The Chapters of Life

Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving Dinner

Here in the United States we just celebrated the holiday known as Thanksgiving. It’s a time to gather with family and friends and count our many blessings.

This year my wife and I traveled to my parent’s house, along with our precious 16 month old daughter. This was a wonderful time for our little one. She enjoyed eating turkey and spending time with her grandparents.

Seeing her with my parents brought back memories.  Twenty years ago I gathered around the very same table with my own grandparents, all of whom I loved. I remember playing with them, just as my own daughter was playing with my folks.  I still feel the sorrow of losing them, one by one, in the decades that followed.

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Why Harry Potter Rocked

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Farewell Harry

This article is by Brian Wood.

The Harry Potter era is over.

The final movie has entered theaters and I, for one, am more than a little bit sad. I figured there was no better time to talk about the genius of JK Rowling and the Harry Potter series. I have never read a series of books that was more overwhelmingly loved by all different kinds of people. So, if you’re reading this article, I hope you loved Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the characters as much as I did. If you didn’t, then I would think you can at least admit that Rowling must have done something right to sell so many books.

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Harry Potter and the Cauldron of Expectations

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

When the first Harry Potter books were published I didn’t bother to read them.  I saw the films, but they didn’t strike me as especially significant.  Yes, they were full of magic and wonder.  But I failed to perceive anything of lasting substance. I dismissed Harry Potter as a fad.

Yet as the series progressed, so did the depth of storytelling.  By the time that I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I had become a believer.

But I didn’t begin reading the books until Deathly Hallows was released.  Why?  Because friends kept telling me that the books were superior to the films.  That’s not unexpected, as fans of any series would make similar claims.  But what struck me as unusual was that these friends had a decidedly different viewing experience of the films than I did.

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