Category Archives: Book Reviews
My Goodreads review of City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments Book 1)
I added this review to Goodreads on 7th June 2011 where I gave the book 3/5 stars.
Contains spoilers
Now first off let me say that I read this straight after Veronica Roth’s fantastic Divergent so it had some matching up to do.
I’d been hearing the buzz about these books what with the film being cast and the first one was on special offer on kindle (just over £2, I think) so I thought what the hey. I added to my Goodreads account which sent a tweet. A friend replied and mentioned that the author had been in a plagiarism row back when she was a fan fiction author.
Just letting you know all that just in case that has swayed my review below. I’ve tried to go based just on the work though.
I’m confused by my reaction to this book because on the surface it has everything that should make it a great read for me. But it just didn’t grab me as much as I’d hoped for. I was able to put it down without too much of a fight. The opening was exciting, plunging us and our protagonist Clary straight from the ‘mundane’ human world into a world of demons and Shadowhunters. What to her looks like a teenage gang attack on a boy that had caught her eye turns into three Shadowhunters ridding the world of a demon. That her friend Simon can’t see these people makes us realise that Clary is special. I actually think the whole only see can see them thing could have been played up a bit more though.
Okay, already the events have got a bit mixed up in my mind. But then her Mum gets attacked and taken and Clary ends up gradually finding out her whole mundane existence has been a lie.
She gets taken by the three Shadowhunters to The Institute and we find out more about the world. Jace is the love interest and he comes across as a really cocky and arrogant and, yes he’s witty and he protects her but this comes across as a serious case of falling in love with the bad boy. It is clear to everyone (except Clary) that Simon loves her. The sibling Shadowhunters, Isabelle and Alec also give Clary a bit of a frosty reception and it’s not Isabelle that is jealous of the growing relationship between Clary and Jace but Alec (Jace is unaware Alec is gay). This is underplayed in this book but would be interested to explore in later books especially with the shock revelation that Clary and Jace are brother and sister (What!!! I’m not a prude but was concerned that Clary didn’t seem more shocked and upset by this news – I’ve since read some spoilers for later books and it turns out they aren’t related – but they don’t find this out til book 3 and still are attracted in book 2 so it’s going to be a little weird seeing the ‘hotness’ of Jace through Clary’s eyes). As if they haven’t got enough left over to deal with in getting Clary’s mum out of a coma and stopping ‘their’ dad Valentine from evil domination.
I felt the book was a little overwritten in places, lots of metaphors dangle about (and stick out) but I do think Cassandra Clare has a skill in writing dialogue but like others have pointed out why does everyone have to be so witty. Also not sure about Jace’s complete personality change at the end of the book, yes he’s confused and he’s got his father back from the dead but how could he have been so taken in and forgiving? I could see most of the plot twists coming and I’m not usually good at guessing those.
One little writerly peeve – I’m not sure why new sections started with an indented line. The chapters also seemed really long to me which probably helped in putting the book down, had they been shorter and snappier I might have wizard through it more and enjoyed it more).
So, my review has seemed a little damning so far. Promising start but then a few plot twists etc that throw things off. But, i have given it 3 stars which meant i did enjoy it. As a budding writer myself I am impressed by the Worldbuilding she has created. True, like some people have mentioned you don’t fully know what the mysterious Stele tool can/can’t do so maybe aspects like that could be tightened up, but it is a series so you don’t expect or want everything fully explained up front.
The most intriguing aspect for me and one which I would hope receives further exploration in the next books would be the marks or runes that the Shadowhunters apply to their skin before battle.
There’s a character called Luke who has been a ‘friend’ of Clary’s Mum, who at first seems to betray them both but then comes back as a Werewolf and I kind of liked him. I also liked Alaric who was sadly dispatched. Like I’ve already said I like Alec and did not appreciate being left dangling about whether he was alive or dead for a large portion of the book.
Well, it’s certainly got me talking (I would have talked more about Divergent had I included spoilers but didn’t want to potentially ruin in for others, I kind of feel had I known about the twist with Jace and Clary I would have maybe enjoyed it more).
I got to the end of the book and the author’s note said she was working on Book 3 the final part of a trilogy, this confused me as I was aware book 4 had just been released (and found out 5 and 6 are coming too) and it smacked a little of milking the cash cow – not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that if you’ve got more stories about these characters itching to be written but the goalposts have already been changed.
