Harry Potter

Uh ... I meant the first one. Sorry, I'm a little out of it. Been under a lot of stress lately.

You guys read too fast.

Well in my case I was on vacation so I was able to just sit around for several hours and plow through it. I normally don't read that much anymore. Though when I was younger I did read all of The Two Towers in a single day once.

Eldorion wrote:Uh ... I meant the first one.  Sorry, I'm a little out of it.  Been under a lot of stress lately.

Don't worry man I was only joking, though I must admit every time I've tried to do a series re-read in recent years I usually give up hafl way through at start a the beginning again...

Eldorion wrote:Well in my case I was on vacation so I was able to just sit around for several hours and plow through it. I normally don't read that much anymore.  Though when I was younger I did read all of The Two Towers in a single day once.

Well, I did read HP 7 all in the day it was released back in the day. But Two Towers in one day is a bit insane.

Eldorion wrote:Uh ... I meant the first one.  Sorry, I'm a little out of it.  Been under a lot of stress lately.

Hey, hope things get better for you soon.

Eldorion wrote: Been under a lot of stress lately.

Very sorry to hear that Eldo (busy at work?) hopefully things get better for you soon

malickfan wrote:Don't worry man I was only joking, though I must admit every time I've tried to do a series re-read in recent years I usually give up hafl way through at start a the beginning again...

Oh yeah, I've done that plenty of times with several different series myself.

bungobaggins wrote:Well,  I did read HP 7 all in the day it was released back in the day. But Two Towers in one day is a bit insane.

Haha, I did the same thing with Deathly Hallows. I had stopped going online almost a week in advance for fear of spoilers (not that I was nearly as active online back then) and then plowed through the book as quick as I could after the midnight release (though I did sleep for about five hours eventually). At one point my mom asked how I could really be taking anything in at that speed, so I quickly flipped through the chapters I'd already read to make sure I remembered everything.

A week or two later I re-read the book at a more relaxed pace to try to savor it a bit more.

bungobaggins wrote:Hey, hope things get better for you soon.  

malickfan wrote:Very sorry to hear that Eldo (busy at work?) hopefully things get better for you soon

Thanks guys. It should get better in about a week. We've had another major move of fixtures that I had to do in my department, though this time I had some help with it. But I'm also going through two rounds of interviews regarding a potential internal promotion, and interviews always stress me out. And I've had to run some events for their series of promotional stuff in July which is kinda out of my comfort zone too. And just general emotional shit, which is always in the background looking for a chance to pounce. But I think I'm past the halfway point, and in about two weeks I get to go to Otakon, which I'm really looking forward to.

I think I read all the Potter books in a day, but I read DH after a family member had flipped to the back and already ruined the ending

Good luck with your interviews!

Good Luck Eldo

I really appreciate it, guys. The first one went well; the second one (on Tuesday) is with the district manager.

Perfect.



While reading Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, I couldn't help but let the quote on the back convince me in thinking that the style was rather reminiscent of Roald Dahl.

Now I don't particularly like Dahl's work ('though Roald was my grandpa's name funnily enough), but the way in which regular people get denigrated to Muggle status is kind of like how the "human beans" are really quite ignorant about many things in The BFG, or... Well that's the only Dahl book I've actually read apart from a bit of James and the Giant Peach, but...

The point is that Hagrid in HPatSS (erm, let's just use HP1 instead), is similar to the BFG in terms of what he does for the story. He serves the same purpose of introducing the main character to a world and values that he had not realized existed.

Thankfully, Rowling doesn't use strongly dark comedy like Dahl does, and the overall cheerfulness and camaraderie of the book is quite excellent.
("But from that moment on, Hermoine Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.")

Moving on!
There is bound to be some awkwardness in the first book of a series because A) we are new to the characters and B) world-building in a long series is a process that takes time to pick up speed. Ideas that may have appeared good in the first book are discarded by the second, details are tacked on to previously simple explanations, inconsistencies arise, etc. etc.

