Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Readalong Post 1

It's time to discuss The Prisoner of Azkaban!! 

FINALLY!

This is easily one of my favourite books in the entire series. It's the book where I think JKR really got her groove on, the plot is tight, the characters, new and old, are interesting and full of life and it's just all around awesome sauce.

Where do I even start?

I know a book that centres around magic isn't going to be realistic, but the scenes with the Dursleys are the most deliciously absurd in the whole series. Take the Aunt Marge fiasco. I understand (though don't accept, because they're bonkers) why Petunia and Vernon are cold to Harry but why is Marge so comically aggressive towards him?  Is she just responding to how the Dursleys treat him and the lies they probably tell about him? I mean, saying that she would have sent him directly to the orphanage is pretty harsh, as is only calling your nasty little dog off after several hours of harassing a CHILD up a tree. It's bonkers but I love it - I've never liked soap operas, but this, oh yes, this is my trashy, guilty pleasure.

But it also makes it 10,000 times more exhilarating when Harry finally loses the plot and shatters a brandy glass or y'know, blows up dear sweet Marge. She's being all sassy with her crap about bad blood and bitches and runts of the litter and Harry's just fuming being all;

And BOOM! She goes the way of Violet Beauregarde. So good. SOOOOO good!

Is this the most exciting first half we've read so far? Because what do I discuss next? The giant big dog in the shadows (could it be a grim?)? Shabby old Lupin and the Dementor attack on the train? Sirius and his bloodthirsty desire to murder little Harry Potter? Hermione and her inability to show a modicum of pet owner respect?

Maybe how insanely evil Snape is in this book? Normally with Snape I'm all;

But you DO NOT humiliate Neville in front of another teacher you crazy greasy haired man. Take it out on Harry if you must, frankly his dad was a complete douche to you at school (not that that's really an excuse, seriously, pick on someone your own age) but Neville? What the hell did that small kid with the teeny, fragile self-esteem possibly do to deserve that level of humiliation? No one deserves to be imitated by a boggart and stuffed into a vulture hat more than him in that moment.

I don't want to blather on too much more, especially since I know next week's post is going to be HUGE. But can I just say how much I adore Lupin in this book? I grow to have issues with him later, but in this book he is exactly the teacher all the kids (and not just the Gryffindor trio) need. He's intelligent, warm, approachable, and flippin' great at FINALLY teaching them about defending against the dark arts. He's basically a more reachable Dumbledore, free from the whole scary headmaster-y thing. Not to mention he's got the whole mystery thing going for him at this point. Why did he ride the train to school? Why is he so shabby? Why is he afraid of magic balls? Oh HP newbies, I can't wait for you to read the next half of the book!

Tina Fey was inadvertently the perfect Lupin/Surius hybrid at the Golden Globes.

A few smaller points:

*I would absolutely travel exclusively on the Knight Bus if I was a witch.

*Chocolate - it cures my dementor sadness.

*Sorry Hermione, but Honeydukes over town history EVERY TIME.

*Poor Ginny during the dementor attack on the train. She went through hell last year, and she barely got a pat on the back.

*I Love Fred and George mocking Percy at the Leaky Cauldron, it's the twins at their most loveable and least obnoxious;

"Harry!" Said Fred, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing deeply. "Simply splendid to see you old boy-"
"Marvellous," said George, pushing Fred aside and seizing Harry's hand in turn. "Absolutely spiffing."

*Come on Harry, invisible horses? I know he's basically spot on, but wouldn't you assume they were charmed?

*Ummmm, on p72, Hagrid didn't send you a biting book Ron, you BOUGHT yours 20 pages ago.

*Laura, do English kids actually say things like "Pop my clogs"?

*Hermione, proving to not understand the whole pet thing at all, should probably avoid the logic thing while Lavander is grieving for her bunny rabbit. Give her a couple of days and THEN tell her how mental it is to think Trelawney made a correct prediction.

Later Gators,

Sydney Blogger Catch Up

Good morning fellow bloggers!

