Category: Uncategorized

One thing I briefly considered is that what I really don’t want to do is be in the middle of reading OotP when I watch the movie, so maybe I could read it after. Goblet  is about the same length as Half-Blood Prince so that would mean roughly the same (insane!) amount of reading from Friday 13th July to Friday 20th as I otherwise have to do from yesterday (when I started Goblet) to Wed 11th. But whilst that’s a couple of extra days it would still mean a lot of reading and probably preclude watching all the movies, which I am now kinda keen on.

The reading itself – well this is the first of the books where arguably she needs to cut it down. I actually don’t mind too much apart from the Quidditch World Cup. Quidditch bores me to tears but at least in the previous book it’s usually combined with something happening that advances the plot. The actual Quidditch in the World Cup doesn’t advance the plot at all. As the movie shows, all you really need is to show the setting and have the Death Eaters turn up. However now we’re back to Hogwarts I think I’ll enjoy it more. Especially since I’ve never read this before – I tried to read this book in anticipation of the movie and didn’t get very far – so gave up once I’d seen the film.

I’ve put Moody as my favourite character of the moment. He is but it requires explanation: I like the character Moody appears to be. Of course I know it’s really Crouch junior pretending to be him and some of the stuff that appears very heart-of-gold-shining-through-the-gruff-exterior actually has an unpleasant agenda behind it. I felt kinda cheated by that. I fondly imagine that at least the real Moody is somewhat like that and Crouch had to impersonate that accurately to be believable.

I’m now into the final run of book 3, just past the big expository scene where we find out that Scabbers is Pedigrew and that it’s he, not Black, that betrayed Harry’s parents. I don’t particularly like that chapter. I’ve been thinking about this and that this is perhaps why I prefer the ending to book 2 (see also yesterday’s comment on that). I like Rowling’s writing generally and she’s good at setting up a mystery, laying clues upfront, planting misleads. However she often writes herself into the kind of corner where she’s left with a lot of exposition to do.

So here for instance we have a whole lot of Black-Potter-Lupin-Pedigrew-and-Snape backstory explained. Also there’s a tendency for extra characters to turn up just in time to have their part explained. This happens with Lupin, Snape and Pedigrew (who’s there but as a rat). So although there’s talk of murder I almost get the feeling of a stage farce.

Having said that once we’ve gotten through the exposition we’ve got a clear run at the ending – Lupin turning wolf, Harry facing the Dementors, the time-turner stuff – all good fun and all in my immediate (next 30 mins) future. (I mention them now because I suspect tomorrow’s entry will have a lot more to do with Goblet of Fire.

Not sure what to say about the book. I’m enjoying it but not sure what there is to say about it. Harry’s seeing “the Grim” everywhere, Dementors are giving him a hard time, he’s not allowed to leave Hogwarts. Basically things aren’t going well. The mystery is unfolding nicely. Oddly I don’t find it as dark as the previous book. Maybe because I know the big threat is actually not a threat at all which is not to say there isn’t danger in this book. Also Voldemort’s not the threat.

In real life we have to struggle with the fact that making the right choice may not lead to “rescue” or success. I suppose in book 5 Harry suffers under Umbridge for insisting that he’s not lying about Voldemort returning. But that’s the only example I can think of off the top of my head where Harry makes a good choice and suffers for it.

So I agree with the sentiment that it’s our choices that are telling about who we are as people. I think the hidden message, that if we do choose right then we’ll ultimately win through in the end, perhaps even directly because of it (like the Fawkes incident), is harder to accept. But these are stories and stories aimed largely, if not exclusively, at children – so perhaps such morals are not unexpected.

Maybe I need to pick an incident to focus on.

For today though I think I’ll explain why I’ve put Moaning Myrtle down as my favourite character. On SoF there was some discussion of the likeability (or not) of Snape. Some said that this has less to do with the character on the page and a lot to do with the casting of Alan Rickman in the movies. In the same way I think the memory of Shirley Henderson in the movies helps me like Myrtle. I do think the character is funny and I do feel somewhat for her. Whilst she’s clearly irritating to Harry, Ron and Hermione, she’s also got reason to feel aggrieved.

Back to my vague generalisations – I am enjoying this. For the same reasons as previously mentioned – the brisk pace and the way mystery unfolds. When she doesn’t take too many diversions Rowling is good at plotting. I also think that there’s more of a sense of brooding menace about this book. People are being attacked and ‘frozen’, whispers of blood and killing. The books do get darker and more adult as Harry grows up and you can see the progress from book 1 already.

The early part of Chamber of Secrets follows the pattern of the first book to some degree, though you’ve got Dobby appearing. Certainly there’s an attempt to bring the reader up to speed in case they haven’t read the first book. That’s mildly irritating.