Ramblings: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

I don't have the audacity to call the below a 'review' for a number of reasons;

a) I didn't take any review notes;
b) It's 1:30am so this will hardly be coherent; and
c) Let's face it, you've all read it already.

There will be spoilers, so don't bitch at me.

I couldn't sleep the other night, so I ended up doing what I always do (and I know is very counter-inducive to sleep, thank you), which is flicking aimlessly through Pinterest on my phone. As I'm sure some of you know, 'fandoms' are very well represented on that website and it doesn't take long before you come across something Harry Potter related.

I clicked on one thing and then must have spent the next hour clicking on 'related items.' Facts about the movies (despite the fact that I hate the damn things), reminisces of first-time-readings, predictions of how the characters' lives turned out... I just scrolled and scrolled. Hey, when you can't sleep...

That's all fine, but I ended up with a desperate desire to read one of the books. Don't get me wrong, I love them but I hadn't touched one of them since 2010 when I read most of them (in the wrong order) in the Summer. I think it's because of the hype... you couldn't get away from Harry Potter for a while and it put me off. The films came out and the games, and J.K. Rowling is never far from the media... anyway, I just hadn't bothered, despite reading them fairly frequently before 2010 (I keep obsessive LibraryThing records).

Still, do you know when I last read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? No, nor do I, actually. That's a thing in itself - I've been tracking my reading since 2006 and this book features nowhere in my records, which means the last time I read it was pre-2006. It's just odd. I've reread the others two-four times each in that time, but I never touched this one... I wonder why.

When I left to meet Ellie and Charlotte on Saturday, it was the book I grabbed. I'd already decided to read a Harry Potter book, but I barely put any thought into which one it was going to be (clearly - I know, let's lug around the heaviest book I own while I go shopping all day! Yay!). Maybe I just figured it was the one I remembered the least, which it was.

So I started it... and the book I had been reading went out the window. These books are amazing. I think my four year break helped to reemphasise that... if I'm honest, I had been going off the whole concept. Over-hype in the media can do that, which is silly of me. 

It's a stupid time in the morning but I had to talk about it before I go to sleep and forget how I feel right now. Yes, the books have flaws. There are a few tiny issues that really need explaining, but it doesn't matter. It's the tiny details that make them amazing - Hermione trapping Rita Skeeter/beetle in an Unbreakable Jar, Dumbledore sending McGonagall to retrieve 'the big black dog that will no doubt be sat in Hagrid's pumpkin patch,' and Harry giving the twins enough money to set up a joke shop. The details are the reason I can't read Deathly Hallows without engaging a therapist's services beforehand.

It also occurred to me that I've never read this book whilst knowing how the series ended. There are a lot of hints about the final revelations, which demonstrate that she must have known at least some of where the books were going to end up. She can't have just 'got lucky.' I didn't take note of what they were, but I remember Voldemort soliloquizing about the methods he used to preserve his life and Harry noticing Dumbledore's victorious smile when he hears about the blood transfer. It made me feel smug that I knew what was coming, happy that my respect for the books was confirmed and sad that I already know everything, all at the same time.

These books make you feel things that few other series can. Say what you like about J.K. Rowling (I've probably said most of it myself already), but the Harry Potter books are amazing and I will never regret staying up until 2am to finish one of them.

It's a stupid time in the morning, so excuse the blabbering. What books made you lose sleep?       

Books My Boyfriend and I Have Argued About #1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Silence

Welcome to a slightly different new feature at Booking in Heels; one that's dedicated to the Richter-scale rows caused by various books and book-related concepts in the Heels household. And I'm not talking a mild discussion over a nice cup of tea during the adverts of Dancing on Ice. We're talking about the batten-down-the-hatches-and-get-ready-for-a-long-Winter-cause-you-ain't-going-nowhere arguments that usually culminate in tears, my hurling the book in question at Lewis' head and/or us both texting everybody we know to see who's right and the losing partner claiming that well, they must be stupid too. What can I say, we love each other but we're not good at domesticity. 

