Here's the thing.

Here's the thing.

I love Harry Potter.

LOVE.

When I finish reading one of the books, I am overwhelmed by this sadness that just clings for days because I have to come back to reality and realize that the world isn't real.

It's incredibly healthy of me.

I'm very well-adjusted.

Anyway, with the seventh movie now half out (it was amazing, by the way), I am overcome with emotion at the fact that, after this July, it will be over.

OVER.

I can reread the books, and I will, but they will say the same things they always have.

The beauty of the HP universe is that it is so vast and there are so many stories waiting to be told in it. She has hinted at possible doing a few more, and to that I say PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!

The point of all this is that a dog jumped at me today.

Stay with me.

A dog jumped at me today and left a gash on my forehead about a quarter inch long. When I had the bleeding under control, I took a look in the mirror and OMGITSLIGHTNINGBOLTSHAPED.

Vaguely.

I can only hope against all hope that it scars.

NaNoWriMo: A sad, sad update

I lack something.

The common folk call it "stick-to-it-ivness"

I call it that too, but I like to say "the common folk"

I really do have none. My husband and I never did finish The Love Dare, I didn't finish the RIPV Challenge in October, I've never finished a Nest book challenge. Look at my "100 books in 2010" list. I'm at 96 and completely stalled out. And now, it's looking like NaNoWriMo will be the next thing tossed into my "Yea, I was going to do that once" basket.

I have a good reason though.

I started off strong.

I wrote well.

Then I realized...

I detest the characters I wrote.

DETEST.

As in hate with an almighty passion.

I very nearly just had her throw herself off a cliff because she's so darn annoying.

So I have scrapped that story. But I refuse to give up!

In a burst of determination, I went back to the drawing board and started over with an entirely new idea. It's going well, but I'm only about 500 words in, so we'll see.

Things That Bother Me About Harry Potter #2: How have Fred and George never been called in to a disciplinary hearing about underage magic outside school? Haven't they been developing Puking Pastilles and whatnot for ages?

Things That Always Bugged Me About Harry Potter

#1.

"If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a dirty great spider because I broke his toy broomstick."

This seems like a rather advanced piece of transfiguration for a five year old, which Fred would have been at the time, especially considering he wouldn't have had a wand at the time.

Although, it's possible that he didn't do it strictly on purpose. It isn't unheard of in the Harry Potter universe for young children to do things on accident when they are angry or scared.

Also, I would like you to take this moment to appreciate how very much I love this series, because oly true love is able to care so much about something so ridiculously irrelevant.

Discovery

SPOILER ALERT: All seven Harry Potter novels

I am a nanny. During the day, it is just me and the littlest kiddo, who is 15 months. In the afternoons, I get her brother, T, who, despite his lack of Robin Hood knowledge, is a generally good kid. I've gently coaxed him this year into almost enjoying reading, and had the pleasure of introducing him to the (life-changing? spectacular? mind-blowing?) Harry Potter novels.

It is an amazing thing to watch, in him, the same process I went through when I was first discovering the books. He hasn't seen the movies. He doesn't know about Snape killing Dumbledore, about Voldemort coming back, about Umbridge and her detestable faux-sweetness, about the epic battles that make up the last three books. I sincerely hope no one spoils it for him.

He is most of the way through the third book, and is still where we all were, thinking Sirius Black a murderer, not knowing about the Time-Turner or that Lupin is a werewolf, certainly not realizing Scabber's true identity. Voldemort is still, at this point, a bad guy in the distance, his return not even a possibility on the horizon. T is busy coming up with theories, most of the dead wrong, but who's theories weren't dead wrong at this point?

I am loving his shock at each new revelation, his loyalties toward certain characters, and his predictions of what is to come.

Potter for President, that's what.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 4

My Favorite Book

I have seven, actually:

It sounds hokey, but I am not exaggerating when I say that this series changed my life. Kind of. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little.

