The end of the series, the end of my Harry Potter November.  Reading Deathly Hallows, I fell even more in love with the characters and story, and appreciated Rowling's talent so much more than when I read these as a kid.  The movies are great (I love the look of all of them), but nothing compares to the magic of the books.

This book is definitely darker than the others.  Harry succeeds in using two of the unforgivable curses multiple times throughout the books.  Beloved characters die (Lupin, Tonks, Fred, Snape!).  But mostly, we learn about what it means to really love, really live, and really be human.

Ron abandons Harry and Hermione, but he grows from the experience and seeing him destroy the horcux and be the hero for once is a long time coming.  Characters like Neville and Luna come into their own.  I love when Neville tells Harry about the letter from his grandmother saying that he is truly his father's son.  He's deserved that since book one and finally, like Ron, gets some credit.

We see people being put into terrible positions, like Mr. Lovegood who supports Harry, but wants nothing more than to save his daughter.  This happens again and again on both sides of the war.  The Malfoy's allow Harry's plan to succeed because they want to reach Draco and make sure he is okay.  They may be terrible death eaters who have done terrible things, but they can feel remorse and they love their son.  Voldemort sees it as weakness, but then again, he doesn't survive this book.

Seeing the characters transform before our eyes is probably one of my favorite parts of this book.  Snape's transformation is one that only occurs in the mind of Harry and the reader.  The constant villain becoming the hero is probably my favorite part of this book.  Kreacher literally transforms before our eyes from an insane, dirty, hateful thing to a hero among humans and house elves.  It is the power of kindness and, again, love.  And that is a power that exists beyond the page as well.

Even though the story is constantly life-or-death and more often than not at a low point, the book is surprisingly light at points.  I love sitting with Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they listen to Potterwatch and even in the midst of the final battle, Mrs. Weasley taking on Bellatrix makes me laugh.  She's so fierce with her sons and we finally get to see that same spirit fighting our most hated death eater.

It's been a long time since I read the books one after the other and I can't believe I waited as long as I did.  I love these books and they just get better and better.  The epilogue, I feel, is an attempt by Rowling to satisfy her reader's curiosity and avoid us clamoring for more books.  I'm not sure if that works.  I was left with nothing more than a desire to know more about Harry, how he got back with Ginny, how they set their world back in order, what he is doing now that he is no longer "the chosen one".  And I want to know about Teddy and who Victoire is and what their relationship is.  I want a whole series about the new generation and more about the characters we already love.  I just don't think I can ever get enough of the beautiful, magical wizarding world that sometimes feels more real than our own.

Book Trailer: Hush, Hush

I picked up Hush, Hush because of the cover.  I was in an airport reading Sloane Crosley and fnished before boarding because of a delay.  I loved the cover and the copy of Hush, Hush (and it didn't hurt that I had read most of the other books in the tiny shop) so I bought it for probably twice the cover price and settled in for my cross country flight.

This is the trailer:



First, I'm not in love with the aspect ration.  I know that it's me being picky, but these book trailers are designed for new media, why would they use the wrong aspect ratio?  It's less noticeable embedded here, but watch it on youtube and you'll see what I mean.  Okay, visually I love it.  They get a lot of they key locations in the book: the amusement park, the pool hall, the school.  I especially love the feather floating around, it gives just the hint of angel and it's black so it gives another hit of darkness.  This fits perfectly since a large part of the story is figuring out who and what Patch is.

But I didn't get a larger sense of the story.  What I loved most of all when reading is that there were secrets and a bigger plot in play.  That didn't come through in the trailer.  Their focus would have been fine if I had gotten a better sense of the bad guy.  Right now, it's just so general that I can't get into it.

But they did much better with the trailer for Crescendo:



I haven't read it yet, but now I definitely want to.  There are lots of forbidden Angel-love books out there right now and Hush, Hush is one of the better ones.

Kindle Case

It's taken me a few months, but I finally have the kindle case of my dreams.  My wonderful father sent it to me as an early Christmas present so that I would feel comfortable carrying my kindle through the airport in my purse.

There are plenty of Kindle options, but I really wanted a case that would 1)protect my kindle and 2) look awesome.  My final choice was a little pricier than some of the other options, but I'm happy with my final choice. Link here.

The cover is a little on the heavy side, but it's sturdy and I have full faith that no matter how many books and magazines and compacts I put in my purse, the Kindle will be safe.  The only downside is that it won't protect from loose dirt/makeup/etc in the bottom of my purse.  Since I need to buy a new purse anyway, I'll probably purchase one that is divided at least once.  That way I can designate one side to things like make up and pens and have an entire compartment to keep my kindle safe from the mess that is my life.

On the second count, looking awesome, I think that you will agree that I succeeded.  The vintage leather is beautiful.  I'll have to be careful not to get it wet, because I think that it will probably discolor, but I couldn't be happier with how it looks.  I also like the inside pocket, which will be perfect if I want to make notes while reading.

The kindle connects using the Amazon kindle hinge system, and there is one loop on the bottom right hand corner that gives me peace of mind.  It also serves to make sure I don't accidentally try to open it the wrong way and break the hinge.

All of the buttons and features are accessible, but I have noticed that hitting the "previous page" button is a little more effort now that there is a cover on it.  There are other cover options available that fold back on themselves that will solve this problem, but none of them are as pretty as this one.

