Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling ----------------- 4 Stars

Yes, I know; I'm super late to the Harry Potter phenomenon. In trying to figure out why I had never read one until now, I think I've realized its a timing issue. See, the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released in 1997. At that point I was a 17 year old junior or senior and I would venture to guess reading about a childish magician didn't seem like the coolest thing to be engaging with. Then, of course, as things blew up and got crazy with HP, I was in college; and, again, I probably wasn't in a great place to enjoy these types or books. But, here I am, 28 years after release enjoying the first Harry Potter book.

Unless you've been living under a stone for the past quarter century, you know who Harry Potter is and you know about the many books and movies (and everything else that go with it). So, no point in summarizing the book. Rather, I'll share my mid-40 year old thoughts about this first HP book - it was pretty dang entertaining!

And, to be honest, I wasn't sure it would be. See, I'm not a huge fan of these types of books they're not really based in reality. Of course, I like a great story and interesting characters, which this book has plenty of, but my preference tends not to be these types of novels. But, of course, this book is wildly fun to read, easy to digest, and a great story arc with wonderful characters. As a huge Roald Dahl fan in my youth, I found it as many similarities to some of his books. The whimsical nature and easily connectable characters make them easy to consume.

Of course, the book isn't perfect. For me, it still reads like a "young adult" book, but that also makes it a smooth read. And, I've been promised, should I decide to continue with the series, future stories will seem more grown-up and "darker". Perhaps knowing there might be some future books coming, I do feel like some of the characters also are a bit flat, and I'm really curious about their backgrounds and wanting to learn more about them. Again, I assume that is in the future books.

Unfortunately, I'm now at a difficult point. I feel like I should continue reading other HP in the series but know the newer books are longer and many more of them than I feel like I have time for. For now, I'm gonna try something else and see if my interest come back to Harry Potter or this might be the one that I can check the box having read. If so, I can see why these were so popular and happy to at least be catching up now with this global phenomenon. 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt ---------------- 3.5 Stars

So, I know I'm super late coming to the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil party, seeing as the book was released 20 years ago this year and spent a record 216 weeks on the NY Times Bestseller list. But, with an upcoming trip to Savannah planned and an understanding that this book has been on my "to read" list for a while, it was a perfect time to give it a try. And, for the most part, I'm happy I did.

The book had a pretty interesting structure. The first third is a variety of vignettes about a half dozen or so eccentric personalities the author met during his time living in Savannah. Some connected with one another, some not, and he does a nice job pulling you into the life of Savannah by sharing these characters backgrounds, traits and relationship to the city. Then the book moves to a true crime focus, with the details leading up to a murder (of course, with a couple of those main characters). Finally, the book captures what happened, the (long) trials (yes, multiple), and the aftermath of that trial and subsidiary characters.

For the most part, the book was quite entertaining. Really capturing the flavor and heart of this interesting city, I found the book an enjoyable read. Going in, I knew a bit about the book and thought it would be much more about the murder and trail, as opposed to being a minority of time spent in the story. But, the other characters and stories about each of them was easy to read and fun to keep up with. I did have occasional frustrations that he didn't spend a bit more time with the murder trail and a bit less on these bit characters, but I understand that wasn't really his main focus in writing this story.

Of course, the movie that came out not longer after the book's release really vaulted this book to a higher level and it's safe to say it was a cultural phenomenon (too strong?) for a couple of years. While I'm about 20 years late to it, I am happy to have finally had the pleasure to see what all the excitement was about. Now to see if the city lives up to it too!