At the end of February (Feb 27th to be exact) Harlequin Australia is hosting a summit which I know a few of us bloggers are heading to. Because it's the perfect opportunity to finally meet one another face to face Shelleyrae and I (although mostly Shelleyrae, I just put the initial call-out out) have organised a meet at the Chelsea Hotel in Chatswood, Sydney for anyone in the book blogging world who wants to come.

If you're going to be at the Harlequin summit, or are in/around the Sydney area, hope over to Goodreads and RSVP on the Aussie Book Bloggers page. Details will be updated there.

It's going to be absolutely magical to meet everyone, and finally put some faces to the writing and online personalities I've gotten to know. So hopefully you can come, and we'll all have a fancy-pants time!

Book Review: About A Boy by Nick Hornby

About A Boy

Written by: Nick Hornby

Published: 1998

Synopsis: Will is thirty-six, comfortable and child-free. And he's discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women - through single-parent groups. Marcus is twelve and a little bit nerdish: he's got the kind of mother who made him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana. Perhaps they can help each other out a little bit, and both can start to act their age.



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The worst thing about seeing a film before reading the book it's based on is that the casting choices are 99% likely to influence the way I visualise the characters. Case in point, I can't read the character of Will in About A Boy without seeing Hugh Grant. And since re-watching Love Actually this Christmas I can't think about Hugh Grant without picturing this...

Is Will as awkward/dorky as I picture him, or is that because of Hugh Grant and the roles Hugh Grant typically takes on? And do I feel a bit torn about this book because I felt that way about the movie, or because I genuinely felt like the book fell a little flat?  I just don't know guys, I just don't know.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I came across a post on my name twin's blog (Comma Enthusiast) about Nick Hornby and all his wonderfulness and I made a mental note to read more Hornby, and then I spotted a copy of About A Boy at the amazing Book Fest. That was all the hints I needed, clearly I was meant to read this book.

I did actually really enjoy this book, and I can understand why people LOVE it, but it just didn't quite hit all the right notes for me. I mean, it's this wonderfully small narrative about a family and an interloper, and there's Nirvana love, and lies about having kids, and people struggling with being different and with depression and there are sweet bits, and sad bits, and funny bits and WHY DON'T I LOVE THIS BOOK?

I think I've narrowed it down to two main points;

1. Will will never not be Hugh Grant to me, and I never really believe Hugh Grant. Even when  he's supposed to be playing nice, nerdy, genuine dudes I always feel like he's two minutes away from doing something shady. So I think I instinctually had a hesitance about Will and how he fits into the narrative, even though I actually really like him as a character.

2. Fiona is the worst mother in the world. I could list about 10,000 things here and I think a lot of people would be like "oh but she's depressed/has mental health issues" but no, most of my criticisms have little to no bearing on her mental health. Basically, the way I see it she's made Marcus into this specific human being and then just stopped caring or listening to him. She forces her world views and music taste and food preferences on him, and when he strays from her path she just shuts him down. She acts as though she's this egalitarian mother who is friends with her son, but she doesn't let him experience or discover anything for himself. He is constantly regurgitating her opinions and her bias, and when he starts to have independent thoughts she picks fights she knows she can't lose. Sooooo yeah, Fiona is the worst* and even being played by Toni Collette in the film couldn't save her.

But in the end this is a story about Marcus. And I think you'd need to have a heart made of stone not to feel warm and protective for that weird little kid. I think Nick Hornby did an amazing job of showing how wide the gap between child and adult is, and how little adults can understand how difficult it is to be a normal kid, let alone the new boy with weird hair and glasses who sings with his eyes closed, loves Joni Mitchell and is picked on for no reason. Will acts as an intermediary for Marcus. As an adult who has never worked a day in his life, he's the best (best? hmmm) of both worlds and there's a level of growth that happens to both of the protagonists as a direct result of the strange little relationship they start up. But in the end I think Marcus mostly has to work through it and sort it out for himself, like doing the sky in a jigsaw puzzle - fumbling with similar looking pieces until something finally clicks together.

It's a very typical Hornby book in terms of style, which to me is a huge plus. There are tonnes of film and music references, very realistic and flawed characters and it's all just a little bit heart warming and fuzzy. Stylistically and narratively I think Hornby was right on the money, but whether it was the two issues I located above or a slight faltering in the concept, I don't know, it just didn't propel me to the highs of Hornby's other brilliant works.


