I finished The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) last week but am taking a break before starting the final book. It’s interesting, and reading that it’s a retelling of Milton’s Paradise Lost makes me want to dive into that epic poem (some day). For now, I’m reading some early pulp detective stories in Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels (Library of America), which I found at a neighborhood used book store, Every Other Book. Hardboiled.

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night. What a ride! The relentless pace and spiraling plot lines of the final book in the Harry Potter series kept me engaged to the very end. The glimpses into Dumbledore’s life and the arching Horcrux and Hallows back stories reminded me of another epic history-of-magic novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (minus the extensive, story-within-a-story footnotes). The logic of the final battle (i.e. to whom is the Elder Wand loyal?) left me a bit confunded, but it all makes sense upon reflection. Satisfied.

I finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday. I think it’s a testament to J.K. Rowling’s storytelling ability that I forgot what I already knew was going to happen, because I was so engaged in how everything unfolded at the end. I’m a bit late in reading the Harry Potter series, having read books 1 through 5 in succession last Summer and Fall before taking a break. I find the uncovering of Lord Voldemort’s secret history to be the most intriguing aspect of the series (that’s the point, innit?). Now, on to book 7.

Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists, hot off the press; Spook Country, fiction by William Gibson; Design Research: Methods and Perspectives, edited by Brenda Laurel.