It's still amazing.

I've written on this blog about these books, which is a feat, let me tell you, considering that they usually just render me speechless. If you go back to about February, you'll find the Harry Potter re-read posts.

On second though, don't even do that. Just go read them. Again.

My preferences, in descending order:

7. Chamber of Secrets
6. Sorcerers Stone
5. Goblet of Fire
4. Order of the Phoenix
3. Prisoner of Azkaban
2. Half-Blood Prince
1. Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter re-read: A finale

I shouldn't even say this, but, as always, possible, probable spoilers





There's little to say about Deathly Hallows. Actually, there's too much to say about Deathly Hallows, but it amounts to the same thing. The range of subject matter and emotion could, with a lesser author, make a book terribly convoluted, where this one, while complex, never leaves you with a sense of "wait...what?". Except in the good way that JK Rowling is so good at.

The romance is beautiful, the death truly heartbreaking, and the triumph exhilarating. I close Deathly Hallows almost mournfully, saying goodbye to these amazing characters.

Whenever I finish the final Harry Potter book, I sit weepily for a few hours, lamenting over the fact that it isn't real. ho-hum.

PS: A lot of people hated the epilogue. I quite liked it. It gave closure.

Harry Potter re-read; an update

Spoilers. yup.




Half Blood Prince makes me weep. Big, fatty, mournful tears.
I'm not even sure what to say about this book, except that JK Rowling, beginning with the fifth book, took the series to a whole new level of epic. Suddenly it's not just a little boy with not so little issues. Now we're tackling the price of war, the fact that sometimes everything does NOT end up ok, and sometimes, it's not fair who lives and who dies.

Before discussing the big moments, though, how wonderful is the normalcy of school life? Harry still has to deal with difficulties on the Qudditch pitch, piles of homework and the madness of the inner workings of the female mind. Life does not stop moving simply because evryone is in mortal peril. It's so beautifully, perfectly, adolescently normal. Now, onto business.

Dumbledore's death makes me dissolve into tears every time I read it, because it just isn't fair. This book is our first look into Dumbledore as a real, fallible human being, rather than a mentor and benevolent patriarch. He has pain and suffering, he has a past, he makes mistakes, and this is our first chance to see that, and suddenly, he's gone. The sense of hopelessness at his death is awful. Through the entire series, we've gotten the feeling that Dumbledore is all that stood between Voldemort and the Wizarding world. With him gone, that protection ceases to exist. Plus, Rowling's descriptions of the grief each character feels is beautiful and painful at the same time...Hagrid, especially. This huge man, sobbing as though his heart has broken, is somehow more heartbreaking to me than any of the rest of it.

What I love about Rowling is how sympathetic she makes her villains. Voldemort is one of the most hateful, horrific villains ever created, and yet, in the reading of HBP, one finds themselves almost feeling sorry for him. What a terrible childhood, a terrible life. Malfoy, too. We never feel an ounce of sympathy for Malfoy until this book, when we find that, though he has chosen a master who knows nothing of love, Draco does not lack the ability to feel it and act on it himself, as he seeks to do exactly the wrong thing for precisely the right reasons. Murder is never acceptable, but what choice can he feel that he has when the threat of his parents death looms over him? Suddenly, this irrefutably obnoxious bully of a boy is the object of our anger, but also of our pity, and hopefully, of our empathy. What would we do in the same situation? I think Rowling's point is that very few people are truly evil. Mean, yes. Bullies, yes. Foul and terrible, yes, even that. But for the most, even beyond the prejudices and the cruelty, there lies a humanity and an ability for love and compassion, even if it is limited to one's own family.

Sigh. I always have to take a little while after this book before I read anything else...Deathly Hallows IS out in my car, though, and there's really no point wasting time...

Oh, JK Rowling...

