Few things.
1. I absolutely did not get past page 21 in the reading this week and unfortunately we are now at the point of the readalong where I do not know the books well enough to remember things.
2. I have things to say aside from Horace Slughorn anyway, so I am ok with this.
First, ANNOUNCEMENTS. People seem to be all right with making this book happen in THREE weeks instead of four, as it's a bit shorter than the last couple, so we're going to change the reading for next week to be Chapters 8 through 18, which ends on QUITE a cliffhanger, let me tell you.
With this change, we'll have a spare week in the month, which is fantastic because regardless I was going to make us take a week before Deathly Hallows and read The Tales of Beedle the Bard. If you do not have a copy of this, please obtain one from your local library. Or just buy it 'cause it's like eight bucks and it is excellent.
ALSO, I have made a promise that due to JKR's terribleness at shipping couples, we in the HP Readalong would be on the lookout for Harry/Draconess in these last two books. Because I don't see it. But I am open to it, because Harry/Ginny is kind of dumb.
Now. The beginning of this book. I had a hard time starting it, because the first chapter makes me cry and there's no getting around it and it's not like the other books where you've got a nice buildup and THEN tears it's just immediate tears, so. Hard to pick it up knowing that.
Amelia Bones and Emmeline Vance. I'm not sure what it is about JKR's writing style that makes characters so real, but it's true and I can't handle their deaths. When I first read this, around 1 a.m. the night it was released, I read that Amelia Bones had been killed and I had to put the book down because she had just BEEN there and saying "A corporeal Patronus" and someone had killed her and WHY.
I think it can be harder with more ancillary characters, because you don't see them so much as Harry Potter Characters. I have reasons I dislike Sirius Black. It's hard to dislike Amelia Bones because there's not a lot about her in the book.
Chapter 2 (where I, of course, stopped): This is one of the only times Bellatrix isn't an insane caricature. Her calling Narcissa "Cissy" always strikes me, as well as the "your own sister?" line, because the way Bellatrix has been portrayed up to now, you kind of think she wouldn't call on family ties as a reason to not kill/injure someone. The scene leading up to the meeting with Snape is probably the most human we ever see her. She's not always evil, damnit. And we can't know what she was like before Azkaban (saving that one scene with Barty Crouch, but I guess by 'before Azkaban' I mean 'before Voldemort').
I've read the opening chapters a few times, but I really think I've only read HBP once. And now I have 17 chapters for next week. Bring on the Slug Club indeed.
1. I absolutely did not get past page 21 in the reading this week and unfortunately we are now at the point of the readalong where I do not know the books well enough to remember things.
2. I have things to say aside from Horace Slughorn anyway, so I am ok with this.
First, ANNOUNCEMENTS. People seem to be all right with making this book happen in THREE weeks instead of four, as it's a bit shorter than the last couple, so we're going to change the reading for next week to be Chapters 8 through 18, which ends on QUITE a cliffhanger, let me tell you.
With this change, we'll have a spare week in the month, which is fantastic because regardless I was going to make us take a week before Deathly Hallows and read The Tales of Beedle the Bard. If you do not have a copy of this, please obtain one from your local library. Or just buy it 'cause it's like eight bucks and it is excellent.
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| Also I forgot to include this DA list that someone made and it is awesome and probably the only HP item I would want so here you are |
ALSO, I have made a promise that due to JKR's terribleness at shipping couples, we in the HP Readalong would be on the lookout for Harry/Draconess in these last two books. Because I don't see it. But I am open to it, because Harry/Ginny is kind of dumb.
Now. The beginning of this book. I had a hard time starting it, because the first chapter makes me cry and there's no getting around it and it's not like the other books where you've got a nice buildup and THEN tears it's just immediate tears, so. Hard to pick it up knowing that.
Amelia Bones and Emmeline Vance. I'm not sure what it is about JKR's writing style that makes characters so real, but it's true and I can't handle their deaths. When I first read this, around 1 a.m. the night it was released, I read that Amelia Bones had been killed and I had to put the book down because she had just BEEN there and saying "A corporeal Patronus" and someone had killed her and WHY.
I think it can be harder with more ancillary characters, because you don't see them so much as Harry Potter Characters. I have reasons I dislike Sirius Black. It's hard to dislike Amelia Bones because there's not a lot about her in the book.
Chapter 2 (where I, of course, stopped): This is one of the only times Bellatrix isn't an insane caricature. Her calling Narcissa "Cissy" always strikes me, as well as the "your own sister?" line, because the way Bellatrix has been portrayed up to now, you kind of think she wouldn't call on family ties as a reason to not kill/injure someone. The scene leading up to the meeting with Snape is probably the most human we ever see her. She's not always evil, damnit. And we can't know what she was like before Azkaban (saving that one scene with Barty Crouch, but I guess by 'before Azkaban' I mean 'before Voldemort').
I've read the opening chapters a few times, but I really think I've only read HBP once. And now I have 17 chapters for next week. Bring on the Slug Club indeed.
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