Hello friends! Not a substantial update, apologies for that. Hopefully will write something profound or beautiful (or perhaps just chatty) sometime soon. But until then…I leave you with quick book log update.

69. The Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. What a tome. This book always feels as if it’s going to be a slog to get through, but for some reason, once I start reading, the pages just fly by. I feel like this is the last book that’s really Hogwarts-centric (even though the next book is still at school, all the Tom Riddle backstory makes it feel like we’ve passed the school phase) and though I think I said previously that Goblet of Fire was the book that moved Harry from being a boy to being a man…I think it’s really this one. Obviously Harry does go through traumatic experiences in Goblet and it is a transition book. Yet in this book? We are moving into a full-on war footing with the introduction of the Order and Harry is attempting to navigate what it means to take responsibility and lead. He doesn’t always do a great job (one could say he fails miserably at almost every step of the way), yet we see Harry slowly but painfully growing in this one. Obviously the end scene with Harry and Dumbledore is a pivot point for the rest of the series, but that isn’t the scene that always sticks with me. For some reason, the one scene in this book that sticks with me the most – and for my money, the best written scene in the book – is when Harry and the Weasley kids are sitting in the kitchen at headquarters, just waiting for word on Arthur’s condition. That long, dragging night and all the kids’ various reactions as they simply wait in anxious fear. For some reason, that scene simply rings true.