Harry Potter... and some deadly Mormons...

Between excursions outside to rake up piles of grass clippings from my overgrown-but-finally-mowed yard, I was somehow able to finish two rather large books this week.

The supposedly final book in the world's best-selling series of all time, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, ties up just enough loose ends to make everyone happy. If ever there was a book that was worth the wait, this one is it. I watched and read every interview with the author that I could find this week, and although she says this is the last HP book she is planning, she was just vague enough to hint that somewhere way down the line there might be more where these came from. If you have read the book, you know the ending was left open for possibly more stories in the distant future, but it was also conclusive enough to satisfy loyal fans who have been following the young wizard since the beginning. To me, the most emotional part of the book was near the middle, with the reappearance of a house elf we haven't seen for some time. A talk with several other readers showed me that they felt the same way. The ending had me worried for awhile, because I wasn't sure how things were going to be resolved, but Rowling (master story-teller that she is) came through with a gripping, convoluted, tension-filled finale. I was especially pleased to see so many religious parallels and imagery in this book. Goodness knows the author has been attacked over the years by ignorant zealots who claim that these books promote witchcraft and devil worship, but anyone who has read the series knows how far from the truth those accusations are. On behalf of her millions of fans worldwide, I thank Rowling for the exciting, white-knuckle ride, and for bringing the joy of reading as entertainment back to so many people.

The second book I finished this week was one I have been meaning to read for a couple of years now: adventurer/journalist Jon Krakauer's exposé of Mormon Fundamentalists in Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. Also known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or LDS for short), the Mormons have a relatively brief, but sometimes violent, history. Founded in North America in the 1800's by charismatic leader Joseph Smith, Mormonism endured a lot of persecution in its early days, most of which is painstakingly documented in this book. The history of the LDS church is presented in order to explain how the new religion continued to evolve, relocate, and split over the years into rival factions, each with a slightly different take on the original beliefs of its early leaders, including Brigham Young. The main point of the book is that there are thousands of Fundamentalist Mormons around today, still practicing their own perverted sense of worship (and even murder) in the name of God. The author examines what leads these fringe groups to set up isolated enclaves in remote parts of the world (far NW Arizona, SW Utah, and SW Canada) to practice "plural marriage", incest, rape, forced slavery, racism, etc...all under the seemingly blind eyes of local, state, and even national officials. The writing was at times both tedious and gripping in its details, but overall the book gave me a better understanding of the LDS organization as a whole. I highly recommend this one if you have questions about organized religion in general or about Mormonism specifically. By reviewing this work, I don't mean to cast a negative shadow on all members of the LDS faith. I have Mormon friends and colleagues who are quite normal, law-abiding people. The criminal cases cited in the book all involve former mainstream LDS members who were excommunicated from their local churches and wards because of their radical fundamentalist beliefs.

Jeremy Fink & the Meaning of Life

Having taken a break from adolescent literature for awhile, I figured it was time to get back to reading my stack of books from the middle school library. Wendy Mass' Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life was at the top of the "to-read" heap.

Just a few weeks before he is to become an official teenager, Jeremy Fink receives a mysterious carved wooden box secured by four unusual locks. An accompanying message from his deceased father tells him the chest contains the meaning of life and is to be opened on his 13th birthday. Jeremy and his best friend Lizzy begin a mission that takes them all over New York City in search of the elusive keys that will unlock the box. Along the way they meet conveniently helpful characters who assist them on their mystical journey of self-discovery. Students in grades 5-7 who enjoy adventure or mystery stories will probably like this book, but after a while, I found it overly drawn out and predictable. I fear most kids will give up on it before bothering to find out how it ends. (Some of the situations are so contrived as to be almost unbelievable.) Anyone who has seen the Brendan Fraser movie "With Honors" can easily figure out how this one will end, and while the sentiment is nice, it just feels a little too familiar to me. Not a bad book if you are looking for something to while away the long hours of summer, but certainly not on my list of recommended reading. There are much better books available.

Home Again, Home Again...

When we left for Arizona on the 4th of July, the grass in my backyard was knee high. Now that we are back it is up to my waist! We have had rain almost every single day in the last month, and there's no end in sight according to the weatherman. My yard is standing in water, and it will take at least a week or more of sun to dry things up enough to get a tractor with a brush hog out back. The ground is saturated all over NE Texas, and creeks, rivers, and lakes are all above capacity. I never thought I'd say it, but I hope it doesn't rain anymore this summer. We need a break. Maybe if we all pray really hard, God'll send some of this moisture over to the Western states that need it to put out forest fires. It's a thought anyway.

Speaking of Western states, we thoroughly enjoyed our week-long stay with Jimmy and Sheila in Prescott. They toured us around their adopted hometown, and some of the beautiful scenery nearby. Sedona is touristy, but still breath-taking. And even though Flagstaff is a big, fast-paced city, it is different from the rest of this dry state because it is nestled up in the mountains and covered in large pines. The people of Prescott won us over though. Everyone is so friendly and down-to-earth. No wonder so many folks retire to the area. So many different cultures make for a great mix of people and ideas. Frankie and I could definitely feel at home there.

On the two-day drive back, we completed another book on CD: Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child. Neither of us had heard of him, but the book was getting good reviews in the literary press, so we thought we'd give it a try. Despite the unimaginative title, the new novel had us hooked almost immediately. A former military special ops leader, Jack Reacher, is contacted by one of his old team members to warn him that other friends and squad members from the old unit are disappearing one by one. It's a race against time once they figure out what's really going on. You won't be disappointed if you give this one a try. My only complaint with the audio version is that the guy doing the reading tends to be too quiet on the women's voices, and far too loud on the men's. We had to keep adjusting the volume in order to hear over road noise, and then turn it down so we wouldn't be deafened later on. This book would easily be suitable for a high school library. There is some graphic violence in the plot, but only a couple of curse words, and no sexual descriptions. I think Frankie and I will both be looking for more books by this writer, only in printed versions from now on.

Greetings from Prescott, Arizona...

Frankie and I took a well-needed break from the seemingly endless days of rain in NE Texas to journey out West. We are staying with my cousin Jimmy and his wife Sheila in north central Arizona. The weather has been great (we'd almost forgotten what the sun looked like) but it has been awfully hot. It's been nice just to have a change of scenery and to sit down and carry on a conversation with other adults about things besides school. Looking forward to several days of catching up with them and taking in the beauty of this part of the world. Arizona isn't all desert and cactus--although there is plenty of that, too--the Prescott area is rich in Old West history, cowboys and cattle, etc. Last night we walked around the downtown square and went into The Palace Saloon on Whisky Row where the movie Junior Bonner was filmed. There are national forests all around, and the Grand Canyon and the mountains around Flagstaff to the north are only a short drive away. Prescott truly is a beautiful place, and I can't believe we have waited this long to come out for a vist.

On the long drive out, we listened to John Grisham's latest book on CD: The Innocent Man. The publication marks Grisham's first foray into non-fiction, but it reads as well as some of his best-selling novels. This is a recounting of a very real tale of murder and injustice in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, written in the same "true crime novel" style of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, the archetype of the genre. The Innocent Man chronicles the story of local good ol' boy Ron Williamson, how he was arrested and charged with a crime he didn't commit, how his case was unbelieveably mishandled, and how an innocent man was sent to death row. Of course it helps to remember that the sad tale unfolds in the days prior to DNA evidence being used in courts of law. The events that took place are at times shocking, disturbing, and enthralling--in short, this is a must-read for Grisham fans. Pick it up and hold on tight, because you will not be able to put this one down.