aman757's reviews
33 reviews

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

adventurous challenging lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I liked the previous book in the Harry Potter series slightly more, but this one had some interesting points in it too. Part of the book focused on Hermione advocating for house elf liberation, which seems to be symbolic of a larger political meaning. One of the house elves introduced was named Kreature, and he worked in the Hogwarts kitchen at least for a time. There were also some other creatures/fantasy beings introduced that I enjoyed reading about, including trolls and centaurs. There was a new Hogwarts professor introduced also named Sirius Black, who is one of the professors suspected of aiding Voldemort in his return.

Another part of this book was Harry experiencing visions of facing Voldemort, which come to find out later are planted in his mind by Dumbledore to prepare him for a later battle. These visions make his blood boil and bring out feelings of an almost uncontrollable aggression. And then later in the book, Harry actually has his first battle with Voldemort, which ends with him escaping, setting the series up for the next book.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

My mother has a collection of the Harry Potter books on her book shelf, and I read this fourth installment in the series first since its the first that was released after I was born. I remember some of these characters from looking at some of these books when I was younger and seeing some of the movies before. Also just from popular culture too, I suppose. I liked the focus of this book on the Quidditch world cup, which starts the book. This reminded me of the soccer world cup in the real not wizarding world. Then, the book goes into talking about a school competition at Hogwarts called the Goblet of Fire.

In this competition, a student is selected from each of the three competing wizardry schools. And in the particular year, there's a twist of two students being selected from Hogwarts. The book had a pretty interesting ending too, with Harry Potter winning the competition and the other student selected from Hogwarts dying in the competition.

Success For Teens: Real Teens Talk About Using The Slight Edge by John Fleming

challenging hopeful informative fast-paced

4.0

To me, this book reads at times as a close epitome of the self-help genre, particularly that for teenagers or young adults. The criticism I have related to this is that some of the advice and tools given in this book may appear at face value as overly standardized. That said, I think the author does a good job still elaborating on the main sections in which advice is offered by giving relevant examples in between them. The written personal reflection parts that break up each chapter are also likely helpful to some readers, though I generally dislike these reflection pages because they just don't align well with how I like to share books. Regardless, I can definitely comprehend why many teens would be drawn to this book for learning skills like goal-setting or prioritization. It's just some at times generic advice and what I thought was a bit of an overemphasis on fincancial inventment throughout that led me to knock my book review down slightly to a graded but respectable 4 stars.

Bringing Up Boys by James C. Dobson

challenging reflective medium-paced

3.5

I began to read this parenting book, which I found on my mom's book case, hoping it may offer me some insight on specific child raising techniques. However, I didn't make it past reading the first chapter of this because I noticed an out of date tone and choice of example early on in the book, namely mentioning the perils of the rock music industry, which has not been a serious concern during my lifetime as far as I can remember. That said, I don't want to discredit all information given in this book or entirely reject its relevance, but I've been working being better at putting a book aside when I realize it doesn't pertain to me at the time, and I think this was one of those times.

Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls by Rachel Simmons

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

I began reading this book from my mom's book case because of the insight I thought it may offer into some of her parenting focuses, which at times I've found difficult to comprehend, leading me to think that some of my confusion about her goals at times may relate in part to certain gender differences with how my sister was raised. I found the general thesis or topic of this book to be psychologically interesting also. From early in the book, the author, Rachel Simmons, suggests that bullying manifests itself in a qualitatively different manner among girls than with boys, with girls being more likely to use relationship aggression tactics to inflict suffering on peers than physical acts. As the book also states, this is not a type of gender-exclusive behavior, but rather a trend that tends to emerge in the related research. That said, one of my primary dislikes about the book, which I decided to stop reading about halfway through, was that it wasn't organized in a straightforward way to argue the thesis, electing instead to focus more on "field-study" type of anecdotes. Rather, Simmons details the individual stories of girls who have bullied and girls who have been bullied to explore more deeply some of the specific manifestations of this phenomenon of aggression in girls. I believe this technique was still effective, but would have made for a more interesting book to me if the vignettes were broken up by more specific discussions of facts from the author's research.

Thirty Days Has September: Cool Ways to Remember Stuff by Christopher Stevens

informative lighthearted fast-paced

3.5

There were many facts and mnemonic devices that interested me from this book. I don't think any stuck out more than the titular "thirty days has September" though. What fell short in this book for me was that it seems to attempt too many purposes at once. For example, there are several pages dedicated to grammar and related mnemonics in the first part of the book. However, there are also several pages that seem to be attempting to function as more of an encyclopedia, with fascinating but relatively purposeless information. Either way, some of the individual mnemonics were interesting to me and there were several that were new to me, along with many I had heard growing up.

Dear Mom: Thank You for Everything by Bradley Trevor Greive

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

My sister, my brothers, and I had got this book some years back for my mom (probably mostly my sister who got it and helped us sign our names lol). I picked this up recently to see what kind of message it shared with mothers, and I was pleasantly surprised by the way the book uses pictures of mothers and children from the natural animal world to show various duties performed by mothers in everyday human life. I also thought the author found a unique style of using these pictures as a sort of launching point for talking about and thanking his own mother for all she's done for him.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

challenging emotional lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I liked the way this book was divided into different parts. The first part was my favorite I'd say, mainly in terms of plot and the characters being introduced from the unique perspective of the child writer Brione.

