I had a lot of reading time over the weekend. (More on that later.) At one point I risked getting out of bed to find the novel I've been reading (Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko), but when it wasn't in the usual places, Craig shooed me back to bed.
"But what am I supposed to read?" I wailed.
And right on cue, Craig answered, "Harry Potter. I'll go get you the next book."
I told he's good at knowing what I like.
When I was in labor with Kendra, one of the things that got me through it all was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. If I was going to be wide awake at two in the morning and in pain, at least I had a good book to get me through it. After it was all over and my in-laws arrived to clean up our apartment, they commented that it was slightly unnerving finding my book open to the page I'd been on, left on the bathroom counter, so close to the scene of the crime. After Kendra's birth, I finished the series and vowed that I wouldn't read them again until the next time I was pregnant. This sounds weird, I'm sure, but it was because whenever I read Harry Potter, I sort of want to just keep reading them over and over again. It's hard to go back to other books because they just aren't as awesome. (Magical, amazing, well-thought out, and cool are also words that come to mind.) So this was me making an effort to force myself to read other literature.
And I stuck to that pretty well. It wasn't until we were at least trying for Lucky that I kind of sort of slipped up and read the first three. Those ones are pretty short anyway, so they only kind of count, right?
When I found out that I was pregnant, I have to admit that it wasn't long before it occurred to me that I could now continue on with Goblet of Fire-- guilt-free!!! I was pretty excited.
But I also had a stack of other books that needed perusing before I could jump back into the world of wizards and muggles. So I dutifully made my way through Great Catherine, The Summer Knight, Ender in Exile, Endowed from on High, Night, The Lovely Bones, and was well into Ceremony* before it went missing. And then I finally indulged. I read Goblet of Fire in about four days. And enjoyed every lovely word of it. I two absolute favorite lines. One is when Harry is practicing the Summoning Charm during Divination: "He managed to make a fly zoom straight into his hand, though he wasn't entirely sure that was his prowess at Summoning Charms-- perhaps the fly was just stupid." And then later on when Hermione scares Malfoy by pretending that Professor "Mad-Eye" Moody is standing behind him and then spits out at him, "Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?" Brilliant.
Anyway, the purpose of all this is that I mostly just wanted to say how much I adore Goblet of Fire. It's definitely one of the top three H.P. books as far as I'm concerned, and I have a hard time narrowing it down beyond that. Prisoner of Azkaban has the happiest ending by far, and I love that, but it feels a little bogged down at the end (time travel can do that to a novel). I have a hard time with Order of the Phoenix because Harry seems like such an angsty teenager there (points for honesty, Rowling, but that doesn't mean I enjoy reading it as much). Half-Blood Prince has Harry really maturing into the person I love, but the ending is so sad; the first time I read it, I was sitting on the beach with Craig (we were engaged then), sobbing. Craig hadn't read it yet and thought I was weird. Meh. I really enjoyed Deathly Hallows, but I had a hard time getting used to the complete change in format, and (yes, I'm a dork here, but) I missed Hogwarts.
But Goblet of Fire... Yes, the ending is sad and scary. But it's also thrilling. Voldemort is BACK. There's so much energy in the action. And that plot. Wow. It blows me away every time I read it. (It also makes me think I shouldn't even try to ever write a novel; I could never be that genius.) I don't think any of the other books can compare with this one for having plot twists that just blow you away, but make absolutely perfect sense in hindsight. Brilliant beyond words.
It was this book, actually, that I insisted that Craig had to read before the movie came out. All the other books he'd read after seeing the movie, but for this one I put my foot down. "No movie could possibly do this book justice, but it will give away the plot so you won't appreciate how amazing it is. You have to read it first," I insisted. And he listened. The summer we were engaged, Craig worked while I went to school, and while I studied in the evenings, he plowed through this book. I still remember the last night of his reading, when he started on the third task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
"Oh, you'll have to finish it now," I told him. "You won't be able to put it down tonight."
"Are you sure?" Craig flipped to the back of the book, "There's over a hundred pages left still."
"Trust me."
Then he got to the part where Harry and Cedric grasp the Tri-Wizard cup, only to discover that it's a portkey. And he looked up at me and simply said, "Oh, no."
I sent him home. It was nearly midnight, and he would have to leave my apartment soon, anyway. Let him go and enjoy his book. We had a great time discussing it the next morning.
Anyway, I could go on and on. But now I need to get cracking. I have to finish Ceremony so I can move on to Order of the Phoenix!
But all this one-sided writing has made me curious: Which is your favorite Harry Potter book and why? I'd love to know.
*If you and I aren't already friends on Goodreads, then perhaps we ought to be?
11 comments:
I'm with you all the way on Goblet of Fire. I love them all, but this one is my fave. I refused to read the books, but someone chose it for a book club to spite me and because the movie was coming out, so I had to quickly read the first three and then breezed through all the rest. By the time I got to Deathly Hollows it was going to be released in a few weeks. Always late to the party, but perfect timing for me!!
