714th Friday Blog Roundup

And now, after a heavy week, something lighter.  Harry Potter!

Last weekend, we went out to Chestertown to their Harry Potter festival.  We’ve been going since the first year, and it’s something we look forward to every fall.  This year, the ride was extra sweet because we received a review copy of the new A History of Magic audio book (read by Natalie Dormer) a few days before the trip.  We queued it up on Audible and started driving towards the Bay Bridge.

First and foremost, Natalie Dormer has the most relaxing, melodious voice.  Listen:

So imagine having the history of magic and the Harry Potter books explained to you in THAT voice.

The book opens with backstories about the creation of the series, from the idea through querying through publication stunts, and then weaves its way through the voices on the audio books and the book art.

We own the paper version of A History of Magic, too, and I was really impressed with how they presented all the sidebars and images in the book.  It was always clear whether they were presenting the main point on the page, or whether they were exploring an aside.  Part of that is because they looped in the experts quoted or discussed in the book to talk through their section.  For instance, Jim Dale presents the information from Jim Dale, Stephen Fry presents the information from Stephen Fry.  Other times, the background music changed or the sound changed.  In any case, they took what could have been a very confusing book and made it an enjoyable listen.

The book takes you through a history of magic; all the backstories, beliefs, and beings that influenced and popped up in the text.  If you love magic, this is 11+ hours of bliss.

It was the perfect piece to listen to as we drove into a town entirely transformed into the world of Harry Potter.  Cannot recommend this audio book enough if you love Harry Potter, too.

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Stop procrastinating.  Go make your backups.  Don’t have regrets.

Seriously.  Stop what you’re doing for a moment.  It will take you fifteen minutes, tops.  But you will have peace of mind for days and days.  It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

My Perfect Breakdown writes about the upcoming visit they’re having with their son’s birth mother.  People are asking nosy questions, and she writes, “I know people are trying to ask if I’ll be jealous about their relationship and how I feel about it. But, my theory is I’ll answer the questions they ask, not the question they are actually trying to ask.”  Love that.  She points out that it is like any visit to extended family, with travel stress and a lot of love.  Safe travels.

Much Ado About Nothing has a heartbreaking and thought-provoking post about the loneliness of miscarriage.  It’s the opposite of pregnancy, when everyone is gathering around you, trying to share in your excitement.  With loss, you’re often alone in your pain, especially if other people didn’t know you were pregnant.  Pregnancy is excitement, a filling.  Miscarriage is despair, a drain.  She could use the circling of the wagons right now because she’s right, loss is lonely.

Lastly, Genuine Greavu about going back on birth control and closing the door on a spontaneous pregnancy.  She explains why they’re no longer leaving it up to fate: “But things have changed. I no longer feel the same open arms feeling of surrender. Instead I feel an itchy, anxious fear that keeps me up at night and makes me second guess intimacy with my husband. And I don’t want to live that way.  The reality is that our life is FULL with two kids… full in ways that are hard to explain.”  They’re finishing off their final FETs and then looking ahead — down the road — to adoption again.  Following their hearts and what feels right, right now.

The roundup to the Roundup: Audio book of A History of Magic is amazing.  Your weekly backup nudge.  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between October 5th and October 12th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.