So, am I going to read the others, probably yes but not straight away and I will most likely borrow them from a library rather than buy them. Currently each book is just under £5 and I’m not convinced they are ones I will keep going back to but if the second book changes my mind who knows. I’ll try and keep open minded because I do think there is potential with these characters and this world.
Well the rest of the books were on special offer on Kindle (and this one is currently £0.99p) so I have purchased them and am ready to give this world another try in 2012 (I just have to find the time now). I’ve added some sponsored links below.
My Goodreads review of The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (hopefully spoiler free)
You can read these on Goodreads too – The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay – I gave all 3 5/5 stars and read them in about a week over Christmas pretty much having to force myself to go to bed (lots of late nights – I started reading Book 2 the second I finished Book 1 {Love my Kindle}).
Although these are spoiler free (and therefore pretty short) I can’t guarantee any comments will be – indeed if you’ve read the books please talk to me about them ;o)
The Hunger Games – Book 1
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Being a big fan of Divergent which is often talked about in the same breath as this I thought I would have to read it. I read some reviews that are negative about the violence in the book. Yes it is violent, but that suits the genre and I think it is signposted pretty much from the get go. I think the main characters are strongly written and being in an impossible situation act as well as can be expected, more so even. I found myself having to stay up late to read this. Suzanne Collins is not someone who ends chapters (or books – I had to start the second one straight away) neatly but is far too effective at making you turn just the next page (as the bags under my eyes will attest).
I was rooting for at least 4 of the contestants and did feel sad at times at their treatment. I was soooooo incensed by the mutts. Grr someone has to pay for that!
I’m hoping that the Capitol and President Snow get their comeuppance at the end of the trilogy which I suspect I will have read by the end of the year (it’s 22nd Dec today).
Divergent just pips it for me but I look forward to seeing this in film (or do I? – may have to close my eyes).
Catching Fire – Book 2
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Having to hold myself back from reading the third one straight away, hope the negative reviews of how it ends don’t spoil it for me. Oooh Snow needs to go down. I did not expect the Games to happen again. Can’t really say much more without spoiling it.
Once again Suzanne Collins keeps me turning pages even in the ‘quiet’ moments. So glad I didn’t start reading this series until it was all written.
Mockingjay – Book 3
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Well I wasn’t sure whether to give this book 4 or 5 stars (why can’t we have quarter, half and three quarter options hey?).
Another fast paced thriller from Suzanne, this time out of the Hunger Games arena but because of this all bets were off, the body count even higher. There were two deaths I’m not sure I can reconcile yet (but it is just 10 mins or so since I read the last word).
The reasons that many have disliked this book are why I think it deserves praise. It’s not full of happy neat endings and you don’t come away fully satisfied. But isn’t this what happens in real life. We don’t always find our one true love but end up loving the one we’re with. There is a scene with a cat that made me cry.
Peace doesn’t break out after war, the struggle continues and sometimes the ones who try to take over are as corrupt as the ones who have been overthrown.
Katniss and her fellow surviving tributes are asked a question at the end and I was shocked and disgusted by her answer. Despite her subsequent actions I’m still not sure whether she was believed in the answer she gave.
Real or not real you tell me!
I look forward to the films with anticipation and a little bit of fear. I also look to the future with the desire that as humans we learn lessons from books like these and hope that they remain books of fiction and not premonitions.
My Goodreads Review of Don Juan in Hankey, PA by Gale Martin
You can see this review on Goodreads here.
First off the bat I’d like to give a couple of provisos to this review. I was using a review copy so I’m not sure what changes if any there have been to the final proof. Also I’m not sure this is my normal genre of choice which has mainly currently been Young Adult dystopian or fantasy.
That said I really enjoyed Gale Martin’s debut novel and here are the reasons why.
Gale is an excellent graduate of the show not tell school of writing.
She uses a switching point of view masterfully without making the reader dizzy.
Her characters are all unique and three dimensional and you care about the success of their venture. (I had the pleasure of interviewing Gale and her main character Deanna on my blog. When I started reading the book Deanna didn’t jump out as the only character of interest with the others used as plot devices and this is a huge credit to the story).
Gale’s personal love of opera creeps into the novel in the setting and plot but this is secondary to the story of the people in the opera world so you don’t have to know anything about opera to enjoy it (I certainly don’t).
