Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Author: J.K. Rowling

Publisher: Scholastic 1999

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Pages: 352

Rating:   5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: HP; My Years

How I Got It: Own it!

This one is a reread for me.  It’s been awhile since I read the series.  I remember reading the first couple of books out loud to the boys when they were infants.  SO that’s what eight years ago?  I read the last few books as they came out, but overall it’s been awhile.

Instead of doing a traditional review, I thought I would just give you some of my reread thoughts.  Things I noticed, things I loved, quotes I like, etc.  And then I will have a mini review of movie vs. book.

Book fun:

• Favorite scene: From this book I have a few favorite scenes.  First, the introduction of Gilderoy Lockheart in Flourish and Blotts is too cringe-worthy.  I want to get away from him just like Harry.  But the way Rowling writes it, I see everything play out in my mind.  Second, I love Harry and Ron’s arrival to Hogwarts (car and whomping willow), but especially the scolding they get from Snape.  He’s so scary.  I love it.  Finally, I love the Deathday Party for Nearly Headless Nick.  I can almost smell the rotten food.
• Favorite character:  I’m going to have to god with Tom Riddle for this book.  Even though we don’t meet him until Chapter 13, it’s just an amazing reveal.  We’re as much in the dark as Harry until the final showdown in the Chamber.  He is such a memorable character!
• Favorite expressions: “Definitely dodgy” (Ron) {I really think we Americans need to start using the word dodgy, Love it!], “load of dung” (Fred), “great sizzling dragon bogies” (Filch)
• I forgot how slow this book seems to be.  The basilisk doesn’t petrify it’s first victim until page 146.  And then everything just seems to happen at once.
• Rowling spends a lot of time in the beginning of the book discussing the wizarding world and points from the first book.  I guess given the that this is book two and it was targeted at elementary students, it would make sense.  But for me, I skimmed through parts of a few chapters to get to the new information. If I’m remembering correctly, this decreases as the books go on.
• Tom Riddle was a prefect and won a trophy for “closing” the Chamber.  I completely forgot how accomplished he was while at Hogwarts.  It puts a whole new spin on the sociopath angle.

Favorite quotes:

• “Because that’s what Hermione does,” said Ron shrugging.  “When in doubt, go to the library” (255)
• “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” (Dumbledore) (333)

Movie fun:

Overall I really like this movie adaptation.  It follows the book fairly completely.  The story retains the suspense and disbelief without all of the repetition of the backstory.  The Hogwart’s world is beautiful and moody.  And of course, Alan Rickman’s Snape is one of my favorite characters to see on the big screen.  It’s great to see the kids starting to grow up and come into their own.

My favorite scenes:  The dueling club.  I absolutely love the grandeur.  Plus, Lockheart versus Snape is just the height of movie drama.  And don’t you just love Lockheart’s dueling outfit.  Hee hee

Things I wished to see, but didn’t:  The Deathday Party.  I love the house ghosts and wish they could have worked in more scenes with them, especially Nearly Headless Nick.  I know it would have added too many minutes to the movie, but still it would have been nice.

 

Macbeth by Shakespeare

Title: Macbeth

Author: William Shakespeare

Genre: Classic Play

Pages: 204 (Cliffsnotes complete edition)

Rating:  5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Shakespeare; Support Your Local Library

This is only my second time reading Macbeth; the first time was way back at the beginning of college.  In review the play, I think it has grown on me.  The political intrigue and psychological elements have become favorites.  I really enkoyed tracing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s gradual downfalls.  Lady started out cold and merciless and eventual commits suicide over her guilt.  Macbeth starts with guilt and gradually grows more cold and calculating.  I love seeing the resversal of roles.  I find it fascinating how many people suspect Macbeth of Duncan’s murder and yet fail to do anything until the very end of the play.  I really emjoyed this one.  Can’t wait until next month’s selection: Henry V (new read for me)

 

Doctor Who: Through Time and Space

Title: Doctor Who: Through Time and Space

Publisher: IDW Publishing 2009

Genre: Graphic Novel

Pages: 152

Rating:   4 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novel, Support Your Local Library; A to Z – D

How I Got It: Library Loan

Collecting six original stories of the popular sci-fi show, Doctor Who, all featuring the Tenth Doctor, as portrayed by David Tennant. Includes the one-shots The Whispering Gallery, The Time Machination, Autopia, Cold-Blooded Cold War, Just a Theory, and Black Death by a bevy of talented creators, including Ben Templesmith and John Ostrander (Star Wars: Legacy).

