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.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
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...
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...
Monday, March 8, 2010
Huzzah!
My beloved Green Background is back, AND I have three columns. Happy Day.
If you'll excuse me, I have to go finish reading HP and the Order of the Phoenix.
How very rude of you to interrupt me at it.
If you'll excuse me, I have to go finish reading HP and the Order of the Phoenix.
How very rude of you to interrupt me at it.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Excuse the Mess
I'm in the process of updating my blog look. Forgive the constant change of colors...and my attempts at three columns (coding...ugh)...and the fact that my background doesn't match my banner. It will all make sense someday.
Maybe.
On a side note, I'm not sure I like the blue, but they don't make the green in a three column format, and heaven knows I'm not about to attempt to code my own backgrounds.
Maybe.
On a side note, I'm not sure I like the blue, but they don't make the green in a three column format, and heaven knows I'm not about to attempt to code my own backgrounds.
Friday, March 5, 2010
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"
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"
Thursday, March 4, 2010
A - Z New Authors
For those of you who pay attention to my sidebars (though I don't know why you would.), you may have noticed the new list labeled A - Z new authors in 2010. As if reading 100 books in 2010 and participating in the Nest Book Challenges wasn't enough, I've decided that at least 26 of my books need to be new authors. I'm allowing three of them to be authors I read for the first time this year, but before I started the challenge.
Rules:
1. Authors must be new to me, meaning I have never read any of their work before.
2. Pen names and audiobooks are acceptable.
Q should be interesting...As should Z
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Rules:
1. Authors must be new to me, meaning I have never read any of their work before.
2. Pen names and audiobooks are acceptable.
Q should be interesting...As should Z
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Lent Update
Paul and I are terrible at the Love Dare. We need a rethink.
As it turns out, though, we are pretty good at Lent. Neither of us has touched our respective "give-ups" since Lent began, which was 16 days ago.
OH!
Do you know that in Lent, Sundays DON'T COUNT?! They don't! Sundays are traditionally feast days, so they aren't counted in with the 40 days of Lent, which means that, really, I am giving up Facebook for 47 days, rather than 40. I feel a bit cheated.
I hope Jesus is satisfied with what he's done, that's all I can say.
As it turns out, though, we are pretty good at Lent. Neither of us has touched our respective "give-ups" since Lent began, which was 16 days ago.
OH!
Do you know that in Lent, Sundays DON'T COUNT?! They don't! Sundays are traditionally feast days, so they aren't counted in with the 40 days of Lent, which means that, really, I am giving up Facebook for 47 days, rather than 40. I feel a bit cheated.
I hope Jesus is satisfied with what he's done, that's all I can say.
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