The best example I can think of this is how, in Brian Jacques Redwall series, significant factors like the scale of the animal characters to their surroundings (an entire army of rats fit onto one haycart) and a cow are present in the first book but never seen again.

As far as HP1 goes, I can't think of any discontinuities, but Dumbledore's silliness (which has some depth beneath it of course as we see when, for example, Harry suspects that the Headmaster sees something other than just "thick, woolen socks" in the Mirror of Erised or the conversation related to said object) is something that is still present but only as a small part of his expanded characterization.

Similarly, the names of Hogwart's Professors are funnily related to their field. So Herbology is taught by Professor Sprout, History of Magic by Professor Binns, Flitwick teaches Charms ("swish and flicker!"), and Broom-riding and Quidditch is overseen by Madam Hooch (which actually is slang for bootleg alcohol, but is similar to "hoop" I suppose).
What's the word for when a word is used in-place of another word and the new word has a different meaning but it sounds similar. Anyway, that happens a lot with the names in HP1. That's fine of course. It's kind of fun really and it is a children's book after all. Rubeus Hagrid would not be Hagrid if his name was Lewis Mortimer.

My favourite passage from the first few chapters, just because I couldn't stop smiling the whole time I read it.

" 'Bad news, Vernon,' she said. 'Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him.' She jerked her head in Harry's direction.
Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned."

I feel the same way about Mrs Figg passages.

I haven't read any of Dahl's work that I can recall, though I was traumatized by the animated version of James and the Giant Peach when I was in preschool. I don't even remember what it was that disturbed me so much but to this day I've kept my distance from his work (except for seeing the original Willy Wonka movie some years later). Probably unfair but

It's nice to hear your thoughts on the book, Forest. You have a good point about the names. That continues in the later ones I think, with Sybil Trelawney being probably the most blatant example. But Umbridge and Scrimgeour stand out too (the latter sounds like "grim" to me). The twee elements never entirely go away, even though they (and the humor you mention) is downplayed in favor of serious stuff later on.

@ that video

So Facebook periodically gives me those "you posted X on this day so many years ago" notifications, and today, I got one for July 16 in both 2013 and 2011.  For 2013 it was me posting all my photos from the Florida trip, most of which were from Harry Potter World.  And for 2011, it was me posting photos from the Seattle trip, during which I went to the midnight release of DH2, cause I wasn't going to miss that for anything. I knew that both of those trips were from mid-July but I hadn't realized they lined up so perfectly.  I think the universe is telling me I need to resume my HP re-read.

Whereabouts are you in the series now Eldo?

Still haven't started COS after reading the first book last month.  July is a horrendously busy month at work this year but I've also been trying to catch up on anime in preparation for Otakon at the end of the month.

On the other hand, I'm basically guaranteed a lot of reading time while beach camping in mid-August, so I don't really mind still having plenty to read for then.

Fun to see so many are getting on with the reading. I wrote this mostly after finishing the first book a little while ago. Almost done with the second one now, and I've gotten to really enjoy this. (Started looking into the back story a bit and so on, so I'm probably lost at this point. ) Anyway, here are some ramblings of mine on the first book/whole series.

Well, I'm through the first book. And have been rather enjoying it. I have to reiterate what others have said, it does surprise you how short a book it is and how much of a kids book it is. Also it surprised me how much of the book consists of worldbuilding. Like, there are the quite contained central story and storyline, but almost all of it bar some small parts towards the end either functions as double purpose or is straight up letting you into the world of the books.

One thing I find very interesting is to see little points that come up, that in as short a book Philosophers Stone aren't expounded upon, but still are rather interesting seen in the context of the series as a whole. Like when Dumbledore mentions his scar shaped like the London underground he supposedly has on his knee. I think in the context of the Dumbledore we get to know throughout the series he probably has no such scar. It's just the sort of thing he likes to say. “My point is right because of this more or less true quite ridiculous completely unrelated assertion.”

