I finished the first book this morning. Only 223 pages, so it went pretty quickly. The second one looks about the same size, the rest, holy crap! Anyway, all in all, I found it somewhat enjoyable. I find it kind of weird, that this is the only one of the Harry Potter movies I saw, and I don't remember any of it being in the movie. I guess the movie did not stick with me one tiny bit. (although I do remember Hans from the first Die Hard as being one of the bad guys in the movie. I'm guessing Snape. Am I right?) Not as big and complicated a world as Em is getting herself into that's for sure! Unlike Emily, I'm not scared at all to jump into a whole different world full of different creatures etc.
For this book, since it is so short and the first of seven, I'm just going to list my likes and don't likes. And they are not listed in any kind of order.
Likes:
--The real-life chess game. That is a pretty cool concept. (I'm sure it was in the movie, but for the life of me, I just don't remember).
--A ghost as a professor, and other ghosts as characters.
--Animated playing cards and portraits. Kind of reminds me of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.
--How dreadful the Dursley's were. The author gets into some really great detail about them, and I loved it! Man how their attitude towards different people remind me of some people I grew up with in Mapleton!
--Hagrid.
--The fact that the girl, Hermione, is smarter than the boys. (and could someone please tell me how to properly say her name before I start calling her hemorrhoid or hormone?)
--The fact that these "wizard" people have secret places among the "muggles". Like the secret shopping district right in London. I like that concept.
--Dumbledore, he just kind of reminds me of Gandolf, and I loves me a Gandolf!
Dislikes:
--The "put-outer". This is the device Dumbledore uses to put out the street lamps on Privet Drive. A- I think she could have come up with a more clever name. B- I think a real wizard could have put them out with a wink, or a snap of the fingers, etc. It shouldn't have taken a device. (Gandolf could have done it by just thinking about it!)
--Harry's scar hurting him when Voldemort, oh wait.. "you know who" is near or whatever. (Sorry, it just smacks of the ring hurting Frodo or Sting lighting up when an orc is near.)
--The names of the different kinds of brooms. (the Numbus 2000? Give me a break!) I know she was trying to be cheeky, and I'm sure most people thought it was funny. But it bugged me for some reason.
--The owls as postal carriers. Sorry! But I couldn't help but think of the amount of bird crap that landed in the kids lunches when the owls flew in everyday to bring them their letters and packages. But I'm sure these are specially trained owls who don't crap or something. (and is it just me, or did she get that idea from Gandolf's butterflies?)
There were a couple of other things that kind of bugged me, but I'm not going to get into them because I'm hoping they are explained in the books to come. And it is fine with me if some things are just mentioned in one book, then fully explained in the next. (For instance, is it explained please why a stone holds the "elixir of life"? How can a stone possibly hold an elixir? It's a stone!) And the whole owl thing kind of bugs me more than I let on. It's not just the owl crap, but the line "send me an owl", just really bugs me for some reason. But, I hope you notice, Em, that I do list more things I liked than I didn't like. 8 to 4 in fact. And I hope you notice too, that the things I dislike are really quite irrelevant to the whole idea.
And if you think I'm comparing it too much to LOTR, well I'm sorry! I can't help it. That is the only world of wizards and things I'm familiar with. I'm trying really hard not to compare apples with oranges. (cliche!) And, I am actually kind of looking forward to starting the second book. The first one did interest me enough to sort of care about what is going to happen next.
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19 comments:
Ah Sue, you are going to love this series.
Since I don't seem to be needing sleep this week, I will just get into it right now. (I am bionic-Emily).
First off, YES! Snape! Alan Rickman!! Sorry, I'm kind of a fan (of Alan Rickman, and Snape too I suppose. He is an interesting and dynamic character through the whole series).
Addressing your likes:
Yes, the chess game was done very well in the movie, you probably would like it). But they totally left out the bottle riddle, which I really liked.
There are good Dursley moments in all the books and they just get worse. They make a good point for young readers I think.
