Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I finished this book over a month ago and am now finally posting about it. I don't know why it has taken me so long, laziness is my best guess. I've decided to finally post it because it's 5am on the day after Thanksgiving, I've come down with a wicked flu and have run out of nighttime flu medicine. So I can't sleep and I want Cam to sleep, and I decided this would be a good time to do this post. Can I just say it blows my mind to think that people are actually out shopping right now?

Sweet! There is a planet of the apes movie on! That makes me feel a little better about being awake at 5am on a day off. It's the one where the mutant ape tries to control the others telepathically. There are some awesomely terrible scenes in this one.


Anyway, I liked this one much more than the first 2 books. I liked the story itself quite a bit. The first two were a bit predictable, so this third one was a nice surprise. This posting will be kind of short because I gave the book back to Emily the day I finished it, so I don't have much of a reference. And Em, I can't find that website you suggested. I think you suggested it on some random comment on the family blog. So I'm strictly going by memory with a little help from wikipedia.

Likes:

Again I really like how awful the Dursley's are. I liked the introduction of Aunt Marge. She was just horrible and obnoxious, I thought she was great. I really liked when she shared her tea with her dog. And I didn't think anyone could be meaner to Harry than his aunt and uncle, but Marge was. I liked it when he inflated her.

I really liked professor Lupin. He was a really likeable character and I liked his character development through the end. I liked finding out that he was a friend of Harry's father and a werewolf.

The Marauder's Map. I thought it was a really cool concept. I liked the scene where Snape grabs it and the map insults him. Lupin says something kind of funny in that scene, but I don't remember what it was. I didn't take very good notes while reading this one. (yes, I take notes).

Hogsmeade. I really like these little secret places that exist, like Daigon Alley. I especially liked the scene when Harry sneaks there in his "invisibility cloak" and messes with Draco Malfroy at the haunted house. Draco deserved it, he's a little jerk.

The flobberworms. I thought it was really funny that after the Hippogriff fiasco, Hagrid made them learn about the boring, lettuce eating flobberworms the rest of the semester. Don't ask me why, it just cracked me up.

And my memory is pretty vague about this one, but there is a character in one of the paintings at Hogsworth that really cracked me up. I think it was a knight on horseback that helps Harry and Ron find a classroom I think. He runs through painting after painting trying to be gallant, and I thought he was pretty funny. Kind of a Monty Python type of character.

I liked Professor Lupin's class when they were learning about the Boggarts. I thought it was pretty funny when one of them, Neville? Imagines Snape in a dress.

And the thing I liked best...The Monster Book of Monsters! I loved it! The idea of a book about monsters being a monster was great. And the idea that all they had to do was scratch the books head or something like that to calm him down cracked me up.

Dislikes:

The Grim. I just thought it was dumb. I hated the name (I'll get to that later), and frankly, it just didn't make that much sense to me. Emily, correct me if I'm wrong. But I just didn't quite grasp the significance of the Grim. I know it was a bad omen when you saw it, that it pretty much meant you were going to die. I think what bothered me the most, was they made such a big deal out of it, but it never seemed that significant to me. Did I miss something?

Professor Trelawney. She bugged the hell out of me. I found her very annoying and overly dramatic. Which I realize she was supposed to be dramatic, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I liked how Professor McGonagall didn't like her much either.

Hermione is starting to get on my nerves. I liked at first how she was a bit smarter than the boys, but now she is over doing it. I find her to be just an overachieving know it all. She needs to just calm down and be a kid.

Hagrid is also starting to get on my nerves. I'm glad he finally became a professor, but he really needs to get his motions under control.

And the thing I'm disliking most....the names JK Rowling comes up with for things. Sorry Em, I know you have a love for her names, but I pretty much feel the opposite. They've kind of bugged me all along (refer to my posting of the first book and the "put outer"). But Hippogriff was the last straw. It really pissed me off. Tolkien is far superior to coming up with names.