It was very interesting to see how the accusations against the war veteran boyfriend of Brione's sister developed, and how some of the first stages of the romance developed through the eyes of Brione in this first part. /spoiler> It was also interesting to see how some of the stylistic choices of the second part of the book, particularly going from chapters to telling the second part as a more continuous narrative. The plot of this section also connected well with the first part. It also connected well with the third section in returning to the story of some of Brione's later life. I truly wasn't expecting a fourth part of the book either.

This part was a little different, making a sort of fourth wall breaking allusion to Brione being the writer of story that was told in the book.

That is a stylistic technique I haven't seen in books very often. I only withhold the last half of a star because the ending to the book, being a sort of musing from Brione's to the love story she'd want to tell. And I just wasn't sure if this was the way a female author, for example, may choose to end this book. It is an interesting choice, though, and I would say it is still a somewhat satisfying conclusion to me.

The Myth of Laziness by Mel Levine

informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

This is my first review I used half a star on lol. There wasn't any one part in particular that made me hesistant to give this book a full 4 stars. Rather, this rating was the result of a combination of me seeing conclusions drawn from research I found to be not thoroughly detailed, as well as a lack of an identifiabke overarching thesis of the book. I did at least learn some about the use of output as a scientific measurement, particularly in psychology. Mr. Levine's book is at least one that makes some interesting observations, mainly based off observational interview data. However, this is a book I think could benefit from some sort of addition, whether it be a second edition or otherwise.

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus

adventurous hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A friend from high school recommended this book to me some years back, and I had somewhat carelessly given her copy away. Admittedly, this would not be a book I'd likely have chosen to read myself, mostly because I prefer to read non-fiction books, but since I got a copy to return to my friend, I decided to try reading the book again. And I would acknowledge that I did enjoy it more than I was expecting to. I found the main character, Nanny, relatable enough that her commentary on the lives of the ruling class circles she navigates as part of her career came off to me as neither snobbish or entitled. Rather, I believe I interpreted the behavior of her clients and others around her similarly to how she does throughout most all of the book. I think part of what allowed for the likability of the main character and the effectiveness of the storytelling was the fact the book was co-authored, with the creative partnership between Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus leading to a better finished product than either of them probably could have produced on her own. I say this not to insult either one of their individual careers, but just to suggest that this may be a type of work relationship most any writer might find helpful in the genre of occupational fiction, especially when attempting to encapsulate the traits of a profession through such an aptly named character as Nanny. I'd also like to share a couple scenes in this book that stand out to me as both memorable and exemplary of the book's larger themes.

The first is when Nanny takes her client, G (I forget his full first name), to meet her mom, and her mom tells G about her family's tradition of wassailing, which seems to be essentially a version of caroling, with the main guideline being to "sing your heart out." At this point in the book, G still comes off as unsure about, or even averse to, his relationship with Nanny, but he is all for participating in the tradition of wassailing when it comes time for it. And so, Nanny, still being new to the job and the apartment building of her clients, chooses somewhat selfishly to bring G to the door of a guy she started developing a crush for from an earlier scene in an elevator. G proceeds to put on an impassioned performance for the guy, and then Nanny was able to talk to her crush some before she went with G to sing at a different apartment.

This is an example of how the book remaining in the perspective of Nanny allows the reader to remember that she does have personal interests working for the X family, although she almost always puts the interests of the client first, and this scene particularly shows how Nanny figures out a way to incorporate one of her personal wants into her time with G so that he has a good experience while she remains true to her interests too.

Another memorable scene to me was when, during a prolonged absence from the family, Mr. X sent a dozen roses daily for almost a month. This goes on so long that when Nanny returns from a brief winter break, the X family's living room is filled with roses. This wasn't a very extended scene or one that played a major role in the plot of the book, but it still stood out to me, partly for the contrast it provides to Nanny's contribution to the X family. Unlike the previously discussed scene, in which Nanny recognizes her personal want of seeing the guy she liked from the elevator and then incorporates that into an activity that still prioritizes G, Mr. X does not openly acknowledge his own want of staying at work during his company's merger (and possibly having an affair with a co-worker around the same time), and the solution he arrives at is essentially just telling his secretary to "spam the resend button" on flowers.  Sending roses is really not a bad idea by itself, but when no adjustment is made after the gesture isn't received well, this shows to me that a lack of commitment already existed and that giving flowers was meant to be more conciliatory than forgiveness-seeking

. Therefore, although there isn't any type of neat resolution arrived at by the end of the book, I believe that it is apparent that Nanny makes a necessary contribution to the lives of the X family, in the way she strives to make a genuine connection with G and repeatedly shows her commitment to him, despite the often dismissive attitude of the parents who hire her. This shows it is sometimes good to be a positive influence for a child in a smaller role, and allow your example and the influence of time, to bring the other, more important parts of a child's environment to grow where they may have been lacking before.