Hagrid's great. He is really annoying in the movie however (and I don't mind Robbie Coltrane as an actor, but his portrayal of Hagrid is off). But this is about the books, and I am glad you have forgotten the movie. I am also glad you never saw the 3rd movie, it totally SLAUGHTERS one of my favorite scenes in any of the books.
(But I do really like the fact that Gary Oldman portrays Sirius Black.) But I digress.
You pronounce Hermione Her-my-knee.
I like the secret places around "muggles" too, and there are more to come.
Dumbledore is the best! I think of him when I read about Gandolf! It is never addressed in the book, but did you hear that news story about JK Rowling saying that she always pictured Dumbledore as being gay? Just wondered. It was quite scandalous, but I found the whole thing very funny. He totally could be gay.
Dislikes:
I am not going to say much about the puter outer, it comes up again later and Dumbledore could put lights out with a wink I am sure, he is the most powerful wizard alive. You are right, the name sucks.
No comment on Harry's scar. Sorry, can't.
I will say that I have no idea what you are talking about (yet) with the ring and frodo, but I am SURE the concept ends up on different planets when both series end.
Yeah, the broom names, etc. are lame. I chalked it up to being that these are written for 8 year olds. Quiddich falls under that same kind of thing. I am sure these said boys love it, but I am like eh. It is necessary I suppose for them to have their own sport, and I'm glad Harry is good at it.
I don't know what to say about the owls. I had no hang ups about them, and you have so many! It totally cracks me up. You will have to just live with it, and you can hate it, it's funny and your point of view is unique as far as I know.
I am glad you aren't going through hell. If you liked the first book, I can only see you liking the proceeding books and not even noticing their length.
Keep comparing the series, I think it is only called for, since this is Harry vs. Frodo. You aren't doing it in a manner that suggests that you are comparing them thinking these books will never measure up to LOTRs. Just little insights, I am sure I will have some too. I am almost half way through The Hobbit, by the way and I am not totally suffering.
I forgot to comment on the philosopher's stone. It is never really brought up again, or explained. It is however, an actual mythical legend, so maybe if you did some research, you could find out how a stone can produce an elixir. If you do, let me know, I always wondered myself. A Sorcerer's stone, however, is not. This is where you might find me a huge nerd, but I better explain myself, or you may be confused if you come across it again in later books. In England, the book is the "Philosopher's Stone", but for reasons not too clear to me, they (Rowling or the publishers) changed the title for the American books to the "Sorcerer's Stone" I heard that they didn't think American children would know what that was (what? A philosopher? Do English kids have vast amounts of knowledge on the subject?) Well, if that really is the reason, I wanted no part of it. So I ordered that book through amazon.uk. I am incensed enough to do that with the movie if I ever buy it. They had to do two takes for the whole movie, one saying philosopher and one saying sorcerer every time it was mentioned! I think that was a really really lame and insulting thing to do, so anyway, I refuse to own a copy of the Sorcerer's Sone (nerd). My kids are going to be able to "handle it" if they want to read these books someday.
Anyway, if you hear them mention a Sorcerer's stone in later books, that is what they are talking about, I didn't feel the need to buy them all from the UK, but maybe I should have? The book doesn't match the other books much does it? Eh.
His name is Alan Rickman? I've heard the name before, but never connected it with Hans. And I had to IMDB Robbie Coltrane, I had never heard of him and I now know why. I've only really seen one of the movies he's in, besides the Harry Potter one. He played Hyde in Van Helsing. And why did I not know Gary Oldman was in a Harry Potter movie??? He is one of those very rare actors that I will see a movie just because he is in it. Even if I don't think I'll like it. I must have really tuned out when commercials for that movie came on.
And I thought something seemed weird about the title "Philosopher's Stone", but I thought, "what do I know?" That is so lame! And it surprises me that sorcerer would be more accepted in the US than philosopher. What is wrong with kids asking their parents what it means? You did the right thing, and yes, you should get the UK version of the movie.