There are some fantastic moments of comedy, usually involving ghosts. I adored the seance scene.
So after all of that praise why only 4 and not 5 stars.
As I said as a proviso this is not my usual genre. If anything it’s too happy and farcical (but it doesn’t profess to be a serious book).
When interviewing Gale I asked her about the short summaries at the start of each chapter. I had guessed correctly that these were an operatic device (from the written libretto) and therefore a nod to opera. For some reason this was a real sticking point for me reading this as a piece of fiction. I felt they took me out of the story and told me what was happening. As I said earlier Gale is a master at showing and I think where additional information was given in these summaries they would have been more effective in the main narrative. This is a completely personal preference and I’ve seen a number of reviews that liked this aspect.
I also wanted one character to get a starring part on opening night – but this is just me being selfish and I enjoyed the actual scene.
All in all I would be happy to read it again and I think it would be great translated into film. It’s also got me intrigued enough to try and see an opera in 2012. I look forward to reading more from Gale.
I gave the book 4/5 stars.
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Book Review ‘Medicinal Cookery’ by Dale Pinnock
I was sent a free review copy of this book but the review below is entirely my own opinion, I do use a few phrases from the press release I received with the book to start (these are in quotation marks ” “)
The book was published on 21st April by Right Way (an imprint of Constable and Robinson), retailing at £7.99 but it is currently £4.49 on Amazon.
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“Dale Pinnock B.Sc (Hons), top health expert, nutritionist and the UK’s First Medicinal Chef is proud to announce the launch of his first book, ‘Medicinal Cookery: How You Can Benefit From Nature’s Edible Pharmacy’.”
“In this new, accessible book, Dale helps readers to literally ‘eat themselves better’, through fun and delicious recipes that target our healing needs for many common chronic disorders. Readers will also gain an understanding of the healing powers of Phytochemicals in food.”
“Readers learn how many of these compounds, when delivered in the right way, can work in a very similar way to medicinal plants, and even pharmaceutical drugs (minus the side effects). These concepts are not bizarre pseudo-scientific ideas, but actual solid concepts based upon biochemistry and human Metabolic Physiology. “
“Dale Pinnock is the First in the UK to bring together three distinct strands: Herbal Medicine, nutrition and cookery, to create a radically new way to help combat a wide range of common health problems. The focus of Dale’s Medicinal cookery is not nutrition. It is in fact the phytochemicals that are in the ingredients. Phytochemicals are non nutritional, but biologically and pharmacologically active compounds that are found in plants. These chemicals can be anything from the colour pigments, to substances that plants use like hormones, right through to unique chemicals that would provide a plant with food and fuel. The individual study of these compounds is a rapidly emerging science. “
The first thing to say about this is that the front cover is very eye-catching and inviting and that the book itself is more portable than your average cookbook (it has 186 pages and is potentially handbag size (depending on the size of your handbag that is!). The internal pages are full of colourful pictures of the raw ingredients.
This isn’t a traditional cookery book, it is a book teaching you to understand the healing properties of the food we eat, there are some recipes in the book (not as many as I was expecting) but it’s more about you understanding what foods to eat, when and why and maybe making your own recipes based on your own personal health needs.
Dale starts by introducing food as medicine and a chapter on phytochemicals (Phyto =plant)
Next he presents recipes designed to help address the health of the following body systems:
Skin, Digestion, Heart and Circulatory, Immune, Joints, Nervous.
Finally an A-Z guide of medicinal fruit, grains, nuts and seeds, culinary herbs and spices, vegetables – this includes tips on the best way to cook or utilise them in recipes.
As a vegetarian the fact that all of the listed foods are things I can eat is very appealing and looking through there are a number of recipes I would like to try (in fact this review is later than it should be is because I wanted to at least try one recipe before I posted the review). Most look pretty easy to make – my main criticism is that there are no pictures of the final product. This is just a personal preference though so that I can check how bad my versions look!
I found it interesting that Dale suggests that it was only when moving to a ‘diet focused around fresh plant foods’ compared to a diet with supplements that he noticed a shift in his health. I take a number of supplements and don’t particularly feel that great, I’m getting all the nutrients I’m meant to need but what Dale suggests is that certain plants actually work as medicines on top of this through how their biochemistry works with our systems. Each recipe talks you through the medicinal properties of its raw ingredients.