Oh the parallels of sisters! Cameron read "Deathly Hallows" to me while I was in labor with Samuel (who, BTW, was born on HP's birthday!!). Two years earlier when we were reading 1/2 Blood Prince, I totally bawled at the end! I was seriously upset, and Cameron thought he had married an insane lady (we had only been married a month or two then).
I really can't pick a favorite, I love them all for different reasons. I really loved the last one, if nothing else for her brilliance of putting everything together and making it all make sense. I just them all so much, they truly are brilliant books. :0)
So hard to choose just one - my favorite of the movies is Order of the Phoenix. But my favorite book is probably Half Blood Prince, because it's far enough into the whole scheme to really get going, but at the same time gives Harry a bit of a break because he's still at school. Poor, cursed Harry. And the scene with the love potion is the best. On and off screen.
I don't know if I could pick... I've only read them once (except the first two which I've read aloud to my kids). I have a hard time with the later books, because even though the plots are so interesting, I just want to punch Harry in the nose. Angsty teenagers are annoying.
I'd have to say either Prisoner of Azkaban or Goblet of Fire. I'm with you on Order of the Phoenix. I so wanted Harry to die in that book. Actually, I was hoping she would make him die in the end ever since reading that one. I was incredibly disappointed that she didn't kill him off.
Erin, only you would not forgive Harry for his 15-year-old angstiness! Really-- you didn't like him again after Half-Blood Prince? Really???
Anyway, thanks for all your great comments, everyone. We should start a book club... ;)
I agree that 3 and 4 are my favorites. Also, I'm so glad another person has to set deadlines for when they can re-read Harry Potter (again...)! Reading all 7 books last summer was awesome, except that I was so sad to finish them. Now I just have to wait for my next deadline and read some good novels (or boring textbooks, which is probably more likely) in the meantime. :)
A little angstiness I understand, but excessive angstiness to the point of utter stupidity, nope. (Especially when he's still all mopey and self-centered after it's explained to him what's going on.)
I thought there were a lot of logical reasons for killing him off at the end of the series. A particularly strong one being that Harry isn't all that superb of a wizard, while Voldemort is supposedly this amazingly awesome wizard. His escapes from Voldemort in all the previous books are all dependent upon help from more intelligent friends (or older, wiser ones) and luck. The ending as Rowling wrote it felt contrived, trying pander to readers rather than following the natural storyline. It wasn't horrible (except for the cheesy epilogue), but it didn't feel quite natural either. I would've been cool with him living if it had felt less contrived in the way it was written.
It's been a while since I read the books. Maybe I'll have to go back and read them again (because I do still enjoy them, all my little complaints aside) and see if I feel any differently after another read-through.
Oh, I thought the ending made a lot of sense, actually. The idea that Harry had to "die" in order to destroy the part of Voldemort that was inside him was a little tricky to grasp and if you want to argue that that part didn't make sense, I might have to concede (I'd read it once more before I would, though!).
But when he defeats Voldemort in the final duel, all the wandlore explained really well why Harry's wand would be more powerful than Voldemort's. And I think that Harry actually IS a pretty good wizard, it's just impossible for him to live up to his reputation from surviving the killing curse as a baby. He consistently manages to think well on his feet and proves many times that in a pinch he'll come through (even if it is with some help from others). For example, in Goblet of Fire, when he manages to throw off the Imperius curse that Voldemort tries to put on him. He did that all on his own. It was just later that the ghosts of his parents helped him escape from the cemetery.
The funny thing is that I completely agree with you about the angst and how annoying it is. But based on what Craig has told me of his students, that's pretty realistic. Very few teenagers think things through logically, they instead act on their emotions (which usually don't go much beyond, "It's so unfair! Why does my life have to suck?"). So mostly I was just relieved that Harry's angst stage only lasted a year, instead of several! And it really is cool to see how different he is in Book 6 (especially in how he deals with the possibility of Ron and Hermione hooking up).
Harry is such a great character. Joe Shmo combined with incredible circumstances, limitless potential, and huge expectations. I love it. There should definitely be an HP bookclub going on somewhere.
As for my favorite: I don't know if i can pick a favorite book. I loved the 3rd one. The whole premise was outstanding and it is by far my favorite movie. All the rest (movies) are suckity suckville and make me angry but whatever.
I also loved the last one. JK is a genius and i think i said that 150 times throughout the book. "Oh, JK.. you genius you." Alright, i need to read them again.
I heart Harry Potter. I don't remember which book is which, but I love them all, and I love to reread them. Those and The Count of Monte Cristo. That's my fave and I have to restrict myself from reading all of them because otherwise I read nonstop and get absolutely NOTHING done!!!
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