Half Blood Prince

It's Thanksgiving, I'm travelling, and the TSA isn't making it easy this year.  No wonder dystopian novels are in vogue at the moment.  Tuesday will wrap up Harry Potter November with Deathly Hallows.  It's been thrilling, but I have a way too large pile of library books and new releases that I am ready to read.

So... Half-Blood Prince.  Sometimes I think it is my favorite in the series.  But then I remember that Dumbledore dies.  I hope that's not a spoiler for you.  If it is, you should be ashamed.  If you didn't read the books or see the movie, I would at least expect that you saw the youtube video of the (very rude) drive-by at a bookstore where the a**hole young gentleman shouts out "Dumbledore dies" to all the eager Potter fans waiting for their new book.

Half-Blood Prince is where I really start to like Harry.  Before now he's been pretty pure of heart (except for book five, where he is moody and needs a good kick in the butt).  And that is all well and good.  It's hard to read about young characters who are already so jaded.  But now he's sixteen and he's been through a lot and there is a darkness inside of him that is only natural after all he's been through.

He doesn't mean to almost kill Draco using Sectumsempra, but he does.  It's dark magic and if what we learned in DADA in book four is true... dark magic isn't just about pointing your wand and saying an incantation.  Even when Harry wants to use the cruciatus curse on Bellatrix, it doesn't work because he doesn't have that darkness in him, he doesn't enjoy the pain.  He wouldn't have been able to use Sectumsempra if he didn't have the required darkness inside of him.  But he does.  And he tries to use it again on Snape.  And I'm okay with it.  He just wouldn't be a believable character if he didn't go to a dark place at some point in the book.

One of the most common things you hear about screenplays that never get made is the feedback "the highs weren't high enough, the lows weren't low enough".  I think this is just as applicable to books as it is to screenplays.  Half-Blood Prince is the book I always think about when I think of a shining example of the highs being higher than I expect and the lows being lower than I think I can take.  This book stretches my emotional range father than I think it goes (I'm much like Ron that way).

The beginning of the book is fun and entertaining (even though much of the book is setting up Harry's journey for seventh book).  I forget how funny  it is.  I found myself up at three in the morning (not that I can sleep with my new neighbor's TV blaring all night long, anyway) giggling out loud.  It is the only reason I am able to handle the end of the book where Dumbledore dies after a scene that endears him even more to Harry and the reader (I know it always seems impossible until I read that scene and find that yes, I can love him more and I do).

And the Prince is revealed to be the man that kills him, Snape, the man who Dumbledore trusts, the man whose actions caused the death of Harry's parents, and who has tried his very best to make Harry's life at Hogwarts miserable.  And then Bill's face is mutilated.  It feels like I have been attacked by dementors, that I will never be happy again.

But then... Fleur is pretty enough for both her and Bill, Lupin finally relents and lets Tonks love him, Ginny understands Harry in the way he needs to be understood, and Ron and Hermione step up, AGAIN, as the two best friends a boy wizard could ask for.  As heartbreaking as the last fifty or so pages are, the book ends on a note of hope that makes that stark reality of the world bearable.

Even at just over 650 pages (in my paperback), the book feels positively short compared to the encyclopedia that is Order of the Pheonix.  I will be reading on my kindle after I finish the HP series until my hand has recovered enough to hold a book again.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

A bit ironic, but in my wave of much too lengthy posts, the shortest (sweetest?) one will be on the longest book in the Harry Potter series.  So here we go... Two things come to mind after finishing Order of the Phoenix: consequences and protecting the ones you love.

Protecting the ones you love is a topic the whole series discusses, but it is most plain in this book.  From Mrs. Weasley trying to protect their innocence by not letting them learn information about Voldemort to Harry racing off to save Sirius, and Dumbledore keeping Harry in the dark for his own good... everyone is trying to protect everyone else and that's what leads to trouble.  What I think this book is arguing is that if we don't trust each other, we're going to make worse mistakes.

This very much ties into the idea of consequences.  Harry learns about consequences very quickly from Umbridge.  Life isn't fair... and sometimes we need to learn to keep our mouths shut to keep it from being even less fair.  Harry learns this lesson by writing "I must not tell lies" in his own blood.  Maybe not the lesson Umbridge was hoping to impart, but the lesson received none the less.  The end is where consequences are most apparent.  When Cedric dies in book 4, there is nothing Harry did to cause it or could have done to prevent it.  When Sirius dies in book five, it is a direct result of Harry's actions (I don't buy Dumbledore's theory that it was his fault for trying to protect Harry... well, not completely.  It's complicated).

This book has both my favorite and least favorite scenes in the whole series.  My least favorite is most of the chapter "Hagrid's Tale", but "Grawp" is a close runner up.  I've never really liked that storyline.  But the book discusses the importance of blood bonds and family, so it fits in well.  My favorite scene is just a short few pages in the chapter "The Closed Ward".  It's like my reading the series always leads up to and then reflects back on that one moment when Neville slips that worthless empty wrapper in his pocket, just because his mom gave it to him.