So I decided to pick the Anti-Parasite Pesto to make, not I hasten to add that I have parasites that I know of, but because:
a) I like pesto (though clearly not as much as Dale who suggests he can sit and eat spoonfuls of the stuff)
b) It looked relatively easy and something I hopefully could make and eat quickly (pumpkin seeds, basil, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and crystal salt blended – Dale gives you quantities)
c) I bought a basil plant especially (that I managed to keep alive for a very long time – which is not like me at all).
And here is the finished product served with triple colour pasta. The pesto was quite thick (hence Dale eating it with a spoon ;o)) so if there are few of you eating you may need to play around with quantities to get good coverage on the pasta. And, despite me making it, it tasted pretty darn good and is something I would definitely make again.
Anti-parasite pesto
Other recipes that are calling out to be made are: Omega Butter Crostinis, Apple Jacks, Chocolate Orange Truffle Torte, (I own agave nectar now too – which I use instead of sweetener or sugar in my tea, both which are too sweet now so I’ve occasionally been having it without anything), Garlic Honey (for use during colds, not everyday if you would like to keep friends – I have been totally won over by the very expensive but very delectable manuka honey recommended by Dale).
A number of the soup, risotto and other recipes calls for celery as an ingredient but I would have to substitute or leave this out because, I’m sorry Dale but no amount of telling me how detoxifying and cleansing celery will make me eat it (it’s the devil’s food – bleurgh – I was so mortified to spot it in my Winter Stew at my works Christmas Do, where it was promptly ejected into a water glass – luckily the flavour didn’t hang around so I managed to eat the rest).
If you are interested in starting a healthier diet in the new year and knowing more about what you are putting into your bodies I would definitely recommend this book which I would give 4/5 stars (because of the lack of pictures of finished products).
Divergent – Book Review
My review of Divergent
Cover pic taken from Veronica Roth’s website – click here for link.
Right I’m not going to give you a run down of the plot – you can get that directly from the lady herself on the link I’ve just given you above (you can even find a link to the first 100 pages on her blog – be warned you will want to buy it immediately so read it only if you have a kindle or other e-reader and can download the rest immediately or if you are near a good bookstore which is open).
My Goodreads review was (deliberately short because I don’t want to give away spoilers):
I loved this book. I was hooked from the sample and whizzed through it on my kindle. An excellent example of world-building. A building romance and tingling chemistry. A strong female lead, too strong at times and not perfect, which is perfect.
Four….what more can I say!
Dystopian and scary because many aspects could be. I’ve seen the comments criticising the violence and there is a good amount but it has a purpose. Negatives: it ended, next please.
Can you pick a faction? I can’t. Guess I’m divergent too (though according to the Facebook challenge I’m Dauntless! – I have Bungy jumped I suppose).
I have selected the quotes below as my favourites and expanded on why below.
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Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
(Also posted on Goodreads here) 5/5 stars
This review contains some spoilers
I am fortunate enough to have a signed copy of Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma as a result of winning an Authors for Japan auction bid. I chose to bid for a set of Tabitha’s books to discover a new YA author. I was also impressed that in her books she was tackling challenging issues including mental health.
Forbidden is her most recent book but the first I have read. The warning ‘Not suitable for younger readers’ indicates that this is not your typical YA book. In fact it is not a typical book at all, dealing with the most forbidden of loves, that of consensual love between a brother and a sister.
The story is narrated in alternating chapters by 16 year old Maya and her 17 year old brother Lochan. Their mother is mostly absent, loving both the bottle and her new boyfriend Dave more than her 5 children. Consequently the two older siblings are left to look after wayward teen Kit and youngsters Tiffin and Willa. They cover for their mother with their teachers for fear of social services stepping in and splitting the family up.
Maya and Lochan both have distinct voices and their first person, present tense accounts carry the reader with them as they discover their love for each other. We can see it before them, can understand it (they are having to act as mother/father figures), can feel their fear at being found out but sense their unhappiness when they try not to act on this love.
They both seem to be stronger with each other, shy Lochan finally confronts his fear of speaking out in class, his relationship with his sister boosts his confidence. Maya grows more mature, realising when their secret relationship means she is neglecting her duty to Willa as her big sister and rectifying this. In fact even Lochan’s relationship with Kit is resolved and they all to be one big happy family.