I did notice a lot of names of things and some of the creatures are taken right out of Greek mythology. So it doesn't surprise me the stone/elixir thing is along those lines. Now that I think of it didn't Hercules or Atlas squeeze a stone and water came out of it? I'll have to check.
I can deal with the owls. It just makes for some eye rolling moments. Quiddich didn't bother me one lick. In fact, I thought it was pretty cool, should have added it to my list of likes. And I too, am glad that Harry was naturally good at it. I also like the character Neville. I hope he is in the whole series.
This was interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone
(I tried to tag that too, blogger doesn't allow Wikipedia tags either, what do they allow? They must mean "some" with the smallest possible explanation of the word).
It seems to me perhaps that it isn't quite a stone, or at least not like a rock you might find on the ground.
I also found this on Wikipedia:
"The book was retitled to Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone for publication in the United States. The main reason for this retitle was that the U.S. publishers thought that a child would not want to read a book that sounded as though it was associated with philosophy.
JK Rowling gives this explanation:
Arthur Levine, my American editor, and I decided that words should be altered only where we felt they would be incomprehensible, even in context, to an American reader... The title change was Arthur's idea initially, because he felt that the British title gave a misleading idea of the subject matter. In England, we discussed several alternative titles and Sorcerer's Stone was my idea."
I must say, I am glad to find out the change was the idea of some stupid American publisher. That makes it a little better, but I hope she later fired ol Arthur, cause what a bone head decision that was! Especially taking into the account that philosopher's stone is actual legend. Doesn't that bit about "the British title gave a misleading idea of the subject matter" reek of bad decisions made of crappy American corporate politics? I suppose they had no idea at the time what the series would turn into and all the ramifications of having two titles. They did change a few other words too, thinking it would mess American kids up, ie using a term like "cart" instead of "trolley". I don't know specific examples and that part doesn't bother me as much, although I don't mind my kids asking me and learning a little something about another culture, I don't think I am alone here.
American kids need a little more credit!!
Alright, sorry, the other books aren't as controversial.
Neville Longbottom is in all the books and from what I understand has quite a fan base. People have made entire websites devoted just to him.
I will also see a movie just because Gary Oldman is in it. There are tons of references to real mythology and many mythical creatures, more then I am sure I picked up on.
Yes, American kids do deserve way more credit than that! I hope Arthur got fired too. He thought kids would be confused by "trolley" but not Muggles? Hmph!
Very interesting stuff on Wikipedia. I love that website! I went through the list of things the philosopher's stone makes apperances in. Hans Christian Anderson wrote a book about it. His writings are some of my favorite kids stuff.
And Van Morrison wrote a song called Philosopher's Stone and it is on the Wonderboys movie and soundtrack.
I like Alan Rickman. He is Brandon in Sense and Sensibility and my mom and I thought that he was also the voice of Scar in the Lion King but it is not. He really sounds like him though!
Alan Rickman was in a Jane Austen movie? I just can't picture it. He will always be Hans to me. I think Jeremy Irons was Scar.
Speaking of Jeremy Irons B. Since you have that whole fear of gynos. Don't ever watch the movie Dead Ringers!
Oh my gosh Sue, Rickman is SO GOOD as Colonel Brandon. That movie has a few surprises such as being directed by Ang Lee.
I thought of one more surprise. Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) has a cameo role as a husband that obviously cannot stand his wife. His comments are so funny and under his breath.
Ang Lee directed a Jane Austen movie? Maybe I should rent that this weekend. Cam and his dad are going camping friday night, I'm staying home. Good opportunity to rent movies Cam would hate to watch with me.
Yeah you should rent it, it is pretty good. Haha, Hugh Laurie is way funny in it! Yes, Jeremy Irons is Scar.
I can't remember who I thought voiced Scar, but I had to look and see it was Jeremy Irons about a year ago. Very possible I thought Alan Rickman.