Since I promised a short post, I won't go into too much detail, but I want to mention that this is the book where most of my love-to-love characters and love-to-hate characters really start to shine.  Love to love: Ginny, Neville, Sirius, Lupin, Dumbledore, Tonks, and the twins.  Love to hate: Umbridge (obviously), Bellatrix, Kreacher.  I'm not really sure which list to put Draco, Snape, or Percy on.

Book Trailer: Clockwork Angel

The trailer for Clockwork Angel is one of the few trailers that I watched quite a few times before the book came out.  It got me excited.  I couldn't wait for the book to come out.  Of course, I'm sure it helped that I'm already a huge fan of the world from reading The Mortal Instruments.

But this is probably the best book trailer I've seen so far:

We set up the story (well enough even for someone not already familiar with the world), capture the tone, and get the pace.  The visuals are great; I especially love when Tessa turns into a vampire.  It's exciting and scary... just like much of the book.  We set up the basic story with written words and intense music, but throughout we get voice over that lets us know our main character.  Then at the end we get glimpses of the other characters and the action.  The last part about the first kiss was a great scene to include.  Clare is really good with love triangles and I had a lot of fun while I was reading trying too figure out who that first kiss would be with.  The whole thing ends with some great animation, intense music, and a reminder that we already love Clare and the shadowhunter world she's created from The Mortal Instruments.

I think one of the reasons this trailer worked so well is that the book followed through with all the promises the trailer made.  Watching the trailer again actually made me want to go grab Clockwork Angel off the shelf and start rereading it.

Nanowrimo: Week Three

I feel much better about this week.  I'm still behind, but I managed to write 6,000 words yesterday and not feel burned out today.  If I write as much as I would like to tonight, then I will be caught up according to the graph on my user profile.    Of course, I'm going to have to put some extra time in Monday and Tuesday, because I won't have very much time to give this project while I'm travelling for the holiday.  If I don't make it, I'm not going to be that worried.  I haven't seen my family in eleven months and they are definitely the priority in my life.

December starts the rewrite for my family comedy screenplay.  I'm getting excited about it again.  Although, I really want to be working on the third draft of my YA manuscript, so I'll have to make sure I'm not rushing through this second draft.

I wonder if you only liked it because it was Harry Potter

I went to a midnight screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at 12:01 Friday.... that's really Thursday night and yes I'm exhausted.  I usually try to avoid spoilers, but THIS POST WILL HAVE SPOILERS.  The book has been out for three years and there have been numerous interviews talking about where the story is being split to make it into two movies.  So if you don't want to know who dies in Part 1 or haven't read the book, stop reading.

Like I said, I went to a midnight screening, which is always a lot of fun.  The friend I went with hasn't read the books and has never experienced Potter-mania.  He just kept looking around in wonderment as we passed crowds of people with lightning bolt scars, Gryffindor scarves, wands, robes, and school uniforms.  When we finally got into the theater and the first few notes of the familiar Harry Potter theme came on, the theater erupted in cheers.  This is exactly why I like midnight releases.

There is this film critic in me who hasn't been able to properly enjoy a movie since deciding to focus on Film Studies for her college major and (as I'm doing the screenwriting thing in LA) I can't stop thinking about structure.  It's more of a curse than a blessing and Lord knows my structure needs improving, but I think that's why I can't turn off that part of my brain when I watch movies.

So, what did I think of the movie?  I liked it, really I did, but I can't help wondering if that is only because it's Harry Potter.  The movies always look beautiful.  They have these gorgeous dark color palettes (see the photo!) that my inner emo loves.  The costumes are amazing.  The stories and characters are beloved before I see them on screen.  There's magic, and there's fun, and there's action.  And come on... it's Harry Potter!

The movie starts out amazing.  I honestly couldn't think of a better way to start it than setting up the tone of the world.  We see Harry, Ron, and Hermione each alone, the way they will be (alone as a group) for most of the movie, and contemplating the hard choices they know they will have to face.  When Hermione modifies the minds of her parents, I almost cried.  We see Voldemort and his death eaters.  Fiennes quiet portrayal of Voldemort has always been phenomenal, but in his first scene it was so understated that the exaggerated groveling of the death eaters caused me to roll my eyes more than once.  But he was back on track by the time he kills the Muggle Studies professor and it sets up for us right from the beginning how high the stakes are.

This film is definitely the darkest yet, but the movie still does an amazing job of keeping things fun.  They stole moments for humor where ever they could and as always Rupert Grint has great comedic timing.  There were two moments that stuck out to me as being perfectly placed moments to lighten up the movie.  Right after the tone of the world is set up, Harry is rescued by the Order and they use polyjuice potion to come up with quite a few diversionary Harrys.  Fleur is the best part of this, because we get to see Daniel Radcliffe in a bra shrieking about how hideous he looks and then snuggling up to Bill.  This was an important moment that keeps the movie from coming in too heavy and overwhelming the audience.  The other moment that works really well is when Harry and Hermione dance.  Hermione is heartbroken that Ron has left, they are in hiding, and have no idea what they are doing.  The dancing was fun, friendly, and releases just enough tension for the audience to enjoy this very dark movie.

But the moment I decided I didn't love this film came right at the end.  Nobody else seems to agree with me, but from the arguments I'm hearing, I think I may not be expressing myself clearly enough.  So I'm going to try to say exactly what I mean.  Bear with me until the end.

