Binge Reading Part 2
To continue the holiday binge, I went back to juvenile fiction with my marathon Harry Potter read. In case you don’t know (are you too elitist to know, hmmm?) the books so far published are:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
HP and the Chamber of Secrets
HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban
HP and the Goblet of Fire
HP and the Order of the Phoenix
HP and the Half-Blood Prince
This adds up to 3341 pages of what is in essence one gigantic epic novel. By reading them all again in a row I was able to pick up on many nuanced clues that help to reveal the mysteries. There is too much for me to go into here in my little web log, but let me just sum up all of the Harry Potter books with one phrase:
THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM
Sorcerer’s Stone – Harry, an ordinary kid with an ordinary name, finds out he is a famous wizard. He thinks Professor Snape is the villain, but in the end it turns out to be Professor Quirrell.
Chamber of Secrets – Harry thinks that he is the heir of Slytherin and is responsible for several attempted murders. In the end it turns out to be sweet little Ginny (who was being possessed by Voldemort himself.)
Prisoner of Azkaban – Harry thinks Sirius Black is responsible for his parent’s death and has escaped from prison to kill him. In the end it turns out that Black is his loving godfather and the rat is to blame.
Goblet of Fire – Harry thinks someone is trying to kill him, but in the end it turns out that Voldemort and his cronies have been trying to help him win the Tri-wizard cup (in what turns out to be the world’s most complex kidnapping plot. Voldemort always over-thinks things.)
Order of the Phoenix – Harry thinks Dumbledore hates him (he doesn’t), thinks the Occlumency lessons are useless (they aren’t), and ultimately thinks Sirius is in danger (he isn’t.)
Half-Blood Prince – Harry thinks Draco is up to no good and that no one believes him. Draco is in fact up to no good (Score is now Correct Assumptions: 1, Incorrect Assumptions: 512) but in the end doesn’t give Draco the benefit of the doubt like Dumbledore does. Also Harry thinks that the Half-blood Prince of the title is an okay guy… then finds out that it is in fact Professor Snape whom he has hated since day one. When Professor Snape “kills” Dumbledore all I can think of is “THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM.” The clues are rampant and too numerous to ignore. The lesson to be learned in this book is that you should give people the benefit of the doubt (were YOU paying attention in the Occlumency lessons?) and to stop being such a brainless, hotheaded teenaged boy.
See Delphi and Die by Lindsey Davis – This is the 17th book in Davis’ Marcus Falco mystery series. Set in Ancient Rome, Falco is an imperial informer (read “detective”) in search of the murderer of a young woman who was seeing the sights in Greece. Traveling with his wife, Helena and a variety of relatives and friends, Falco sees the sights himself including one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the golden statue of Zeus while trying to solve the mystery.
I love these books. Sometimes the mysteries are a bit thin, but Davis has a way with characters that makes me eager to read the next book in the series. I am deeply invested in these people’s lives like I was invested in the lives of the people in Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael books. I would hope that the BBC could get this series rolling but I suppose historical dramas are expensive to film. Maybe they could use the leftover sets from their “Rome” series. (Is that show still on?)
<*<*<*<>*>*>* >LIBRARIANS: the books, the fame, the fortune… What more could you want? (Maybe more books.)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
HP and the Chamber of Secrets
HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban
HP and the Goblet of Fire
HP and the Order of the Phoenix
HP and the Half-Blood Prince
This adds up to 3341 pages of what is in essence one gigantic epic novel. By reading them all again in a row I was able to pick up on many nuanced clues that help to reveal the mysteries. There is too much for me to go into here in my little web log, but let me just sum up all of the Harry Potter books with one phrase:
THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM
Sorcerer’s Stone – Harry, an ordinary kid with an ordinary name, finds out he is a famous wizard. He thinks Professor Snape is the villain, but in the end it turns out to be Professor Quirrell.
Chamber of Secrets – Harry thinks that he is the heir of Slytherin and is responsible for several attempted murders. In the end it turns out to be sweet little Ginny (who was being possessed by Voldemort himself.)
Prisoner of Azkaban – Harry thinks Sirius Black is responsible for his parent’s death and has escaped from prison to kill him. In the end it turns out that Black is his loving godfather and the rat is to blame.
Goblet of Fire – Harry thinks someone is trying to kill him, but in the end it turns out that Voldemort and his cronies have been trying to help him win the Tri-wizard cup (in what turns out to be the world’s most complex kidnapping plot. Voldemort always over-thinks things.)
Order of the Phoenix – Harry thinks Dumbledore hates him (he doesn’t), thinks the Occlumency lessons are useless (they aren’t), and ultimately thinks Sirius is in danger (he isn’t.)
Half-Blood Prince – Harry thinks Draco is up to no good and that no one believes him. Draco is in fact up to no good (Score is now Correct Assumptions: 1, Incorrect Assumptions: 512) but in the end doesn’t give Draco the benefit of the doubt like Dumbledore does. Also Harry thinks that the Half-blood Prince of the title is an okay guy… then finds out that it is in fact Professor Snape whom he has hated since day one. When Professor Snape “kills” Dumbledore all I can think of is “THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM.” The clues are rampant and too numerous to ignore. The lesson to be learned in this book is that you should give people the benefit of the doubt (were YOU paying attention in the Occlumency lessons?) and to stop being such a brainless, hotheaded teenaged boy.
See Delphi and Die by Lindsey Davis – This is the 17th book in Davis’ Marcus Falco mystery series. Set in Ancient Rome, Falco is an imperial informer (read “detective”) in search of the murderer of a young woman who was seeing the sights in Greece. Traveling with his wife, Helena and a variety of relatives and friends, Falco sees the sights himself including one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the golden statue of Zeus while trying to solve the mystery.
I love these books. Sometimes the mysteries are a bit thin, but Davis has a way with characters that makes me eager to read the next book in the series. I am deeply invested in these people’s lives like I was invested in the lives of the people in Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael books. I would hope that the BBC could get this series rolling but I suppose historical dramas are expensive to film. Maybe they could use the leftover sets from their “Rome” series. (Is that show still on?)
<*<*<*<>*>*>* >LIBRARIANS: the books, the fame, the fortune… What more could you want? (Maybe more books.)
posted by Doloho | 12:48 PM
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