Reading Harry Potter (*no spoilers, of course*)
Finished "Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix" last night and now -I- can stop worrying about spoilers :). Now I can start reading the Internet again and the entertainment pages of the newspapers and some of the HP 5 reviews.
Read the review in the Toronto Star yesterday (they published it Saturday) and even though they don't give away the most major spoilers I was astonished at how much of the story they did give away. That's why I didn't go near it before I finished reading the book; I remember they gave away a lot of Book 4 in their review, too.
Picked up my book by standing in line at midnight Friday night. I was much bemused to go into my area Walmart at 9:00 the next morning to find a huge display of HP 5 and no one even close to it. It's almost enough to make you believe that retailers have learned lessons from the past and there will always be enough HP books for everyone the first weekend, but I've read of enough people this weekend dealing with sold-out bookstores to know I'll pre-order Books 6 and 7, too.
John and I were driving most of the weekend, travelling from Richmond Hill to London to Hamilton to Dundas and back to Richmond Hill. Normally, I'd be happily holed away somewhere reading my new HP book on a debut weekend, but instead I spent most of the weekend reading the book aloud to John in the van. Interesting experience, that, I'd never read aloud to John for a long stretch before. Sometimes I wondered if he was humouring me in letting me read because he knew I was itching to get into the book. Sometimes he wondered if I found it a chore and was only reading for his sake. Truth was, we both enjoyed it. I had fun reading aloud and getting my Harry Potter fix and John commented enough on the story and characters to make it clear he was enjoying it, too. There were times when I would wonder if he was still listening, but then suddenly he'd respond to something I'd read ("ah ha!, I knew Ron would do that!"), so I'd know he was following closely :). I read about 250 pages in the van over the weekend.
I figured this week in school would be an absolute minefield of Harry Potter spoilers, especially in a Gr. 5 classroom, so I made a concerted effort on Sunday night to finish the book. My brain turned to mush about 150 pages before the end and I knew I'd have to leave reading until after school the next day (yesterday). I really didn't want the book spoiled, though, I really didn't, so I did something a bit pathetic. I skimmed ahead to learn the answer to a major plot spoiler that I wanted to read for myself :). Sad, but true. And once I knew it, I went to sleep.
Naturally, -naturally-, no one spoiled the book for me yesterday. The kids didn't mention the book at all. They were excited and distracted by our trip to downtown Toronto to Queen's Park, the Ontario parliament building. So by the time I had a chance to settle in with the last 150 pages of Harry Potter late last night I would have been no wiser about the story than I had been the night before. Oh, well. I still enjoyed the last 100 pages immensely. Rowling has lost none of her power to tease, thrill, move, frighten and entertain her readers. And John grabbed the book out of my hand almost before I could read the last page :).
A highly satisfying read. I laughed, I cried, I didn't want to put it down. Great twists of plot, terrific new characters and veteran characters who get much stronger and complex. And the only person who managed to spoil the story for me was myself :).
When are we going to see Book 6???
Of course, I find myself in a sad dilemma. I -really- want to talk about this book, but most people I know haven't read or finished it yet. Hmmm... Maybe I should look around to see if I can find an adult Harry Potter discussion board somewhere :).
Exercise log- Walked 4 miles around downtown Toronto yesterday taking me to 208.5 miles on the challenge.
Read the review in the Toronto Star yesterday (they published it Saturday) and even though they don't give away the most major spoilers I was astonished at how much of the story they did give away. That's why I didn't go near it before I finished reading the book; I remember they gave away a lot of Book 4 in their review, too.
Picked up my book by standing in line at midnight Friday night. I was much bemused to go into my area Walmart at 9:00 the next morning to find a huge display of HP 5 and no one even close to it. It's almost enough to make you believe that retailers have learned lessons from the past and there will always be enough HP books for everyone the first weekend, but I've read of enough people this weekend dealing with sold-out bookstores to know I'll pre-order Books 6 and 7, too.
John and I were driving most of the weekend, travelling from Richmond Hill to London to Hamilton to Dundas and back to Richmond Hill. Normally, I'd be happily holed away somewhere reading my new HP book on a debut weekend, but instead I spent most of the weekend reading the book aloud to John in the van. Interesting experience, that, I'd never read aloud to John for a long stretch before. Sometimes I wondered if he was humouring me in letting me read because he knew I was itching to get into the book. Sometimes he wondered if I found it a chore and was only reading for his sake. Truth was, we both enjoyed it. I had fun reading aloud and getting my Harry Potter fix and John commented enough on the story and characters to make it clear he was enjoying it, too. There were times when I would wonder if he was still listening, but then suddenly he'd respond to something I'd read ("ah ha!, I knew Ron would do that!"), so I'd know he was following closely :). I read about 250 pages in the van over the weekend.
I figured this week in school would be an absolute minefield of Harry Potter spoilers, especially in a Gr. 5 classroom, so I made a concerted effort on Sunday night to finish the book. My brain turned to mush about 150 pages before the end and I knew I'd have to leave reading until after school the next day (yesterday). I really didn't want the book spoiled, though, I really didn't, so I did something a bit pathetic. I skimmed ahead to learn the answer to a major plot spoiler that I wanted to read for myself :). Sad, but true. And once I knew it, I went to sleep.
Naturally, -naturally-, no one spoiled the book for me yesterday. The kids didn't mention the book at all. They were excited and distracted by our trip to downtown Toronto to Queen's Park, the Ontario parliament building. So by the time I had a chance to settle in with the last 150 pages of Harry Potter late last night I would have been no wiser about the story than I had been the night before. Oh, well. I still enjoyed the last 100 pages immensely. Rowling has lost none of her power to tease, thrill, move, frighten and entertain her readers. And John grabbed the book out of my hand almost before I could read the last page :).
A highly satisfying read. I laughed, I cried, I didn't want to put it down. Great twists of plot, terrific new characters and veteran characters who get much stronger and complex. And the only person who managed to spoil the story for me was myself :).
When are we going to see Book 6???
Of course, I find myself in a sad dilemma. I -really- want to talk about this book, but most people I know haven't read or finished it yet. Hmmm... Maybe I should look around to see if I can find an adult Harry Potter discussion board somewhere :).
Exercise log- Walked 4 miles around downtown Toronto yesterday taking me to 208.5 miles on the challenge.