This book will not be everyone’s cup of tea, there are some sexually explicit scenes which, in my opinion, are well handled.
At the end of the book the pair, believing they have the house to themselves finally consummate their love, but they have not been as secret or as careful as they’d thought.
As a reader we know that this forbidden love can’t be realised with a happily ever after but although I’d been warned by other reviews I certainly didn’t expect my heart to break as much as theirs. Kit’s reaction started the tears rolling. Believe me the ending could have been much worse, the point when I thought it was going to be had me sobbing and I had to put the book down before I could read the last few pages.
My dedication from Tabitha says Happy Reading! I can’t call it that but I can call it memorable and brave, with enchanting prose. I look forward to reading her other four books.
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Y is for… (#atozchallenge)
Y is for…
Young Adult Fiction
Since being a ‘young adult’ I have liked to read ‘young adult’ fiction, now as a slightly older but still very young at heart adult, that has not changed in the slightest. I do have varied taste but tend to enjoy the paranormal subgenre.
As I mentioned in my V is for…Vampire post I read L. J. Smith’s book The Secret Vampire and I have gone on to read all 9 of the Night World series. I have also read all of her The Vampire Diaries (not the TV spin offs yet) being part way through the final book Midnight at the moment. Also I have read, The Forbidden Game, The Secret Circle and Dark Visions (which I vaguely remembered the first part of so not sure if I read this from the library). All of those books are hidden in a second layer on the bookshelf along with Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series (that True Blood is based on). I’m actually guessing that those are adult rather than young adult but I’ve not started reading yet. I bought the first three of the Succubus series by Richelle Mead in a second hand bookstore the other week and again think these are meant to be adult. Richelle Mead has written a series called Vampire Academy which I believe is getting a spin off series shortly. I’m waiting to buy these because I’m undecided about whether or not to purchase hardcopy or on Kindle. The other books on the shelf are The Immortals series (Alyson Noel), The Morganville Vampires series (Rachel Caine) and The House of Night series (P.C and Kristen Cast – mother/daughter writing duo). Then Fallen (Lauren Kate -first of a series) and Beautiful Creatures (Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl – also part of a series).
At school I remember reading the Point Horror books (with titles like The Babysitter and The Lifeguard) and Sweet Valley High (a slightly different genre) and I’ve read TV spin off books of Buffy etc. After the film version I read I know what you did last summer (Lois Duncan). One of my other favourites is The Changeover by Margaret Mahy – I re-read this recently and still found it creepy.
Of course I’ve read His Dark Materials (Phillip Pullman), some of the Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer) and The Twilight series (Stephanie Meyer). If you haven’t checked out The Host (also by Meyer) – do, I’d love to see it made into a film – the female character in it is a much stronger lead than Bella.
I have to admit I get a bit lost as to what is considered young adult sometimes, for example where do The Princess Diaries (Meg Cabot) sit? Malory Towers (Enid Blyton – hate the new covers). Lemony Snicket?
And what about Harry Potter? (cue an opportunity for me to add another picture of the bag that my HP7 came in and that I forgot to add into my H post). A number of these series at least start as children’s books but in HP’s case especially they move into Young Adult territory as they grow more mature in theme.
Now as you may have noticed a lot of these books remain unread (need more hours in the day please). And I haven’t even mentioned the ones on my Kindle yet (The Mortal Instruments (Cassandra Clare), Firelight (Sophie Jordan), The Tor (Lisa Granville), Fall of Angels series (Keary Taylor), My Blood Approves and Trylle (Amanda Hocking- if you have not heard of her you are probably not a writer spending a lot of their time on Twitter).
All of these are still sat there or tucked up electronically waiting to be devoured. I keep putting off reading because I know I’ll want to stay up all night to read them in one sitting.
Now I blame my growing library on Twitter and one person above all others – Jesi Lea Ryan who writes the blog Diary of a Bibliophile. I enjoy her book reviews so much she makes me want to buy and read the books that second. If you are interested in YA please do check her out (I’ve also added some other YA links in my blogroll).
When I do finally get round to reading, now I have a Goodreads account, I plan to write reviews which I may post here too and that should pop up in the little Goodreads’ widget. As I read I’m going to have to make note of some quotes so that I have more than Harry Potter ones pop up – not that I really mind that.
