Author: booknutgirls

booknutgirls http://thebooknutdotcom.wordpress.com I read. I blog. I sell books. I chauffeur my kids. What more do you need to know?

Waiting with Baited Breath

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I was going to do a retrospective of my experiences with Harry Potter. Something along the lines of what Lisa at Bluestalking Reader did. You know: how I discovered it through a friend in 1999, went whole hog by that Christmas, but how we didn’t really get into the hype until the 5th book, which we picked up on the publication date (rather than waiting), but really really didn’t get into the whole lets-all-read-this-book-on-the-same-day thing until last time, when Hubby picked it up at midnight on the pub day, and we both devoured it in about 25 hours.

But then, I saw this in the morning paper, and thought it was much better than anything I could write.

I’m not going to the midnight release party; I enjoy my sleep too much. But Hubby and M are off at about 9:30 tonight. Hubby’s planning on diving right in once they get home, and hopefully finishing it soon enough on Saturday so that I can have my turn. And we reserved a copy at the library (we’re number 88, and they’re getting 100 copies, so we should get one tomorrow!) for M to read, since she was unhappy with being third in line.

See you sometime early next week with my thoughts on the book. Have a great Harry weekend!

All that Harry Potter Stuff

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Overheard in Target the other night:

Teen #1: “Harry Potter is so, like, overdone!”
Teen #2: “Well, it is like so popular, with the books and movies and everyone reading them.”
Teen #1: “Yeah, but it’s on everything. Look: there’s Harry Potter pens and bags. I’m so sick of Harry Potter!”

And you know, in a way, Teen #1’s right. It’s one thing to sell a book or a movie, but the world is totally saturated with Harry Potter stuff. From low-end items like gift bags with Daniel/Emma/Rupert’s faces splashed on them, to the higher end stuff, like the Triwizard Champions wand set, which sits proudly in M’s room.

So, in honor of there being only two days left until the end, I set out to find the most unusual, most unique Harry Potter kitsch out there.

In my looking, I found lots of the usual stuff: t-shirts, posters, bags. This was my favorite:

Amazon had a whole four pages of Harry Potter watches. And if you aren’t a Gryffindor fan, there are shops for Ravenclaw, Sytherin, and Hufflepuff houses, too. They’re even pandering to the parents who want educational toys for their kids, but still want Harry Potter toys (there’s this one, too). It’s never too early to get Halloween costume ideas. You could try McGonagall, Flitwick, Hooch, or Dumbledore this year, instead of the usual Harry/Hermione fare.

Though, I have to admit, this is rather frightening:

The merchandise isn’t limited to the tons of costumes or Lego toys out there. Love Harry so much that you would like to have him around all the time? Try the Dumbledore’s Army throw pillow:

(Throw Pillows not your style? Try the Marauder’s Map wall scroll instead) Even better: have Daniel Radcliff right next to your head every night!

Under the category “completely impractical but probably collector’s items somewhere”

And, hands down, the thing that made me laugh the most (found on Ebay, of course):

Try that one on for size. I’m done being saturated.

Let’s Play Stump the Muggle

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First, a story (geez, I’m sound more and more like my dad as I get older!): Last year, for our family reunion talent show, we convinced M to get up in front of the family and declare that she could answer any question asked her about the Harry Potter books #1-6 and movies #1-4. Amazingly, she did. From the easy ones (What class does Snape teach?) to the more difficult (What portrait hangs over Dumbledore’s desk?). I’m sure she’s not the most versed person out there, but she was pretty impressive.

She was also the inspiration for today’s post: Let’s talk trivia!

Test your own knowledge of Harry trivia with the Harry Potter Mega Quiz.

Or, take a stab at our library’s trivia questions:
1. What wood was Harry’s wand made out of?
2. Whose hair was Hermione supposed to get for her Polyjuice potion?
3. How many people was Sirius Black accused of killing and with what spell?
4. In the Tri-wizard tournament’s second challenge, what charm did Fleur use?
5. What are the name of the creatures that pull the carriages that Harry can see but Ron can’t?
6. According to Dumbledore, what is Voledmort’s sixth Horcrux?

