It's Monday! What are you reading?

Oh, Harry, how I've missed you!

No, not that Harry, the one who had to live under the stairs until he received a magical invitation to a wizarding school, and then went on to conquer all kinds of evil.  No, this Harry is a grownup wizard, and he lives in books written for grownups.  If you are an adult and ready to leave Hogwarts for modern day Chicago, where supernatural beings live amongst mere mortals and cause all kinds of trouble that only a gritty, wisecracking wizard-for-hire can solve, then check out Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.  

  

I received Storm Front from my brother many years ago, just as I was about to leave from our visit with him.  I started reading it as soon as we hit the highway in the Florida panhandle, and finished it by the light of the glove compartment fourteen hours later, just before we made it home to Austin.  I proceeded to read the next six or seven books over the next couple of years, before other tasks and other books beckoned.    

It's been a long time since I picked up a Dresden Files book.  But there it was on the summer reading bargain table at our local chain book store last week, and I had a gift card itching to be spent.

Brief Cases is a compilation of twelve short stories, each with a foreword of thoughts from Butcher.  He explains where in the timeline of the books each story falls, and his reasons for writing them-- some are to explore another character, others are to include mythical creatures not found in the series.  

I had forgotten how much I enjoy Harry's "voice", his sense of humor, and the intricacies of the spirit/fae/mythical worlds and creatures he and his associates encounter.  Let me reiterate that these books are written for adults, and there are some adult situations--but they are not the driving force behind the stories.  It's the elemental magic, the complications of ancient rituals and rules, the political games played by the councils of wizards and otherworldly beings, all narrated with wry humor and self-deprecation by Harry himself (or in some of the short stories, his companions) that make these stories so fun to read.

I've got one more story to go before finishing the book.  It's Monday; what "old" characters do you like to visit in books?