Recommended Reading

Harry Potter and Philosophy, edited by David Baggett and Shawn E. Klein. This is a collection of essays that were written after the first five books were published, so much of it may no longer be relevant after what we learn from the last two. There are also a couple of inaccuracies that would drive the astute Potter fan crazy with annoyance. However, for the most part there are very interesting topics that are explored within these pages, and if one topic or another doesn't interest you, you can pick and choose which ones to read. The cover also mentions a focus on Aristotle, but there are plenty of others included.

The World According to Narnia by Jonathan Rogers. Like the Harry Potter essay collection, this book is a philosophical look at the Narnia series with one chapter per book. If you enjoyed watching the pop-up info edition of the first Narnia movie, you might enjoy reading about all of them here as well. Also, if you don't have time to read all seven books in the series, this is the book for you.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg. It's an older tale about a girl who takes her younger brother with her when she decides she wants to run away to secretly live in a museum in New York. If you can find the newer edition, you can also read an afterword that was written and added post-9/11. For nostalgia and modern relevance, go check it out.

Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical RENT by Anthony Rapp. The author, known for playing Mark in the original cast [and movie version] of RENT, tells his life story with a focus on events leading up to and during his involvement with the stage play. If you wanted to know more about him or what happened behind the scenes, it's well worth a look. For a little more context, the second disc of the movie DVD tells Jonathan Larson's story.

The Minds series by Carol Matas and Perry Nodelman. Further proof if it was necessary that Canadians are awesome. There are four books in this series, and I started with the second one, More Minds. I enjoyed it well enough without having read the first one, Of Two Minds, but it helps to start at the beginning. More Minds is still my favorite, though. The stories are increasingly silly and at times utterly ridiculous, but if you enjoy fantasy this series is a must-read. The authors write themselves a cameo in the fourth one - meta!

The FullMetal Alchemist fiction novels by Makoto Inoue. Written with permission from manga-ka Hiromu Arakawa, this series follows Edward and Alphonse in a few non-canon adventures that take place in the time of the first series (book one is an adaptation of the episodes with the Tringham brothers). Arakawa also includes some illustrations for these herself, so this is definitely a rare case of approved and endorsed fan fiction. There are five of them that I'm aware of, and my favorite is Under the Faraway Sky. The novels are published by Viz Fiction. Fans of the series should check them out if they're really interested. In one of them, Ed pretends Roy is his father to annoy him on a train while he's with some ladies, but it ends up backfiring when Ed's kidnapped because of it (the second book, The Abducted Alchemist, if that caught your attention).

Now for the unrecommended reading. I have read both of Richard Belzer's novels, I Am Not a Cop! and I Am Not a Psychic!, but I guess I don't really like his style. Worse still was a Monk novelization by an actual writer from the show, Lee Goldberg. Mr. Monk Gets Cleaned Out was about the recession, so I guess that could be one reason everyone was in such a mood. Either that or Goldberg's the one who wrote all the episodes wherein all the characters are mean. I haven't had a chance to read any of the other ones, though. At any rate, my favorite Christmas episode of Monk is the first one, "Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa."