Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
Wow. Prepping for going to the new movie (no, haven't seen it yet) I've re-read books 2&3... excellent, as always.
Fun, exciting, funny, and deep. I know the movies won't/don't ever do justice to the novels, which can be appreciated on all sorts of levels - I look forward to seeing the movie, and enjoy the casting, especially Rickman as Snape and Harris (alas) as Dumbledore. Having just re-read the Rings Trilogy, I can see that Rowling's books do approach Tolkien on creating a fully realized world, full of charm and charms, and meaning beyond the mechanics of an adventure story. Back into re-reading book 4, in parallel with Robert Jordan's first Wheel of Time book. Jordan is interesting and ably told ... but still only a fraction of the kind of world created by Tolkien.