If you think you’ve got a good question, you could try to stump M. Any question posed, she’ll answer (without looking it up, I’ll make sure… if she looks it up, I’ll let you know ;).

At the very least, it’s a fun diversion for a hot summer’s day.

As for M, she’s spending her day memorizing the Sorting Hat Song and “studying” for the trivia contest at the Grand Hallows Ball on Friday night.

Harry Potter Video Bonanza

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Well, maybe not a bonanza, but I liked the way it sounded.

I confess that I’m borrowing this idea (and some of the videos) from Fuse #8. Giving credit where credit is due and all that. She has a mini-HP Video Sunday post here, and another video to watch here.

In the interview department, you can see one with JK Rowling (on the Jonathan Ross show on the BBC) here. It’s fun (and a little risque), and she keeps things pretty close. It interesting, though, that she lets slip that Deathly Hallows is a “bloodbath”. Hmmm….

I’m sure there’s more out there (isn’t there always?), but mostly I’m using this as an excuse to post our family’s favorite Potter video diversion: Potter Puppet Pals and the Mysterious Ticking Noise. (I dare you not to sing it after you watch!)

Harry Potter Linky Goodness

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So, to celebrate today, I’m going to link to several HP posts I’ve found over the past few weeks. (Think of it as a HP carnival; if I missed something important, by all means, let me know!) Go, enjoy, leave a comment.

First, there’s hubby’s extremely popular Harry Potter predictions post. It’s what generates the most traffic for his site… wonder why? He says he’s going to put up another one this week, his second-to-last-HP-post-ever. If he gets around to it, I’ll link to it.

Erin, at Miss Erin, has been celebrating the release of Deathly Hallows for the past two weeks with a collection of Harry Potter quotes. My favorites have been the Luna days. It’s been fun to browse through.

You should definitely pop by Brooklyn Arden, and visit Cheryl, one of the few people in the world who have actually read Deathly Hallows (though she’s not telling!). Check out her post, in which she becomes incredibly(!) famous.

Ron Charles, book critic for the Washington Post, decries the HP series (and adults who read it) as cultural infantilism. Over at the The American Scene, they’ve posted a response. As has Kathryne, over at The Longstockings. Take a minute to read their other Harry posts, too. (found via A Chair, A Fireplace & A Teacozy, where Liz has her own post about HP bashing, too.) Oh, and Colleen at Chasing Ray also puts in her thoughtful two cents in defense of the books.

On the lighter side (I found this through the Bookworm Carnival — go visit that, too — at the hidden side of a leaf), Bob at bobarama dot com describes what he’s going to do to avoid being told the ending of Deathly Hallows before he reads it. (He’s also got a post about the movie, as well as other linky goodness…)

Alan Jacobs blogs for Books & Culture about his predictions and hopes for the seventh book.

I’m sure there’s more (I know there’s more, but I can’t remember where… ARGH!). Let me know, and I’ll post updates.

Update #1 (see… I knew there was more!) via Becky: Over at Say No to Crack, a very amusing comparison of Harry Potter and Star Wars.

Update #2: I said when Hubby got his HP post up, I’d link to it. He did, so here it is.

Enjoy!

OOTP: The movie

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I’m not a movie reviewer… I don’t have the vocabulary, or the discriminatory taste it takes. In other words, I like pretty much everything. I usually leave the detailed reviews to Hubby. 🙂 That said, I really liked Order of the Phoenix. No, it wasn’t perfect, but the good outweighed the not-so-good, and it turned out to be a good, tight, fun movie. And besides, it’s Harry Potter week, and I thought it might be fun to celebrate with a Harry Potter post a day. We’ll see if I can do it.

On to the movie…

The good: Luna was perfect. Just how I imagined her. Yeah, they could have done more with her, but I liked what they did do. The D.A. was excellent, too. Some of the best sequences of the movie. They managed Harry’s anger quite well — it came across loud and clear without being oppressing, which I often felt it was in the book. They slimmed and trimmed down the plot without doing much damage to the essentials, and kept most of the good stuff in. Fred and George went out with a bang, though I missed “Give her hell for us, Peeves!” Which leads me to Umbridge: she was perfect. Suitably prim and horrifying. Maybe not quite horrifying enough, but it worked. And while I missed the final moments with Dumbledore, the ending worked well enough for me.