*The one moment I actually really appreciated her was towards the end when she was talking to Will at a bar. (no spoilers) but her little confession was honest and I actually think validates some of what I said above.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Readalong Post 2

Apologies in advance guys, I'm not really feeling this week's post topic.

And if I'm being honest, I'm also pretty distracted by the fact that next week we're looking at Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, because it is one of my favourite books in the series. Lupin! Sirius! Secret Passageways! Hogsmeade! Oh my!

So I think I'm just going to jump straight to my single liners, and hop onto your posts and be a little more vocal in the comments.

Titbits and Shiznit

*Did any of the first time readers actually believe Hagrid was the heir of Slytherin?

*Parselmouth is a stupid word. Bad JK, bad.

*I like to think that Ernie, Hannah and Justin are the Hufflepuff equivalent of the Gryffindor trio, and they have a little detective agency but they get the crappy cases like "who stole my biscuit" because the Gryffindor trio get the juicy cases against dementors and horcruxes.

*Harry has shitty luck. Like ridiculously bad.

*Slytherin's password is 'pureblood'? Wouldn't that be everyone's first guess?

*JK continues to represent the gingers with auburn-locked pre-headmaster Dumbledore.

*If nothing else, Fudge is a snappy dresser.

*Slytherin is monkey-looking? I can't decide if that's a really offensive insult or not.

*What subjects would everyone pick? I'm pretty sure I'd lock in ancient runes and care of magical creatures and avoid divination like the plague, but I'd love to see a complete list of options.

Till next week lady-faces,

Mini Graphic Novel Review #12: For the bookish types

Fables Volume #1

Written by: Bill Willingham, illustrated by: Lan Medina, Steve Leialoha, Craig Hamilton, James Jean.

Published: 2002

My Thoughts: Before Once Upon a Time and Grimm hit the TV, Fables was doing the same thing, but better. After being pushed out of their homelands by "the adversary," the fabled fairy tale characters we (think we) know and love move into our world to live among "the mundane". This first volume deals with the disappearance of Rose Red, notorious party-girl and sister of Snow White. On the trail is Mr (The Big Bad) Wolf as he hunts out her kidnapper and/or murderer. It gets a little procedural at times, but I am psyched to see where the series heads - I think it could become a new favourite. Revisioned fairytales are the shit.

Kill Shakespeare Volume #1

Written by: Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col, illustrated by: Andy Belanger

Published by: 2010

My Thoughts: I've seen a lot of Shakespeare's plays converted into graphic novels, but I've never had much of a desire to read them. They're plays - I'll watch them thank you very much. But this...ohhhhhh boy, I super love it. Thank you Mister Comic-Book-Guy for suggesting it.  It takes the more interesting and better known villains and heroes of Shakespeare's work and transplants them into a world where Shakespeare is either a god or a wizard and both the villains and the heroes want to find him and it just so happens that Hamlet is the key. Like Fables, it takes stories we know and love and gives them a bit of a shake up. I can't wait to get onto the next issue.

Monday Links

*^One of our current affairs TV shows took a stand against one of the independent parties in Australia which is very vocal about their homophobia.

*Here is a list of books that should be brought to the screen, or should be remade with a new director/creative team. Not sure I agree about Whedon remaking HP, but David Lynch directing Twilight sounds amazing. (Via Flavorwire)

*Yikes, the original voice of Charlie Brown was arrested for stalking AND making death threats. (Via The AV Club)

*An article about and collection of pictures from the current New York University retrospective "Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg" (Via Gallarist NY)

*Will someone please buy me the Harry Potter Wizards Collection? With a cherry on top? (Via HP Wizards Collection)

*A newish book tumblr that's full of lovely images and quotes (Via Teaching Literacy)

*But the best tumblr find of the week? Kanye West Wing. Just go there now please. (Via Kanye West Wing)

*30 Rock is amazing, and Liz Lemon will forever remain my spirit animal. So in honour of the impending end of the series, here's a list of 10 eps that show how it flipped the sitcom on it's head (Via AV Club)