My Books: Harry Potter

Wow, i really haven't blogged for a long time. No doubt at some point i'll put up a few details of my summery exploits. For the last couple of weeks i've done virtually nothing except read, so i thought it would be apt to do a bit of a write-up of the books i've been reading. I've adored these couple of weeks. During my two years at uni my biggest regret has been not making enough time to get stuck into books so it's been fab to finally indulge!

Harry Potter series

Book 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (HBP), was unleashed upon us just as i was beginning a week of prayer, community and mission in Luton with some excellent people from Cambridge so i decided it wouldn't be appropriate to start reading it just then cos, as we know, once you go in, you never come out. That really was the case, because when i finished HBP i was compelled to read books 4 and 5 again, and then i bought book 2 in a sale and read that. I'd be reading in bed until 2am, waking up late and reading for a few more hours until my brother got home from work, when we'd hang out togther until he went to bed again! So what did i think of the books?
Some points
- JK Rowling's fictitious world is so vividly described that i find it really easy to slip into with my imagination. I find she does tend to describe things visually more than evoking the other senses. This works for me because, although i am very aware of my different senses in my own experiences of the world, my imagination is best stirred visually. The first two films heped to give faces to my blank-featured but otherwise well-developed ideas of the characters, but i don't think i'll be watching any more films thanks to their ability to squeeze out my original visions.
There are a couple of things i find interesting in connection with this though. JKR describes her characters' appearances far more often than their voices (although in my mind each character does have a particular type of voice, presumably because of some description somewhere or other). In fact i think this is an area where her writing is lacking. I get particularly fed up with the trio constantly 'snapping' at each other. It makes me feel they are always in the same slightly annoyed mood with each other, whereas according to the narrative there are all sorts of different emotions and circumstances going on. I wish JKR would use a wider range of verbs to better evoke the subtleties of each situation.
Not a criticism but an interesting point (to me!) is JKR's use of food. I find JKR to be quite a contrast to Enid Blyton, who will tend to describe every mealtime in great detail. She will list every type of food available to the children and describe the flavours and whether or not the children enjoyed their meal. The imagery that sticks best in my head includes juicy tomatoes, warm bread and refreshing ginger beer. It makes my mouth water! JKR, on the other hand, rarely tells us how they feel about what they're eating (except to say that they're really hungry) and instead decribes the view: tables laden with all kinds of dishes. When she lists them, it is the colour that evokes the atmosphere: the food tends to be in the red-orange-brown range, which evokes the cosiness and warmth of the Great hall where they eat. Furthermore as 'Susanna' points out in her essay in the Harry Potter Lexicon, The Philosopher's Stone is filled with descriptions of food (heightening the contrast between the bleak life Harry has hitherto known with the Dursley, and Hogwarts where he now feels at home) while the Prisoner of Azkaban contains hardly any references to food and is the 'coldest' book of the series.

- Staying on the theme of descriptions, i find it well funny to compare 'official' maps of the Hogwarts grounds with the way i picture it in my head. It's a game that my bro and i play now and then, e.g. 'what does hagrid's cabin look like to you?' Sometimes ou imaginations are completely rediculous, for example my lake (which officially ought to be huge and surrounded by cliffs)is more like a large flat round pond in the lawn surrounded by bullrushes.

- HBP has the fanworld clamouring to give their theories on all new information that the book has churned up: is Snape really good or bad; who is R.A.B; what are the Horcruxes etc etc etc. Maybe in this blog there'll be an opportunity for that somewhere way down the line, but i can't be bothered right now.

- Sometimes i get annoyed with Harry being a bit of a brat. He expects his friends to get everything right all the time and snaps at them when they don't, he's often angry or grouchy or sullen, he's often rude (that's what i dislike most!), and he often doesn't try to understand others' points of view. I think reading the books a few more times will help me to sympathise with him more. I definitely like him much more in The Chamber of Secrets before his hormones have kicked in and he stills tries to get the Dursleys to understand him rather than just being fully bitter towards them. That's the thing with Harry: he's not very good at forgiveness. Yes, he's been dealt a raw hand in life but he hasn't seen very far beyond his self-pity yet...which is probably why he gets annoyed when Ron envies his fame and riches rather than understanding Ron's position. Grr.

- On a happier note, some characters i love: Ginny, for rising above her situation as the oft-teased youngest Weasley and Voldemort's vessel to become a girl who is bold, compassionate and straightforward. Draco, the guy you love to hate, who has now shown us his weaker, more honest side. Snape, who has suddenly become even more interesting and multi-dimensional. Dumbledore, because he has such love: he's never, ever rude and he always seeks to understand the other - but he always acts with justice and faithfulness.