The bad: Snape. They didn’t learn! This man is important, people, and they’re still not giving him his due. Sure, he had the Occlumency classes with Harry, but they weren’t intense enough. And, yeah, while they managed to get the pensive scene in (good for them), they missed out on a lot that they could have done to build up to Half-Blood Prince. I’m not sure how Snape is going to work in the next movie, or if it’ll even be remotely believable. Lupin also falls in the “they didn’t get enough to do” category: he was vastly underused, too.

The ministry fight — eh. Not bloody enough. Bellatrix wasn’t given enough to do (Helena Bonham Carter played her as deranged rather than really angry, which is what I thought she was), and I really wanted to see her grovel before Voldemort. Speaking of him, the final battle with Dumbledore was okay, and I liked how they portrayed his possession of Harry. Missed Dumbledore’s assessment of Voldemort: “You are quite wrong,” said Dumbledore…”Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness.”

And, Kreacher was there, but just lurking in the background. I’m curious to know what role he’s going to play in Deathly Hallows.

Still, I thought it was a good movie. Funny, too, now that I think about it. Lots of wonderful, choice little moments.

What did you think?

Uglies

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Typically, I shy away from books with pictures of girls on the front that have tag lines, especially if those tag lines read: “In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly.” I’d seen this book around, but every time, I looked at it and thought “Ugh. Chick book. Not my thing.” And walked on.

And then Inkling read the trilogy and was fascinated by it. And usually, when Inkling takes something seriously, it has to be good. (Since, as I’ve discovered over the years, she and I have similar tastes in books.) Still, it took me a while to get around to it, because every time I looked at it, I couldn’t get past the cover and the tag line.

Well, I’m glad it did, finally. Scott Westerfeld has written not only a good sci-fi/dystopian story, but a smart and thought-provoking one as well. The basic plot (the back cover blurb makes it sound like some dumb chick book): in the future, there are three types of people: littlies (those under 12), uglies (12-16), and pretties. When a person turns 16, it’s assumed that you’ll leave Uglyville (both literally and figuratively), and get the surgery that will turn you into a fun-loving, free-wheeling, extremely beautiful Pretty. Tally, with all her heart, want that. Until she meets Shay. Who doesn’t want to be pretty. She knows of a place — the Smoke — where you don’t have to become pretty, where you can stay ugly. Tally doesn’t understand this: who doesn’t want to be pretty?! But, Shay runs away, and then Tally is forced to make decisions that will change her life.

Really, it sounds silly, typed out like that, but if you knew the whole plot, it would ruin the point of the book.

Still, in addition to romance and adventure and typical end-of-the-world stuff (I loved all the descriptions of the Rusties), Westerfeld has some interesting observations about beauty and society. In fact, the whole book plays with our notions of what is and is not beautiful.

There was a certain kind of beauty, a prettiness that everyone could see. Big eyes and full lips like a kid’s; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features; and a thousand other little clues. Somewhere in the backs of their minds, people were always looking for these markers. No one could help seeing them, no matter how they were brought up. A million years of evolution had made it part of the human brain.

Or this:

Back in the days before the operation, Tally remembered, a lot of people, especially young girls, became so ashamed at being fat that they stopped eating. They’d lose weight too quickly, adn some would get stuck and would keep losing weight… Some even died, they said at school. That was one of the reasons they’d come up with the operation. No one got the disease anymore, since everyone knew at sixteen they’d turn beautiful. In fact, most people pigged out just before they turned, knowing it would all be sucked away.

Fascinating stuff.

Still, it’s probably a bit predictable, and maybe even a bit done-before (when I was telling Hubby about it, he said it reminded him of Lois Lowry’s Gathering Blue). But for all that, it really was an excellent book.