There are major spoilers in this of the Harry Potter books. Maybe. There might be, so if you haven't read them, I don't recommend reading this. (ETA: Yea, major spoilers. Don't read it if you haven't read the books. Just don't)
Also, this isn't a review. It's just me babbling on about the book. I give all the Harry Potter books five stars, and of course you should read them. Duh.










Now, to business

I just finished Goblet of Fire, and, after wiping away the tears that Dumbledore's end of the year toast to Cedric Diggory tend to bring, I looked back on the book and realized, again, why GoF is one of my favorites of the series (next to Deathly Hallows).

For one thing, who wasn't completely fooled by the whole Mad-Eye Moody thing? When Voldemort is going on and on about his faithful servant stationed at Hogwarts, you're thinking, the whole time "Snape! He HAS been bad, this whole time! I knew it!!" But then it turns out that it was really Barty Crouch Jr, masquerading as Moody, and your mind has been blown, Potter-style.

Also, S.P.E.W. You have to love how beautifully fair-minded Hermione is, and how dedicated to her cause. I also love that this has almost nothing to do with the actual storyline, but it gives this amazing sense of reality to the whole thing, in a "See? He isn't always saving the world! Sometimes he's stealing food from the school kitchens!". Brings the whole thing back down to earth a little, and gives you a good giggle over the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

And Rita Skeeter. What a fantastic character. Not as hateable as Umbridge, or as terrifying as Voldemort. She isn't evil, but you certainly want to give her a good slap. Her whole story is great. For one thing, I didn't even notice the Beetle references the first time I read the book. They are so small, I don't know if anyone did, and so, of course, when Hermione randomly slams her hand down in the Hospital wing, she just seems like she's a bit crazy. For another, this whole storyline, other than setting up plot points in Order of the Phoenix, of course, shows off another aspect of Hermione's personality. After seeing how very capable of revenge she is, I don't know that I would ever want to get in her way...ever. Hermione really comes into her own in this book, and, as she is one of my very favoritest characters, I love it so very much.

The adolescent awkwardness of this book is absolutely delicious, and the beginning buds of the Ron/Hermione relationship are so entertaining to watch as they struggle to blossom.

I leave you today with one of Dumbledore's greatest speeches:

"We can fight (Voldemort) only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open. Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory"

Harry Potter Re-read (minor spoilers)

I am a self-proclaimed Harry Potter fanatic. I have frequented Mugglenet, read fanfiction, written fanfiction, predicted plot points and loopholes, shipped for Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione, attended Midnight premiers, and bemoaned omissions in movie adaptations. Now that all seven books are released and I have had time to heal from the heartbreak brought on by the end of the series, I am doing a reread. This, of course, means that all my other reading projects are on hold, since I feel that I can do the series the most justice by reading it strait through.

It's interesting, the things one notices when rereading the series. For instance, in Sorcerers Stone, for the first half of the book, one would think this was just going to be a happy story about a young wizard and his jaunts through a new world. While Voldemort is mentioned in passing in the beginning, he isn't introduced as a current threat until halfway through the book, when Harry serves detention in the Fobidden Forest. Another presence that is surprisingly absent is Malfoy. We don't run into him much in the first book, it's just known that he is a terrible little boy who wants a good beating.

Chamber of Secrets gives us our first clue, briefly, in passing, almost unnoticed, to the secrets we don't discover until books six and seven, when Dumbledore is asked "Who is opening the Chamber of Secrets?" and he answers "Not who. The question is how" To one who knows how the story ends, it is as if we see Dumbledore's wheels begin to turn and watch him realize that this threat is greater than he imagined.

I am picking up the third book at the library today. My original copies were all first editions, and, sadly, were read, literally, to pieces. Prisoner of Azkaban, which my sister still has, has to be read in two separate pieces, as the middle has fallen out. It is common, when reading that particular copy, to have to keep a pile of loose pages next to you, in order to search through them each time you encounter a missing bit of dialogue.

Hopefully I'll remember to post my observations as I work my way through the series. Stay tuned.