Similarly it's interesting to hear Hagrid say that there wasn't one wizard that went bad that didn't go to Slytherin. Which we demonstrably know isn't true. But while you might have taken it as fact in the first book, in the context of the series as a whole it becomes pretty clear that Hagrid isn't the most reliable source of information, and he was probably speaking in hyperbole in this case. All in all people like Slughorn and Gryffindor's that went to the bad side, shows pretty clearly that this view of Slytherin becomes pretty hyperbolic because of the viewpoints we follow in the books. And if not for Harry meeting Hagrid and Malfoy on his first journey into the wizarding world, would he have had that view of the Hogwarts Houses?

One of my favourite moments in Philosophers Stone seen in the context of the series as a whole must be Harrys discovery of the Mirror of Erised. Because in hindsight you realize that not only did Harry most likely disturb Dumbledore longingly looking into it when he discovered it. Dumbledore was also doing the exact thing he warned Harry about, getting lost in the past and could have beens. I think that's a great moment that you don't necessarily realize or reflect upon on first reading.

I do find Snape a fascinating character, and his relationship with the central characters... Really, Snape relationship with Harrys mother and father and so on. How wrong that went, his relationship with their son. Really, Snape as a character really fascinates me.The fact that the love of his life didn't love him. The fact that she ended up marrying and having a child with the person he considered his mortal enemy. That she died, to a large degree because of him. And that he ended up having to protect her child. There's just so much problematic in those relationships and character dynamics that it really pulls you emotionally into the story.      

There are some views of Rowling's on this that I do find kind of problematic when considering these things, and it does generally tie in with my major pet peeve with these major fantasy series. The fact that good and bad, and good and bad people seem to be almost a constant. Rowling spoke out against people talking to nicely about Malfoy because for all his hinted redemption he was most definitely, in her opinion, not a good person.. What then I ask, makes a good person? Was Malfoy's choices much less understandable than Harrys when you consider his background, his particular set of circumstances? Didn't he rebel and renege when he understood the reality of his choices? I'd definitely say he mad ebad choices, but I'm not sure I see what makes him an inherently bad person. From the point of views of our protagonists e definitely is, but generally? And you get the same feeling with Snape. Despite him turning to the side of good, for better or worse reasons, the bad he did is never forgiven. His character never receives redemption. Because if you are bad, you are bad. And changing your mind realizing your mistakes, turning away from the person you were previously somehow does not seem possible in fantasy where morality and right and wrong and good and evil seem so central. It's almost like the writer pigeon-holes their character and doesn't allow them to change from their original understanding of them. It's not something I like. I think such a black and white view of characters is problematic and limits the story and storytelling. The whole point of people in reality, is that they can make good and bad choices. Which doesn't necessarily define them as people.  

But.. those questions might be better to discuss when were a bit further into the series.

One big question that hangs over this particular book for me is how much Dumbledore knew. He apparently fell for Quirrel diversion, but his words on returning was “Harry has gone after him, hasn't he?” So, how much did he know, and why did he one, let it get as far as it did, and two, let Harry get as involved as he did. Had he started his preparation of turning Harry into the ultimate weapon against Voldemort as early as Harrys first year? I can see little other explanation for him letting things get as far as they did if Harry going through what he did wasn't his aim.  

Realizing and understanding Dumbledore's ideas, plans and reasons throughout the series is quite the task in itself. Rowling does set him up kind of as a paragon of good and then slowly scrapes away that cover to show the human being underneath. Which is a very interesting process to follow. In the end does Dumbledore come off all that well in the story. He is kind of given redemption by the author through his regret, odd how an assumed good character is allowed that, but do the reader think well of him by the end?

Although those questions might be more interesting to discuss in the context of the whole series as well, but stuff like this does really pulls me back into why I liked this series so much. And the things about it that annoyed me. I'm really interested now to get to the more cohesive, engrossing (some might say kind of bloated) books later in the series.

Bloated!!

Further thoughts later!