Now I’m off to read Harry Potter. One week left…

Enchantment

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I first read this one, by Orson Scott Card, back in 1999, soon after it came out. I was leaving my job to spend some time in Germany so Hubby could do dissertation research, and my co-workers gave me a $100 gift card to Borders (they knew me so well!). This was one of the books I bought, and I was eagerly looking forward to reading it, being somewhat of a Card fan. This book was a big disappointment, though. I remember laying on the bed in our room in Germany, yelling at the book to stop moralizing and get BACK TO THE STORY. I sold the book as soon as we got back to the states.

And I have had no desire to read it since.

Until, now. And I did only because my on-line book group out-voted me (I voted for Ender’s Shadow, which I’ve also already read, but liked better…) and chose it to read for this month’s discussion. So, I checked it out from the library, tried to push away my pre-conceived notions of the book, and read it.

It’s not a bad story; in fact, it could have been a brilliant book. Put Sleeping Beauty in Russia, use Baba Yaga as the witch, and work magic into today’s world as well as that of long ago. Add some relationship complexity between the hero, Ivan, and the heroine, Katerina. He kisses her, but it’s not exactly love-that-works-at-first sight. They have to work to get their marriage to work, they have to learn to work together to save Taina from the clutches of Baba Yaga.

But, Card gets in the way of his own story. Or, at least, I got impatient with Card’s storytelling. I knew already that the book was full of tangents (though they weren’t as bad as I remember!), and yes, they still annoyed me. I decided, early on, to put a book dart whenever I got annoyed. There were at least a dozen. Now, in a nearly-400 page book, that’s not that many. Still, the story could have been tighter. If he had laid off the pages of descriptions (and barbs) of music, philosophy, religion, feminism, politics, culture, men-women relationships, and just plain musings, he could have had a tight, fun, interesting 250-page story.

And that book, I’d happily recommend to everyone. This one, not so much.

A Good Year

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I ended up reading A Good Year, by Peter Mayle. It was on the top of the pile, and it seemed like a sensible place to start.

That, and I knocked off one book for the Armchair Traveler Challenge.

A Good Year was a good book. Not a great book, though I think it may have aspired to greatness. Or maybe not. The best way to describe it is very laid-back. But then, it’s set Provence, and they’re nothing if not laid back there, right?

So the basic plot: Max is a London something-or-other high powered (never did figure out what), and he gets one-upped by this total jerk at work. So, in a fit of anger, he quits. Jobless, and soon to be homeless, he checks his mail and discovers that he’s inherited a house and vineyard from his uncle who recently died. So, encouraged by a friend, he moves to Saint-Pons and tries to begin again.

There’s heavy elements in there — Max’s midlife crisis, trying to fit in to a foreign culture, romance, wine smuggling (if you could call it that). But there just wasn’t the tension needed to make a really good book. It’s hard to feel anger for the wine smugglers (since they’re taking a batch of wine made in the vineyard and jacking up the prices and keeping the profits; smuggling is the wrong word, but you get the idea) since you never really get to know the “bad guys” (they just kind of appear and disappear). The only one you can even get a sense for is Nathalie, but even she’s not that fully developed as a character.

It’s hard to feel passion for the romance, since it just kind of happens in the background, too. Empty-shell, hard-on-love Max finds romance in Provence. No tension. It just happens. And it’s not all that satisfying when it does. Max also finds friendship in the “quirky” characters that surround him: Roussel, the worker who makes the wine that’s smuggled; Madame Passepartout, the eccentric housekeeper; Christie, the long-lost American daughter of Max’s uncle (there’s a bit of underlying tension there, but it’s easily dissolved).

In short, there’s conflict, and tension, but it’s all in the background. Nothing, really, comes through. What did come through was, well, the wine. Wine tasting, wine growing, wine making, wine drinking. There’s a LOT of wine in the book. And with wine, of course, good food. There’s a lot of that, too. And it’s beautifully described. I can say this about this book: Mayle knows how to describe a place so that you feel like you are there and how to write a good meal so that you can almost taste the food.

But in the end, in spite of the amount of wine that was drunk and the amount of good food that was eaten, it left me unsatisfied. And I find that highly disappointing.