My biggest problem came with breaking the movie into two parts.  I thought we would get two separate movies.  What I'm not saying is that I thought they would make a new plot for the second part.  What I'm not saying is that I didn't know they were breaking the seventh book into two parts.  What I am saying is that I thought if they were going to charge me fifteen bucks to see each movie, I would get a focused story with an appropriate climax in both movies.  I'm defining a movie VERY loosely as a story with an inciting incident (again loosely: an event that forces the character to make a tough choice and start on his journey) and a climax that correlates to the inciting incident and is resolved by the main characters.  Maybe it was foolish of me to hope that, because I certainly didn't get it.  Part 1 ends with Dobby saving Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  The end of the movie is a bit of a let down, because our main characters have struggled through the whole movie and then THERE IS NO PAY OFF.

Even with this movie only covering the first half of the book, a lot of the character development felt rushed. I doubt they could have done it in one movie, but I'm not sure they can do it in two, either.  The movie banks wholly on it's built in audience and most people seem fine with that.  I just found the end to be completely anti-climactic and depressing (and not because Dobby died, I find him incredibly annoying on screen).  It just didn't work for me.

That being said.... Yes, I will be forking over another fifteen dollars to see Part 2 in July.  I think the end will lend itself more to the screen and I'm hoping for some more screen time for characters like Ginny, Neville, and Snape.  Plus, I love the way those death eaters appear in a cloud of black smoke.

And a few final thoughts that just don't seem to fit in anywhere else: One, the adults that played Harry, Ron, and Hermione on polyjuice potion were great and I appreciated how much they looked like Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint.  Two, when Hermione reads the story about the deathly hallows, the animation is gorgeous and enough to keep me from being bored while the character literally reads to us (and I get bored so very easily).  Three, Dobby wouldn't have died if he hadn't insisted on making a speech about being a free elf.  Haven't we learned anything about the villains of this world?  And four, I'm holding off judgement on Daniel and Rupert until I see them in something non-Harry Potter, but Emma Watson is phenomenal.  She outshines them both and I can't wait for her to take a break from college and shoot something else.

Still Waiting For My Owl

A quick Harry Potter post... I wanted to finish Order of the Phoenix by today, but real life, you strike again!  Still, I'm excited for the movie and excited to finish the series this month.

So... quick link to an online RPG.  Yes, I've played and yes it's fun, but it's time consuming.  If you like text based games this is for you.  It's not so much about Harry Potter as it is about giving you the Hogwarts experience.  And that is something I've always wanted.

Book Trailer: Halo

The last few weeks I looked at some book trailers for books that I haven't read yet.  They're definitely on my list now, but I want to take the next few weeks to look at trailers for books I have read.  Before I could give an honest opinion of if the trailer made me want to read it, but now I'll be able to look at how well the trailer captured the book.

I'm going to start out with Halo.  If you've been reading this blog, you may remember that I didn't like it.



This trailer I think may have set me up for that disappointment.  Especially in the beginning you get the sense of action, adventure, and then romance.  The stakes are high.  But the book was slow, it had more to do with the romance than with defending the earth from the dark forces.  I never felt like anything was really at stake and I never felt like the bad guys weren't really that bad.

I would have said this was a good book trailer before I had read the book, but setting us up for the wrong story is just as dangerous for a book trailer.  If the stakes are higher in the trailer than in the book... you've got a problem.

Nanowrimo: Week Two

Week Two is apparently the hardest week.  It's the week where it stops being fun and a lot of people quit.  I haven't quit yet, but I can understand the people who have.  I don't particularly like my main character, I don't think that I gave him strong enough goals or high enough stakes.  I'm worried that my outline is weak and won't get me to 50,000 words.  I chose between two different projects for this month and I'm starting to wonder if I chose wrong.

Right now I am at 14, 283 words, which means I'm 9,051 behind where I should be.  That number is so high because A) I haven't written yet today and B) I took three (weekend) days off last week when my friend came to visit.  I'm not making excuses... okay, I am.  I'm behind on Nanowrimo, I'm behind on getting through all the Harry Potter books before I see the movie on Thursday night and I didn't stay in and write last night like someone who is taking her goals seriously.  I went to see UNSTOPPABLE (sigh Chris Pine has pretty eyes).  I did this even though I know that Thanksgiving is coming up and I'll be travelling and taking about six days off from writing.

But I'm still trying to reach my goals.  I'm still proud of myself for the work I'm doing and the attempt I'm making.  I'm trying someone new and working outside my comfort zone and that is what Nanowrimo is all about.

Goblet of Fire... halfway there

I have less than a week left to finish the series if I want to be done by the time I see the new movie (I have midnight tickets for Thursday night).  Right now the task seems daunting, but I'm going to keep on trying.  Goblet of Fire is the book I always seem to pick up when I'm in the mood for Harry Potter.  I don't know why, but when it's been awhile, this is the book I start with.  I think I forget how long it is (says the girl about to start Order of the Phoenix).

Again, in no particular order... the things that jumped out at me during this read:

-Frank Bryce gets a raw deal.  Really, truly, he does.  He goes to war, where he gets an injury that leaves him in pain for the rest of his life.  He is wrongly accused of murder, but still shunned in the town he lives in.  And then Voldemort kills him.  Maybe I'm being too sensitive, but I know him for all of one chapter and I feel really bad for the guy (another example of how great JK is with character).