 

Such a find!  I was browsing the stacks and found this just sitting there…  My faith in the Omaha Public Library is slowing increasing.  I loved the stories in this volume.  Each one was a stand alone story, but had tidbits of information and allusions to other Doctor stories.  We get little bits here and there.  My favorite had to be “The Whispering Gallery” featuring Martha Jones, an emotion free world, and an emotion feeding demon.  It had the right amount of wonder, suspense, danger, and bravery that I have come to expect from Doctor stories.  I recently discovered that there’s a whole line of these graphic novels along with novels associated with Doctor Who.  How did I not know this?  Unfortunately, the OPL doesn’t have many of them…

 

 

 

Quote Wednesday – Persuasion

“I can listen no longer in silence.  I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach.  You pierce my soul.  I am half agony, half hope.  Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.  I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago.  Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death.  I have loved none but you.  Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.” — Jane Austen Persuasion

When I first read Jane Austen’s novels, Pride and Prejudice was my favorite.   I loved the characters, the romance, the wit.  But as the years have progressed, I have come to absolutely love Persuasion.  Austen’s last book has a maturity of characters and story.  Our heroine is older, wiser, but still stuck with the conventions of the day and her family’s status.  I adore Anne Elliott, but even more I love Captain Wentworth.  Such a man!

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Disaster Saving Books

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join.  If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

This week’s topic “Books I Would Save During a Disaster” brings up an interesting idea.  I am going to make the assumption that we have to list physical books.  Just grabbing an e-reader is too easy.  Just as a point of reference, all of these books are on my permanent bookshelf right by my reading chair.  Therefore they would be easy to grab, one stop shop.  Without further ado, the books from my collection that I absolutely cannot live without:

1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin — My all time favorite book.  I have a little mass market paperback with a beautiful blue picture of a woman in front of the ocean.  I would definitely have to grab this one.

2. Entire Jane Austen library — They are all right next to each other, so I’m going to count them as one.

3. Complete Edgar Allen Poe –  I have a hardback edition with most of his poems and stories. 

4. The Monster at the End of This Book — Yes it’s a Sesame Street Golden Book, but it was one of my favorite books as child.  I lost my original, but once the boys were born, I scoured bookstores until I found a new one.  This edition is the original style Golden Book; not the new plastic covered ones. 

5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald — One of other favorite books.  I love my copy with a forward, an explanation of terms and references, and an essay about the book and Fitzgerald.

6. Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams — An all-in-one giant copy of the trilogy of five books.  My favorite comedy!

7. Compelte Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis — Another giant copy.  A little too big to stuff in a purse, but I would definitely save it from disaster.

 

Music Monday — New Music

As part of my Day Zero Project, I am finding some new music.  Specifally I want to find a great new-to-me band for each letter of the alphabet.  Today, I have few songs to share.

Music Selections: This week’s new-to-me selections all come from listening to Alt Nation on satellite radio.  J has it in his car, so we always get to listen to great music.  Unfortunately I have to make due with the local channels.  It’s funny that all of these songs are ones I’ve been listening to for months on Alt Nation and they are finally getting some air play on the Omaha channels.  At any rate they are completely stuck in my head…

Gotye “Somebody That I Used to Know”

Neon Trees “Everybody Talks”

Young the Giant “Cough Syrup”

AWOLNATION “Not Your Fault”

Ellie Goulding “Lights”

Complete A to Z list (so far):

• A – Awolnation “Not Your Fault”
• B -
• C -
• D -
• E – Ellie Goulding “Lights”
• F -
• G – Gotye “Somebody That I Used to Know”
• H -
• I -
• J -
• K -
• L -
• M -
• N – Neon Trees “Everybody Talks”
• O -
• P -
• Q -
• R -
• S -
• T -
• U -
• V -
• W -
• X -
• Y -  Young the Giant “Cough Syrup”
• Z -

 

The Sunday Salon #2

Listening To: Florence + the Machine’s new album Ceremonials.  I’m especially loving the haunting “What the Water Gave Me.”  She makes such mood music.  I love it!

Book finished: Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Making Lists: Adding to my never ending TBR list.  I might just have an addiction to reading…

Around the house: I finally got around to putting away the box of Christmas decorations.  Unfortunately,the Christmas tree is still up. To be fair it just really doesn’t look like a Christmas tree.  It will probably be left up for another few months yet.

From the kitchen: We’ve started using the freezer meals.  Unfortunately we had a bit of a mishap with the honey pork chops.  The recipe said to defrost and then bake for 1:15 hours at 350 degrees.  This turned them into burnt hockey pucks.  So next time, not so long…

On the Web: Not much news…  There was a great announcement about Mountain Lion.  Finally, Apple is getting around to integrating all the messaging services into one iMessage.  Looking forward to this.

Weekly Quote:

Crafting: My Stampin’ Up order included a paper trimmer.  I absolutely love using it.  So much better than scissors.  Yesterday, I continued working in the Disney vacation scrapbook.  I’m over two-thirds through mine… making progress.  I also managed to reorganize a bit of my crafting stash.  Now it’s less of an explosion of supplies than a couple of untidy stacks of supplies.

Work Observations: My boss returned from maternity leave and things are slowly getting back to normal.  However, that also means that I don’t have a huge amount of projects to complete at the moment. Kinda bored until we decide the next big project.

