Harry Potter Mania

Unless you have been living under a rock, it has been impossible to miss the hype surrounding the premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in theaters this weekend. I will confess, I am HUGE Harry Potter fan. I love the books, I love the movies, and I am super excited about the new movie. Rather then do a "traditional" book review this week, I thought I would do something a little different. After completing the book series, I felt a little let down...what am I going to read now? Now that the movies are coming to an end, I am starting to feel that same let down. So I have been on a quest to find more book series to love. Here is my list of books for "If you love Harry Potter then you must read...."

His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman


The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer

Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will soon be released as a movie)

Charlie Bone Series by Jenny Nemmo

The Mysterious Benedict Society Series by Trenton Lee Stewart

Theodosia Series by R.L. LaFevers

Redwall Series by Brian Jacques

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

39 Clues Series by multiple authors

Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer (see my earlier posts on this one...sorry, still don't like it, but I know many of you do)

Song of the Lioness Series by Tamora Pierce

If you have other book series to add to this list please click on "Comment" below and send me your thoughts. Also, enter your vote on the "Harry Potter" poll on the right hand sidebar on the blog. Happy reading, and I will see you at the movies this weekend!

The Black Book of Secrets

Everyone has a secret, and some are darker than others. I had the great pleasure this weekend of reading The Black Book of Secrets by F.E Higgins. Ludlow Fitch, a pickpocket from the City, is running from a terrible past. He arrives in the small mountain village, and is taken on as an assistant to a pawnbroker who trades people's darkest secrets for money. For a full summary of the plot, see below. The tone of this book is appropriately dark, and its amazing the variety of dark secrets carried around by people in this small town. All along the book is building to a climatic confrontation between the secret pawnbroker, and the man who owns most everything in the town. You know that things are going to end badly for one of these men, and it isn't clear who that is going to be until the very end. It was suspenseful enough to keep me turning pages late into the night. Come check it out!

From Booklist (starred review)
Forced into being a pickpocket by his parents, Ludlow Fitch rebels, fleeing the city after they attempt to pluck out his teeth to sell for gin money. In the mountain village of Pagus Parvus, he finds work with another newcomer to town, Joe Zabbidou, a “secret pawnbroker” whose business is to relieve people of their most troublesome secrets—which Ludlow records for Zabbidou in a mysterious black tome. The story’s vaguely Dickensian atmosphere is exquisite, and Higgins populates her dark, imaginary landscape with gnarled gravediggers, brutish butchers, impish ragamuffins, and a dastardly landlord bent on squeezing every last shilling from the destitute town. The story never lags as Zabbidou stockpiles the town’s litany of woes, leaving his own secret intentions a mystery even to his young acolyte. At the same time, Zabbidou’s developing role as a father figure for Ludlow transforms the boy into something he never dreamed he could become: worthwhile.