When I was digging through my parents bookshelves looking for a book that I thought I remembered from my childhood I came across The Tovers (Elisabeth Beresford) – I remembered the cover immediately and can’t wait to re-read. I didn’t find the book I was after. If anyone can help (and apologies if I’ve already posted this but it is bugging me) – it was a children’s illustrated book about a party on some steps in a castle/tower where everyone got a ticket which told them how many steps they had to climb and when they got to their step there was a box with their food in it. Please someone know this book!
And Tabitha Suzuma says I should have my signed copies of her books early next week. Very excited about those.
I wonder if there are any of you thinking, you’re a 30 something year old woman who is seriously needing to start considering hair dye, grow up and read Tolstoy or something. You might have a point, and I do also read fiction outside of this genre and written for adult audiences, but this is the type of genre I want to write so as well as being very pleasurable this is research and therefore a legitimate occupation for me. Actually strikethat it’s legitimate whatever my reasons because it is meaningful to me. I can still see me as an 80 year old reading about vampires and witches and angels and fairies and love and human frailty and I’ll be enjoying it.
This is a plea to come back on Saturday for my final Z post in which I plan to run a little social experiment that will need as many of you commenting as possible. On the day do tell your friends and share the link using the handy share button at the bottom of each post. Thank You.
Please note links through to Amazon are sponsored through the Amazon Affiliates scheme.
H is for… (#atozchallenge)
H is for…
Harry Potter
Who guessed right yesterday? Hats and Hobnail boots indeed Mrs. Donald!
In this post there is one spoiler from Book 6/Film 6 and one from Book 7/Film 7.1 about deaths in the story, if you haven’t seen/read these and don’t want to know you may wish to look away. This post is also a bit random as I try to get across my unadulterated love of Harry Potter. Beware also lots of pics so this may take a while to load (sorry)but hey I’ll have got it all off my chest.
Here is my Goodreads review of the Harry Potter series (which I found with a pic of all the books in a luggage case).
Now sadly I don’t actually have this set but I do have plenty of Harry Potter related goodies so I’ll cope.
I love these books. I only actually got into them just as Book 4 came out. I remember phoning (yes, phoning) The Book People to order the Books 1-3 boxset I had seen in their magazine and the lady on the phone asked me if I wanted to order Book 4 too. I did. I have to say that it did take me a chapter or two to get into the first book (I’m sure I’d read somewhere else to persevere). Not that it was a struggle just that it didn’t immediately capture me, I guess not until the magic started. Once I was in I was hooked. J.K. Rowling has created a world so detailed that I now return to it time and time again. I can’t wait to read all the books and watch all of the films before the final film instalment is released 15th July 2011.
Books 5 and 6 I ordered the Bloomsbury editions from Amazon and got them on day of release (having to restrain myself from hugging the postman who seemed generally happy that everyone was happy to be receiving their post that morning, or afternoon).
For the last book I decided I couldn’t wait until the afternoon and that I wanted to queue outside my local Waterstones to buy the book at midnight. It really added to the atmosphere surrounding the last book and the close of the series, there were two girls who played the theme tune and people dressed up. I got the book home and by 1am I was reading it and I stayed up until I read it (no one was going to spoil it for me – just as I won’t give any spoilers here). I finished the book having cried a few times over at about 12.15. I then had the quickest shower ever because I had my sister’s friends wedding to attend (We’d bought her a copy of HP7 the night before as a wedding gift). I made it, swaying with tiredness, through the service but sadly had to give in on going to the evening do to get some sleep (sorry Stacey).
I have all the audiobooks too (love Stephen Fry) and The Tales of Beadle the Bard. I have the UK Children’s cover editions (which imho are the best). It really annoys me that they changed the title of the Philosopher’s Stone to the Sorcerer’s Stone.
I can’t pick a favourite and I deliberately haven’t done separate reviews as they all meld into one fantastic whole.
I would strongly recommend these, I will be reading to my children (when I have some).
OK now let the random Harry Potter crazy geeky fan ness begin.
Here are the pictures of the launch of book 7 at my local Waterstones (apologies for the quality).
I have been sorted into Gryffindor at least twice (once Realistically ;o))
On J.K Rowling’s website I took the WOMBATs Grades 2 and 3 and got Outstanding in both (I missed Grade 1)
I don’t normally collect stamps but I will when they are Harry Potter related.