-The muggle torture at the world cup is grotesque.  I'm a little bit (okay, a lot) impressed with how JK manages to make the bad guys live up to their bad reputations.  I was horrified with the death eaters using the muggle family as puppets during the world cup.  Sure bad things happen in the other books (in Azkaban we find out that Pettigrew killed a dozen innocent muggles), but it doesn't feel real until Goblet.  This is the book that ups the ante.  Yes, the other books were life and death, too, but at the end of this book, when Harry comes face-to-face with a risen Lord Voldemort... that's when I feel for the first time that Harry might actually die.

- Harry gets a lot of help with the tasks and still struggles to survive.  This ties in perfectly with a theme that Dumbledore states at the end of the book: We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.  Harry kills the first task with help from Hagrid, Mad-Eye/Barty Jr. and Hermione, but during the second task, he almost completely fails because he is too prideful to ask for help.  He would have had an easy solution had he asked Neville.  Harry gets help right up to the very end, where Cedric helps him limp over to claim the cup for a Hogwarts victory.  However, it turns out that all this help has been orchestrated by Barty Crouch, Jr. to transport Harry right into Voldemort's clutches.  I don't think this negates the first theme, but it does add another.  No matter how hard we help someone and try to keep them safe, ultimately, we need to prepare them because they are going to have to fight their own battles in the end.  Nobody dreamed that Voldemort would actually get his hands on Harry, but the help Hermione and Ron gave Harry in preparation for the third task was exactly what he needed in order to fight Voldemort.

-The library didn't have the answer to the second task.  This kind of surprised me because Hermione should have been able to find the bubble head charm in at least one book, but maybe Cedric checked them all out.  I'll accept that Harry wouldn't have looked in a herbology book on his own so I understand him not coming across gillyweed in his research.  That's really neither here nor there.  This stuck out to me because it becomes important to Hermione.  She's used to being able to look anything up, but in books Six and Seven we learn that some of the most important information can't be found in books, but in memories.

-Nathan Bransford just had a post about how JK consistently delivered amazing books under extraordinary pressure (Potter mania would have made me crack, for sure!).  She recently said in her Oprah interview that she kept telling people she was fine, but was barely hanging on.  I just kept thinking about this interview while reading the book.  I think it may be the closest we get to JK telling us what it is like to be writing the most anticipated books of the century for rabid fans.  Harry is constantly saying he has a plan for task two, while secretly having no idea what he's doing.  He sees people put their hopes in him--especially Hagrid.  And he has to deal with the media.  I think there is probably a reason Rita Skeeter is so horrible.  Even when Harry is a media darling the truth has been twisted so that it is unrecognizable.  This is something I would assume JK has extensive experience in (check the rumor section of her website).

-Prejudice comes out as a major topic of discussion in this book.  It's everywhere from Rita's article about Hagrid to Fudge not trusting Madame Maxime to the champions not trusting each other and Hermione's S.P.E.W..  But what stuck out to me is the idea that we are all guilty of it.  Hagrid hides out in his hut when the world finds out that he is a half-giant, but later he criticizes Harry for trusting Krum, because Krum is from Durmstrang.  Granted Harry probably shouldn't be wondering off alone in the woods with anyone at this point, but Hagrid is just as prejudiced.  And I get the impression that he thinks it's okay for him to judge others without giving them a chance, because he has been judged in the same way.  And that just doesn't work.  It brings us back to what Dumbledore says... we are only as strong as we are united.

-Crouch's story sets up the world for the next few books.  Crouch worked for the ministry, hated the dark arts, but he played every bit as dirty as Voldemort.  He sent people to prison without trials (poor Sirius), authorized the use of the unforgivable curses and had no mercy, even for his own son.  People are terrified and the government has to look like it's doing something.  And this idea is going to play a major part in book five, where the ministry of magic doesn't want to believe that Voldemort has returned, and then in books six and seven.  This I think translates well into the real world.  I've heard that the most effective programs to fight for basic human rights/needs have been run by the Catholic church (disclaimer... I'm not catholic and I don't have a citation on this.  It is something that I heard a very long time ago in a class on socio-economics).  That makes sense, because you can't fight evil with bureaucracy.

-This book is dark.  We start with murder and muggle torture, have some fun with the tournament, then Cedric dies and Voldemort rises.  It's heartbreaking and terrifying.  But JK didn't end the book there.  She gave us just enough to make us laugh (Ron wanted that autograph all year!) and leave us with hope.  Yes, Voldemort is back, but the right people know and they are preparing a defense.  It made the wait for the fifth book worth it the first time around, and now as I'm rereading it, it makes me excited to get to the next book.

-I love Neville, especially in this book.  As we start to learn about his past and what happens to his parents... it's just heart breaking.  I couldn't get the scene out of my head from book five where his mother keeps giving him gum wrappers.  And this makes me excited for book five.  We've got some amazing characters about to be introduced/developed that have great character arcs during the last few books.  Among them: Neville, Ginny, Tonks, and Luna (and I still love Sirius, Lupin, and Snape).  I am way too excited to get cracking on the next book.  And that's where I'm off to.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

I'm writing this at night, to post in the morning, and right now I'm so tired I can barely think straight.  A friend was in town, so I took this weekend off from both reading and writing, which means I'm terribly behind on both Nanowrimo and my goal of reading all the Harry Potters before the movie comes out.  With eight days to go (fortunately two of those days are a weekend, unfortunately, the office I work at is not closed for Veteran's day) I am at the end of Goblet of Fire, with the longest book of the lot up next and then two more just as long as Goblet.