Watching: More Stargate SG-1.  We got through season 2 and on to season 3.  My one big comment: What the hell happened to Daniel’s hair?  Argh!  I finally started watching Downton Abbey and am officially hooked.  Love it!  And I caught back up with The Vampire Diaries.  Unfortunately it doesn’t come back until March.

Wondering: How we managed to eat a hubcap (yes a hubcap) of sushi the other night and not die of overeating?  So good…  but good gracious that was a lot of food.

From Nature: All week we’ve had fairly moderate temperatures for February.  It’s been an odd winter with wild temperature fluctuations.   

Shopping Scores: Randomly Half Price Books had a Booklover’s Weekend with a 40% off coupon.  Of course, I had to use it.  Here’s my scores for this week.  Notice half of the House of Night series that I snapped up for $1 a piece.  What a bargain!

Project: More Spring Break road trip planning.  I sent inquiries to the bed and breakfast association for a reservation.  They won’t get back to me until Monday.

Picture: My pretty surprise Valentine’s Day gift…  He knows just what I like!

 

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Title: Sunshine

Author: Robin McKinley

Publisher: Speak 2010

Genre: Vampire

Pages: 416

Rating:  5  / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Vampire; Mount TBR

How I Got It: I own it!

There hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake in years. Sunshine just needed a spot where she could be alone with her thoughts for a minute. But then the vampires found her . . . Now, chained and imprisoned in a once-beautiful decaying mansion, alone but for the vampire, Constantine, shackled next to her, Sunshine realizes that she must call on her own hidden strength if she is to survive. But Constantine is not what she expected of a vampire, and soon Sunshine discovers that it is he who needs her, more than either of them know.  Originally published as an adult novel, but now in YA for the first time, Sunshine is an alluring and captivating vampire story – one that will ensnare fans of paranormals everywhere.

This novel….  um wow!  The one word that kept popping into my head throughout: Atmosphere.  I haven’t read any book lately that evoked such atmosphere.  I loved it!  McKinley puts us right inside of Sunshine’s head.  We connect with her right away.  We remember past events, but always at the right time.  We feel every emotion she’s feeling.  I especially loved the times when she was confused.  We were confused right there with her.  The writing was confused, but yet still readable.  We see the world through Sunshine’s eyes.  Overall the effect is quite brilliant. 

 

It took me awhile to get through this book; not because I was struggling to stay interested, but quite the opposite.  I was so connected with the story and characters that I didn’t want it to end.  I was scared at what we might find out.  Don’t worry everything worked out in the end…  well in a way.  This book has made me add McKinley to my authors to explore.  I have a feeling this might end up on my Top 10 Books of 2012 list. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Quote Wednesday – Shakespeare

“The course of true love never did run smooth.”
William Shakespeare A Midsummer’s Night Dream

In honor of Valentine’s Day week, I thought I would share one of my favorite quotes about love.  While I want to believe in the fairy tale versions of love, I must remind myself that we humans make mistakes.  No white knight on a horse is going to come save you and marry you and live happily ever after.  We must remind ourselves that we must work at love.  We must face those obstacles and fight.   Conquering those obstacles will yield great love.  But it is not a given; it must be earned. 

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Books that Broke My Heart

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join.  If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

This week’s topic “Books that Broke My Heart” is a fairly easy one…  I cry easily when it comes to books.  My top tear shedders…

1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin — I understand why Edna made the final decision, but I still wish something else could have been done.  This book makes me cry every time I read it.  And not a little sniffles cry, it’s an all out bawling cry.

2. The Hunger Games Trilogy — So unfair!  I kept wanting to yell at the Capitol people.  I wanted to save Peeta and Katniss and Rue and Prim and everyone else that’s hurt in these books.  I loved them, but darn it they made my heart ache.

3. Twilight Series — I’ll admit it, I cried throughout most of New Moon, a bit of Eclipse, and the first half of Breaking Dawn. 

4. The Host by Stephenie Meyer — Another Stephenie Meyer cry fest.  I enjoyed this book so much more than the Twilight series.  It still made me cry, but somehow I felt better about the crying.  On my reread list for this year.

5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott — Two words: Beth’s Death…

6. At the Scent of Water by Linda Nichols — The main couple faces so many heartbreaks and missteps.  I was rooting for them the whole time, but crying over everything they cried about.

7. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon – Claire and Jamie, Claire worrying over Jamie, Jamie worrying over Claire, Claire and Jamie getting hurt, Claire and Jamie being separated.  This book was full of heartache and yet it was wonderful. This one’s going on my reread list for this year.

8. The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall — Such a beautifully depressing book. 

9. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson — This book is full of melancholy.  I found myself weeping silent tears throughout most of it. 

10. Surrender Bay by Denise Hunter — I loved this book even though I cried through most of the second half.