I have ‘a few’ items from the Harry Potter Noble Collection. Rather than add photos you can link to the site and I’ll just tell you here. My first purchases were Harry and Hermione’s wands in their Ollivander’s cases and also the Lightning Bolt stands. I was thrilled to get the House Crest Keychain free with my order (and I use this for my keys). I also have The Marauder’s Map in its display case (on which I still haven’t found Dumbledore’s office – I would get hopelessly lost in Hogwarts unless I had this map), The Time Turner in its box, The Phoenix Pendant (I allowed myself this as BAOT my professional body also have the Phoenix rising from the flames in its logo) and the Gryffindor Sword Letter Opener (this has been used a fair bit too). The American Noble Collection is different and I do like Hermione’s necklace but I must stop.
My sister offered to buy me The Monster Book of Monsters secret book with strokeable spine but that’s a kid’s toy so I said no. Just been Googling to find a picture of this and there are some really tacky versions of this available, I can’t remember what this version looked like.
I have all of the DVDs so far including the special Death Eater mask one for Order of the Phoenix and the first part of the Deathly Hallows I believe is coming to my in the BluRay/DVD/Digital edition pack next week. I have a HP poster in my media library (posh word for where the books and DVDs live).
I own nearly all of the HP Wii Games and HP Year 1-4 Lego for the iPad. I haven’t played or finished them all yet.
I am itching to book tickets for 15th July but think it may be a tad early but the date is in my diary (I was so anxious to see one of them on its opening day that we ended up with front row seats and a headache – sadly that meant I had to see it again (I still have all my cinema tickets but then I keep those anyway)).
I actually *ahem* inspired J.K. Rowling’s SPEW with Trolls instead of House Elves and I cried more in Book 7 when Dobby died than I had when Dumbledore died at the end of Book 6. Although you can’t see me in the picture I am young and it was before HP came out. Look even his natty outfit looks like something Dobby would wear.
I have called my car Luna after Luna Lovegood. I only did this because I have no children ;o) and the car is silver so it makes sense.
One year my sister made me this birthday cake because she knew how much I love HP (I got an iPad slab of chocolate last year). Here I am blowing out the candles (ooo teacakes on the plate).
I am SO sad I made a video with sultan the cuddly toy I’ve had since I was one with me dooing the theme tune and then moving in on a Harry Figurine with patronus stag and then saying Expecto Patronum. It works in QuickTime but it won’t let me upload due to security hence the description. The HP figure was a very cool gift I was given (my Michelle I believe – hope I’ve remember that right). Since posting I have found out that it does load to Facebook so if you are a friend on facebook you can find it in my videos. Happy viewing.
I swear that when I woke up from my anaesthetic after having my head stitched together after a car accident that the nurse in the recovery room said I had a scar to rival Harry Potter’s.
I searched my computer for content on HP and found mazes, wallpapers, PP quizzes, printable books, screenshots of things I have seen or done online. Try as hard as I might I could not find the phone video of the girls playing the theme tune on launch night.
I loved the first film and felt the settings in it were perfect for the world. I looked like the characters in the boats when they saw Hogwarts. I hated the Prisoner of Azkaban when I first saw it (though not any more). This was because they changed the set so much it annoyed me and of course Richard Harris wasn’t playing Dumbledore anymore (he was perfect) and I’m afraid I’m not all that keen on Michael Gambon. After watching that film I have learnt to lighten up a bit and go with the changes they’ve made. (Side note: Robert Pattinson is much sexier as Cedric than as Edward in Twilight – Team Jacob). Some of the comedic moments with the students are good. The Burning of the Burrow and chase through the swamps in film 6 really peeved me off though (what was that!). I love the bit in Film 6 though when Harry takes the luck potion and when Professor Slughorn says ‘Harry’ he says ‘Sir’ (I’ve linked to the imdb quote but you have to see/hear it to get why I like it so much).
But as much as I do enjoy the films now I think that in a few years Harry Potter should be made into a TV series a little more faithful to the books and not cutting everything out – we need to see Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday Party in Chambers. If it’s a series it can be as long as it likes then.
I really really want my next holiday abroad to be to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Orlando Florida (and do the Disney thing again while I’m there). Who’s up for a trip?
So how much do you love Harry Potter?