Thankfully, I started reading Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them while waiting for Prisoner of Azkaban to come in the mail (all of my copies are at my parents house on the other side of the country).  I can't believe it's Thursday already and time to talk about another book, but Saturday will for sure be Goblet of Fire (and hopefully by then I'll be halfway through Order of the Phoenix).

Fantastic Beasts is cute.  Rowling created it to raise money for Comic Relief (a great organization who put on Red Nose Day in the UK--definitely the most fun charity organization out there... also in the US now).  I probably wouldn't have liked it if it hadn't been created for charity.  It's cute, but as a book on it's own, it's not entirely captivating.  This is the second time I've read it (the first being when my parents bought me the book, which had to be back in 2001) and I don't feel like I was missing out waiting nine years to read it again.

I love the notes that Harry, Ron, and Hermione scribble in the margins.  I enjoy learning about animals that are referenced in the series books--werewolves, hinkypunks, troll, phoenix, basilisk, dragons, acromantula.  These parts were especially entertaining in conjunction with Harry and Ron's commentary, because we know exactly what Harry and Ron are thinking.  The introduction gives a fascinating look into the intricacies of magical government.  I especially enjoyed the entry on the Lethifold, because there were a handful of stories alluded to with enough detail that I was given the impression of a full story.

My quick posts, never end up being quick.  I probably need to turn on my inner editor.  But for now, I'll get back to reading, because I don't like to fail at my goals.

Weekly Geeks - Readers Advisory

The title kind of made me giggle, because it brings to mind parental advisory stickers on books.  This book is rated E for Entertaining.

Part One: I'm looking for...
...a book with a heartbreakingly real voice (ala Something Borrowed), but with the Humor of the Stephanie Plum series, and the thoughtful self-examination of a John Green book.   I'd prefer it if it makes me cry, but ultimately ends on a happy note.

Part Two: If you're looking for... great fantasy with real characters that avoids being cheesy:
-Harry Potter (duh)
-The Mortal Instruments
-Hunger Games
-Tithe, Ironside, Valiant
-Savvy, Scumble
-The Merchant of Death
-His Dark Materials
-Keys to the Kingdom
-Amulet of Samarkand
-Percy Jackson
...And I'm obviously always looking for more books that fit here.  Although I like the cheesy stuff too (Eragon, Lord of the Rings, Twilight, Fablehaven, etc, I find to be a bit cheesy...but still entertaining).

A Strange Conclusion

In my search for links for the different editions I own (which isn't as many different editions as I'd like) I came across two totally unexpected finds...

You can actually purchase Harry Potter in Latin...

Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis

...and Ancient Greek... You'll forgive me for not writing the title here....

And for now that concludes my look at Harry Potter editions... for now at least.  With the strange aside of today, well, aside, I'm limiting myself to editions that I own.  Hopefully we'll do this again sometime, but until then... expelliarmus.  What?  It worked on Voldemort.

Trailer for: Matched

Of the five books that we've been looking at the past six weeks, Matched is the one I already had on pre-order and was the most excited about.  I am literally itching for it to come out in December.  Here is the trailer that was available when I started this project (following will be the newly released "real" trailer):



This is my LEAST favorite kind of book trailer. It actually made my enthusiasm for the book drop.  Yeah.  So. This kind of video is basically the author talking about the book with some cheesy music in the background.  I'm sure Ally Condie is nice, but most authors are awkward on camera.  And part of me doesn't like to think about the author as I'm reading.  It makes it hard for me to get inside the world, makes it less real.  This video gave me more insight into the story and the world than that amazon blurb that sold me on it did, but I don't think it was worth it.



This trailer is amazingly better than the first one.  Still, I'm not in love with it.  Visually, I like it.  We learn the story.  By all accounts this is what trailers should look like.  But I hate cheesy voiceover (and I'm way too picky about them now  because I've read too many bad screenplays with useless VO).  But it's hard to sell a book in a thirty second trailer without voice over.  And cost prohibitive.  I work in the film industry, so I'd very much like to see a trailer that focused on the inciting incident for maybe 15 seconds, then had a few quick action shots before cutting to the book title and release date (much more like a movie trailer).  But that would involve cameras and actors and guilds (that have internet deals now, unless you are going non-union) and sets and a whole lot more people and time and money.  I don't know if it would be worth it, but I really want somebody to try it.

Nanowrimo Week One

My friend is visiting from out of town, so just a quick post.  I have 7373 words so far, which is less than what I should have, but I'm not worried.  I'm getting past the beginning, which is always the hardest part for me (and resisting the urge to rewrite it three times before moving on, the way I do with screenplays).  I've always been the kind of person who works to deadlines and I find that I write a lot faster once I get past my shaky first draft beginnings and into the heart of my story.  Once I really know my characters (which isn't until I start writing), then things get going pretty good.  So technically I'm behind, but not for long.

And now off to bed.

