Book 8: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" by J.K. Rowling

Enough of this high-brow stuff!  It's time to get back to where I left off with Harry Potter.  I found the first one to be a really good children's book.  Right up there with some of the classics.  The next two were also quite fun and addictive.  So, on to book 4.  734 pages, but they're very easy to read.  105 pages per day.

UPDATE:  At first, I didn't find this book to be as addictive as the third in the series "Prisoner of Azkaban", in fact, I fell behind a bit in the middle of the week.  But as I got further into it, I became progressively more interested. In fact, I stayed up until 1AM reading the last 200 pages because I just couldn't put it down.  This book was the first in the series where I felt that there was a large amount of substantial content left out of the film version.  To me, this is a big plus, because even though I'm reading the book 6 years after the film was released, and 11 years since it was first published, there is still a lot of material left to explore.  This is also the point in the series where things take a dramatic turn toward a darker storyline.  The final few chapters are very tense and, even knowing the ending from the film, you don't really know how everything happens.

With all the publicity and fanfare surrounding the Harry Potter franchise it is tempting to dismiss the phenomenon and try to distance yourself from the frenzy.  But, I truly believe that the series will stand the test of time and I am sure that I'll be revisiting it from the beginning when my little ones are old enough to enjoy it.  Thanks Harry, for another fun adventure.