I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the way this series has progressed. Rowling has managed to mature both her characters and her stories seamlessly and realistically. Younger fans, who have grown up with the series, have continued to find that the next book is right at their level. I do wonder a bit, though, at how I'll work this out with my own future kids. I mean, I don't think I'll be able to get away with saying, "The end. Now we'll have to wait another year until you're old enough for the next one." Well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I quite enjoyed The Half-Blood Prince. Harry still had his share of youthful folly, but he wasn't nearly as angsty and annoying as he was in The Order of the Phoenix, and it was also interesting to see what Rowling did with the other characters. As with the previous book, though, this one had some very emotionally heavy scenes. I don't mind admitting that I was affected by it. I'm very interested to see how Rowling wraps it all up in Book 7.

Started: 2005-08-07 | Finished: 2005-08-09

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This one was an even quicker read than the previous three Hornblower books, or it would have been if I'd had more time to read it. Hornblower During the Crisis is a collection of two short stories and an unfinished fragment of the novel Forester was writing when he died. Reading that part was a little frustrating, as it ended far too soon, but fortunately the initial action of the story had been completed, so I wasn't left hanging as much as I could have been.

Started: 2005-07-10 | Finished: 2005-07-18

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You don't really need me to say that this is a good book. After all, it won the Pulitzer Prize. It is an excellent read, though. Diamond takes on a very profound question—that is, why were some civilizations able to advance so much more rapidly than others?—and is able to provide a very simple, satisfying answer. The best part is that the book is very easy to read; just about anyone should be able to understand Diamond's argument. In fact, the only reason that it took me so long to finish this book is that I was heavily distracted by video games. In any case, I highly recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in history or anthropology.

Started: 2005-04-12 | Finished: 2005-06-07

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In some ways, this was a worse book than the other two. The same annoyingly stilted writing style was present, but this time the book also suffered from a very odd structure. It felt as though the author had had ideas for two books but not enough to really flesh out either one sufficiently, so she just crammed both of then into a single volume. On the other hand, I found myself even more drawn in by the story, disjointed as it was. Something about the characters' increasing maturity, combined with the pseudo-African setting of the second half of the book and the addition of a young boy to the cast just clicked for me. All in all, I'm not sure whether I liked or disliked the series, but I have found myself wondering what happens next. If Carey ever does decide to write more stories set in this world, I do hope she gets over her overly affected writing habits. If not, I'll probably just complain and read them anyway.

Started: 2005-04-11 | Finished: 2005-04-20

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Book three of the Hornblower series was just as good as the first two, but it was kind of interesting to get a closer look into Hornblower's mind. The second book was told from another character's point of view, and the first kept the focus wider. This one, though, zoomed right in, giving us much more of Hornblower's thoughts and impressions. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Still, I think I'm going to take a bit of a break from the series; I don't want to get burned out on it.

Started: 2005-04-04 | Finished: 2005-04-10

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I think I've managed to solidify my opinion of this series a bit more. I don't particularly care for the writing. The dialogue is a bit stilted, and the prose is pretty formulaic—it seems like ten pages can't go by without Joscelin bowing with crossed vambraces. Still, like the first one, the plot is quite intricately laid out, and I find myself really wanting to know what's going to happen. I've also found several of the minor characters to be very enjoyable. Anyway, it's enough that I'm going to finish out the series, but I doubt I'll reread it any time soon.

Started: 2005-03-22 | Finished: 2005-04-03

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I blew through this one even faster than Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. Like the first one, this installment of the Hornblower series is a fun read, full of action and presented in a clean, straightforward style. Where Midshipman was more a collection of short stories, though, Lieutenant is a cohesive novel. I do hope the rest of this series continues to be this good.

Started: 2005-03-20 | Finished: 2005-03-21

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I'm not entirely sure that I liked this book, but for some reason I couldn't put it down. The paperback edition is 928 pages—long, no doubt—but the plot is so sprawling that it requires such a thick book to hold it. I found the plot and characters and ideas interesting, but the writing seemed a bit too fond of fantasy clich

Started: 2005-03-07 | Finished: 2005-03-19

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I've often considered it a tragedy of my life that I'm so fascinated by boats and the ocean, given that I get so violently seasick immediately upon setting foot aboard a boat of any size in even the calmest waters. This book, thick with nautical terms and high adventure, almost makes me want to sail bad enough to try getting over my seasickness. (Almost. I still know better.) The book is organized in ten chapters, each an action-filled episode in the early career of Horatio Hornblower. There are ten other books in the series, which documents Hornblower's rise from his beginnings as a young and inexperienced midshipman to his eventual position as admiral. Fortunately for me, I received all eleven as a Christmas present. I'm looking forward to reading all about Mr. Hornblower's illustrious career.

Started: 2005-03-01 | Finished: 2005-03-05

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Gabriel García Márquez is one of the most amazing prose writers ever, though, having won the Nobel Prize he hardly needs me to say so. 100 Years of Solitude became one of my all-time favorite books as soon as I read it. This book is a much smaller, simpler story, but every bit as rich in language and color. In terms of plot, surprisingly little happens—though in so few pages there isn't room for much—but it's not really that kind of story. Rather, it's an examination of the culture of a small town in Colombia, and in that way it works very well. García Márquez paints such a clear picture of the town that by the end of the book we feel almost as though we lived there ourselves.

Started: 2005-02-15 | Finished: 2005-02-28

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