Yes, I know this blog post makes me look like I can't form a complete sentence, but I'm tired.

Prisoner of Azkaban

These Harry Potter blogs have been a lot longer than I expected.  But now that I've started, I don't think they'll get any shorter.  This is probably one of the reasons why they are so popular and why they are the only books that I consistently read over and over again: no matter how many times I read them, there is always something else to think about.  I've had to literally force myself to put these books down, because even though I've read them before, I want to stay up all night to finish.  But I'm twenty-four with a real job, I can't skip class in the morning anymore.

With each book I change my mind, but I think Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite.  It's where we really commit to the series.  Sure the first two books set things up, but it's PoA that  makes us need those four more incredibly long, incredibly dark books.  It's our first real glimpse of the bigger picture.

Right now, all I really want to do is start Goblet of Fire, and since I still have 2000 words to write for Nanowrimo before I can do that, I'm going to list the things that stuck out to me while I was reading (I thought to write them down this time through).  These are in no particular order.

-Wish fulfillment.  In the beginning, it was almost funny how much wish fulfillment there was.  Harry is a thirteen year old wizard and yet, at the beginning of the book he is granted a surprising amount of independence.  Sure he's pretty good at looking out for himself, but the Minister of Magic himself gives Harry permission to stay by himself for about a week in a room above a bar.  He gets to explore the wizard shops by himself and eat free ice cream.  Then he gets the thing he wants most in the world, a Firebolt, which makes him the envy of both friends and enemies.  Then, he gets the marauder's map.  THEN, he wins the quidditch cup against his school nemesis, Malfoy, where he literally snatches the snitch out of Malfoy's hand, completely humiliating him.  By the end of the book I realized that we--and Harry--needed all those good things to happen in the beginning, because in the end Harry loses something worth more than all of those things.  He comes so close to proving Sirius innocent and gaining the closest thing he'll ever have to a real father.  Of course, the Weasley's try, but they are Ron's parents, not Harry's and Harry has never had an adult who cared about him to call his own.  Sirius is that person and Harry loses him.

-Defense Against the Dark Arts.... I adore Lupin, but his class is more Defense against not-so-nice magical creatures.  It bothers me every time.  I think Harry's got the right idea with Dumbledore's Army in book five (and yes, I still kind of want that tattoo).

-At one point, when everyone still thinks Sirius is guilty, Ron says "Why couldn't Black have hidden in Snape's office, eh?  He could have finished him off for us!"  This made me laugh at loud, because of how much I think it would have amused Sirius.  (As a side note, Sirius is my favorite character. I like him better than Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  I'm so glad to finally get to the third book so that I can finally talk about him.)

-Rowling does a really good job establishing the theme of friendship in the present so that it is believable and more effective in the past.  Hermione and Ron both pass up Christmas with their families (that is a big deal), because they know Harry needs them.  This strengthens the story Lupin tells about how his friends not only accepted him as a werewolf, but became animagus so that they could be with him during the full moon.  I could definitely see Harry, Ron, and Hermione doing that for each other.

-The dementors bring out Harry's hidden memory of his parents dying to protect him.  It's horrible and yet he has trouble with his patronus because part of him wants to hear that memory--it's all he has of his parents.  This breaks my heart because it feels so raw and honest.  All I could think about was the JK/Oprah interview where JK says something along the lines of Harry Potter exists because my mother died.  You can see it on every page of the books.  They only exist because I loved her and she died.  That's a paraphrase, don't quote that.

-How many students attend Hogwarts?  This always bothers me.  At one point in this book, Rowling mentions there are 200 people cheering for Slytherin, which I would assume means there are 200 Slytherin students, because nobody else likes them.  Assuming that the houses are more or less equal, that would mean about 800 students at Hogwarts.  But.... There are only five boys in Harry's year.  If we take that to be average, 10 students per year per house, we get 70 students in four houses, or 280 students.  Not that it matters, but this bothers me every single time.

-I think one of the most important functions of the book is that it does a great job of humanizing Dumbledore. It is the first time that we really see limitations for him.  He can't control what people believe and he can't prove Sirius innocent.  Yes, he is a great wizard, but the best he can do is guide Harry and Hermione to help Sirius escape.  This book tells us that things are about to get dark and complicated and not even Dumbledore is going to be able to just fix things and make them better.  We feel safe when Dumbledore's around and this is a gentle nudge to the realization that we have been lured into a false sense of security.

And now I'm off to Nanwrimo so that I can get moving on book four.

Chamber of Secrets

I always think that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is my least favorite of the Harry Potters until I read it.  And then I remember how good it is.  It's just as intricate and tightly woven as the first, while setting up so much for the rest of the series.

We get the first real discussion of how choices define us more than anything else, which is a huge theme in the series.  At one point I was particularly reminded of a scene in the seventh book where Neville (who says in this book that he is practically a squib) really comes into his own in the war against Voldemort.  Nobody would say he had any natural talent (or really any talent at all), but he becomes an important instrument in the seventh book because he chose to be.

Tom Riddle is young and foolish, so we learn about his character in a way we would never be able to when he has grown into the very controlled Lord Voldemort.  We also get the first hints and all the set up for Horcuxes, a huge series plot point.