Sue, aren't you going to Idaho this weekend?
After stewing about that American publisher today, I am annoyed I bought any American version of the Harry Potter books! Shame on me for supporting that publisher.
American kids totally deserve more credit! I know I loved picturing them speak in little british accents and ask to pass the yorkshire pudding and the tea and stuff. What little british characteristics they left in there I thought were great. Arthur should go into how to be facetious, not editing.
Sue: I now have no desire whatsoever to ever see Dead Ringers, not that I had ever heard of it.
Alan Rickman was also the sherrif of Nottingham in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, with Kevin Costner. I've watched that movie since I was little, and I think that one of the scenes in there is where the fear of gynos and all things related to them comes from.
I'm sure you guys all wanted to know that.
B
This actually has nothing to do with Harry Potter (seeing as I have never read them) but I can't find your address or e-mail address! I need them so I can send you reunion information.
Thanks :)
Jane
So I made the decision to watch each movie before I read the corresponding book because I kept hearing people walking out of the theater saying, "but in the book....." so I just wanted to enjoy the movies as-is and then go read the books and feel happy that it goes deeper into the story.
I followed this up until the last book came out then I thought - ah shit, everyone is going to talk about the ending. So I caved and read the books first. Thankfully my brain works in such a way that I can easily discard info I don't want to keep (sometimes even things I do want to keep) so I think I'll still enjoy the movies.
And now I'll leave you with one of my guilty little pleasures that might make you hurl but...... I think Snape is hot! hehe! Maybe it's because he's so dark and ya know how I love the dark side!
Ha ha Annalyn! Of course you think Snape is hot!
Okay, so let me get this straight. You read the Harry Potter books? I'm not quite sure what to think of that. I thought you were my LOTR sister! We went to Return of the King together. Did I ever tell you that I went to Target right after we saw the movie. I was walking through the parking lot and this couple who were dwarfs, walked by me. I seriously thought they were hobbits for a second. How often do you see dwarfs? And to see them after an LOTR movie was too much!
Oh yeah, Em. I meant to comment on the whole Dumbledore being gay thing. I did hear something about it in the news. I didn't pay much attention and didn't know it was Dumbledore they were talking about. But when you mentioned it in your comment, I thought it was kind of funny. Sir Ian McKellen who plays Gandolf in the LOTR movies is gay! Is there something about wizards being gay or something?
Annalyn-
I don't know you (maybe I have met you, I don't know) but that's funny all the same. I have to tell you and oh man do I have to spill a major confession in doing. But I was at the library and a book of Harry Potter essays caught my eye and I checked it out and read it. Most of it was a little too nerd for me (professors writing very detailed essays on what they think was going to happen next and why, etc.) I saw it sometime after the 6th book came out and it was predictions about that book, so I was curious about how close they got to the truth. Anyway, one of the essays was called something about Snape being the sexiest wizard alive or something like that. Apparently, there is a HUGE fanfiction world (I didn't know what that was until I read this essay, it seems to be random people writing continuations of stories they like to read such as Harry Potter) anyway, it is all about Snape and affairs he has with students, namely Hermione. Anyway, I had some good snickers. Who knew? Many people do indeed have a thing for the dark side. I am a Snape fan myself.
About Gay Dumbledore:
I am not sure there is any correlation between wizards and gayness. If there is, these may be the reasons:
-Wizards tend to be a little more flamboyant then regular folk.
-they wear dress-like articles of clothing, but call them "robes".
I don't know and if I go on, I will undoubtedly get even more stereo-typical and offensive.
What is more likely to me, is a strong correlation between stage actors and gay men and if I am not mistaken Ian McKellen has done his share of stage acting? Dumbledore? Well, there are a lot of characters in those books and one is bound to bat for the same team I guess.
Funny story about seeing hobbits at the grocery store. Hee hee.
For the record, I don't find the character Snape "sexy".
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