most famous villains?  Susan Kay tells the story of Erik a young boy born with a horrifying deformity and terrifying intelligence and shows us the real tragedy of the opera in The Phantom.

I’ve always found WWII to be incredibly interesting and I always wondered how the situation was able to escalate the way it did.  Erik Larson sheds some light on the Germany pre-WWII far better than any of my history teachers ever did.

I heard they’re making it into a movie with Tom Hanks, I’d love to see that.

A little bit science a little bit murder mystery and all from real life history.  Erik Larson makes the past come alive.  This books really made me see how cool the telephone is.

This is an amazing book, based on actual events none of the dialogue or description is fiction, it’s all based on existing documentation (letters, media, etc).  If you enjoy murder mystery and fantasy this is really great.  If you’re not into non-fiction, this book will change your mind.

Leonardo Dicaprio is supposed to be making it into a movie with him as the bad guy, I’m totally in.