Although we may not be looking for them, JK does give us some answers.  Harry has some special abilities because Lord Voldemort transferred part of himself into Harry.  This isn't totally spelled out, but it's certainly there.  Also, at one point Ernie McMillan (spelling?) of Hufflepuff comments that Voldemort only wanted to kill Harry as a baby because he was worried about competition.  Besides the part about Harry being a dark wizard, Ernie's actually right.

There's also some great moments for supporting characters.  Gilderoy is hilarious (JK has said he is the only character based off a real person, which is actually kind of heartbreaking).  And I love love love Mr. Weasley.  At Flourish and Blotts, he has such a smart answer for Lucius (We have very different ideas of what disgraces the name of wizard) and then when that doesn't work, the gloves come off and he gets into a fist fight in the middle of a bookstore.  It really makes me love him and sets up his character so that it is believable that he would become part of the Order of the Phoenix in book five.  I think that sometimes it's easy to think that the Weasley's got pulled into the fight against Voldemort because of Harry, but moments like these, which aren't even about building minor characters (this scene sets up Lucius's character for the second book and the series and is the point where Riddle's Diary is delivered to Ginny), show how they deserve the roles they have in the fight against evil regardless of their relationship with the "chosen one".

And now I'm dying for the next one, where Sirius, one of my favorite characters is introduced.  I'm not really sure why, but I'm really looking forward to reading Order of the Phoenix.  Usually three and four are my favorites, but I'm dying to get through them to get to five and seven.  I'm not looking forward to six.  This is probably because I'm still grieving for Dumbledore.  I almost cry every time he is in a scene, because he is so good and I know what is coming for him at the end of book six.

Week Four... in another language I can't read

Unfortunately, I've never been to France.  I got this edition off Amazon when me and a friend decided that we would read a book in a foreign language.  Obviously, we chose Harry Potter.  Less obviously, we chose French because we had both taken it in high school and, theoretically, should be able to read a children's book in it.

We failed, but the French cover art is beautiful... are you noticing a pattern?  I love cover art.  It's this way of capturing the soul of a book.  I'm fascinated by each edition's cover because of how different they are.  Yet each really does capture the soul of the book.  Just look at the three main characters: Hermione is superior and studios, Ron is unhappy but keeping it to himself, and Harry is in the middle of everything and looks a bit overwhelmed.  Perfect.

And then they just get into it... Like the Canadian version, no pictures, but it is succinct.  Not the boy who lived... just Le Survivant.  I assume that means the Survivor.  

And a simple straight forward back...

I have the Rosetta Stone, but I probably won't learn to read in French until this version is released on Kindle and I can follow along with the French-English dictionary at the bottom of the screen.

Welcome to Reread Harry Potter In November

So I love Harry Potter, but I love reading new books, too.  November is my month to stop reading all the books piling up around me and get back to the books that never disappoint me.  I've read each of these books many many times and that will obviously influence my reflection.  Also, I'm probably going to front load the month with the books, because I want to read them before the movie comes out, but no worries.  There is plenty of Harry Potter goodness to bring us all the way to December.

I'm going to say right now that I tend to read Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and Order of the Pheonix the most.  Because of this, I sometimes forget just how good the first book is.  It's hard to explain, rereading it.  First, it feels like revisiting my own good memories.  My heart breaks for characters we meet in this book who I know will die later on and reading this book is like remembering a lost friend.  Then there are the characters who grow to be some of my favorites, who are only alluded to here.  

For someone who wants to be a writer, reading Rowling is incredibly intimidating, because her books are just so tight.  Reading the first Harry Potter I noticed that the story seems to meander through Harry's first year.  But I'm never bored and really it's set up, set up, set up.  Casual sentences that seem of little importance in this book will (I know since I've read the series) come back in a major way.

Another thing I love about Rowling is that she brings readers through a whole range of emotions.  I always notice in the later books (especially Half-Blood Prince) but never realized how true it was for Sorcerer's Stone as well. I'm furious at Snape for being mean and unfair, my heart breaks for Neville when Hermione is forced to hit him with a body bind, I cry when Harry discovers the memories of his parent's for the first time, and there are too many moments to mention where I actually laugh out loud.  That's all besides being on the edge of my seat as I follow Harry on his adventure.

Besides that, I had a few questions come up during my reading.  Hopefully I'll get answers as I read the series this month.  

First, I know that Hogwarts is extremely protected, so I'm not sure why Charlie's friends can fly to the top of the highest tower undetected.  In book six, Dumbledore takes off a crapload of protections as he and Harry fly back to Hogwarts.  I know that there were additional protections put on the school the summer before Harry's sixth year, but I didn't think they were all new.  But maybe they were.

Then there is Dumbledore going to the ministry.  He seems to be gone an awful long time.  If it was really such an emergency, why didn't he create a port key?  Or apparate after leaving Hogwart's grounds.  It just seems like he spent too much time away from Hogwarts for him to just travel to the ministry, realize there was no emergency, and travel back.  I mean, they go to dinner and then wait for the common room to empty.

The last question I had was actually a question by my bff Romo who thought that Petunia should know that Harry isn't allowed to do magic at home since she grew up with Harry's mother.  I think she may have a point, but at the same time I could see Petunia forcing herself to forget anything she knew about the wizarding world or never bothering to pay enough attention to learn in the first place.