So that's it for the dislikes. Not bad eh? I really did enjoy the book and so far it is my favorite story of the HP series. I guess I should have included this under likes, but I really enjoyed the whole scene in the Shrieking Shack (stupid name). The way the story of Sirius Black and Lupin came out and learning they were friends of Harry's dad. I loved that Ron's pet rat Scabbers (name!), was Pettigrew. It was good to find out why Snape hated Harry so much. I thought the book ended really well and the author did a good job making a lot of little pieces of the book come together.

I'm trying to start the 4th one! I've read the first 2 chapters a couple of times. I'll get on it. And if anyone is new to reading this blog and are wondering why I do these Harry Potter posts. You can totally blame my sister Emily.

Book 1- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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.

Today is the day

Well, today is the day. I am meeting Emily to pick up the Harry Potter books. Em recorded her thoughts before starting The Hobbit, so I thought I would do the same.

The main reason I have avoided the whole Harry Potter thing, is because I almost always avoid anything that gets shoved down your throat by mass marketing schemes and makes people stand in line for hours or even days. I immediately get turned off by it. When you can't buy a bag of chips or a Slurpee without a picture of whatever is the new hot thing on it, it pisses me off. I know my money is adding to the profits of something I don't really care about. When I can't watch the news without 2 or 3 segments about whatever the new hot things is, it really, really pisses me off. I'm not amused or interested when they have a news reporter interviewing people who've been in line for 3 days for the opening of Ikea, or to buy an Iphone. When I know everything about this new hot thing, because I've been forced to listen in on endless conversations at work, or the grocery store....well I think you get the idea.

Classic example: American Idol. I don't think words can explain how much I truly, truly hate that show with every fibre of my being. I know I am in the minority here, but that is just fine with me. I won't go on about it, that would be a blog all it's own.

Some of you might be thinking I'm being a bit hypocritical here. And you're right. There are some things that come out that I do really like, and get a bit excited about. For instance, a new Spiderman, X Men or LOTR movie gets me pretty excited. I wouldn't stand in line for hours to see one, I usually wait for most of the hype to go down, and go when the theatres aren't so crowded. I don't need to be the first one to see it. There are a couple of exceptions. I have stood in line overnight for a couple of concerts, but I think that is different. You only get that one chance to see it, it's not something I could see anytime over a couple of months. And one time my friend, Annalyn, won tickets to a pre-screening of X Men III, I went with her. So I did get to see that movie a couple of days before anyone else, that was kind of cool.

Another smaller reason I avoided Harry Potter. Is because I try to avoid things that come in a series. I am the type that forces myself to finish out something, even if I don't care for it. Like I've never walked out or turned off a movie I don't like. I make myself watch the whole thing no matter how dreadful it is. So something that comes in a series, like Harry Potter, I just try to avoid altogether, because I don't want to get trapped into something. I avoid those TV shows too. The ones you can't just watch occasionally, but have to watch every single episode or you can't follow it. One exception, Lost. I do like Lost, but didn't start watching it until the first 2 seasons were already out on DVD. And I only started watching it because a couple we are friends with started watching it and highly recommended it. We tend to have the same taste in movies, books and TV, so I started watching it, and I love it. Thank you Andy and Brenna. I know some of the other shows are good, like 24 looks like it is probably a really good show. But I think it's now in it's 20th season, and there is just no way I'm going to start from the beginning.

So there it is. It's really not because Harry Potter is about wizards and things. Well, it kind of is, but that is only like 20% of the reason. And yes, I am aware there are wizards in LOTR. But kids going to a wizard school, just seems kind of dumb to me. If those books came out when I was like 12, I'm sure I would have really, really liked them. But I was in my 30's when they started coming out, I'm a different person now. Harry Potter just seemed to go on forever. It seemed like every couple of months another book was coming out and it just drove me crazy. I had to share a cubicle at work with women knitting Harry Potter scarves for them and their kids to wear to the release of the newest book or movie. That stuff drives me insane! I think 7 books in a series is a bit much. 4 should be the limit.

I promise Em, I will read it with an open mind, and try not to roll my eyes too much while I'm reading.