First up, we have the mother of all argument-causers. Harry Potter.

*there should be ominous music here, seriously*

We're now at the point where any friend or family member that hears those words around us, instantly drops to the floor and plays dead, in the hope that their existence won't be remembered and therefore be dragged into a hideous, bloody re-enactment of this argument. Klaxons sound when an unsuspecting third party mentions it and everybody hides as Hanna and Lewis whip round and instantly assume a fighting stance, ready to Do Battle.

It first kicked off when we saw Deathly Hallows: Part Two at the cinema. I hadn't particularly wanted to go - I don't like any of the others that much because I didn't think they did justice to the books, but Lewis enjoyed them and so requested we attend. I agreed because, like when you see a dead rabbit on the road, some things are so awful you just can't look away.

But you know what? It was alright actually. Obviously they'd missed out a lot of the smaller parts (like the scene with the family photos and Percy near the end - I loved that) but as a whole, disregarding the unfortunate existence of Emma Watson, it was pretty good. They got the atmosphere right, the tone, the characters... The only thing I didn't like was the strange swishy, over-dramatic battle between Harry and Voldemort, but hey, I could look past that.

Lewis? Not so much. As I said, he liked all the other films more than I did, so he's hardly being snobby. However, he does prefer the earlier ones as being more magicky (all technical terms are my own) because he says the later ones are pretentious and trying too hard to be adult. He loathed this one especially though. I can't remember the exact quote, but I'm pretty sure J.K. Rowling would have an aneurysm if she heard.

So, we left the cinema and the ensuing argument started at quite literally the exact minute the lights turned on and I turned to him with tear-filled eyes and hands clasped in unspeakable glee. It lasted through the ten minute walk to the bus stop, during the fifteen minute bus ride, down the ten minute walk home and for a good half an hour after we got home. That's more than an hour of arguing about Harry Potter, folks.

People always look at me slightly askance when they hear that our biggest argument to date was about Harry Potter, but it's true. It could be because we're so happy in our little snuggle nest of love that we simply don't have big things to argument but... let's just say that that's not it, shall we?

We're the kind of couple that would have two mules on the wedding cake, assuming we ever got to the Altar without stabbing each other in the first place. We're stubborn. Reeeaaaally stubborn. And I love Harry Potter, so I absolutely point-blank would not let it go. Well. Except for the part at the bus stop where I flatly refused to speak cause hey, I'm a grown up y'all.

I'm sure the woman at the bus stop was only dissuaded from calling the Domestic Abuse Hotline when she gleefully edged closer to listen a bit more (as old ladies around strange arguing couples always do) and found that the word 'Horcrux' was occasionally snarled and decided that we were merely crazy, not abusive.

So, during this time we vehemently were discussing the merits (or lack thereof) of Harry Potter, as you do. Lewis has read up to The Prisoner of Azkaban and liked them, but got distracted by something else before The Goblet of Fire and never went back. Point is, he's never read the book in question so he was claiming the film was bad, and therefore the book must be also.

He says the books are badly written. Not the prose exactly - it's just that he thinks J.K. Rowling got so carried away with her success that she just rammed any old tripe onto paper and shoved it away to Bloomsbury. The ending to Deathly Hallows is anti-climactic and the entire Horcrux concept is pointless and trying to be too adult when they're supposed to be children's books.

Personally, I think the plot is very clever. Not all of it, obviously. It has its faults - look at the middle of the book where they wander around the tent aimlessly for ridiculously long length of time. But I like how it links back to previous books - like how the diary in Chamber of Secrets is relevant in the end and the basilisk's teeth also make a reappearance. I think it shows planning and commitment to the whole story arc that she can relate the last book back to the all others.

Lewis claims that anybody could churn that out - relevance in later books is easily faked. If Harry used a spoon in Prisoner of Azkaban, it could easily later turn out to be The Spoon of Destiny, and it doesn't prove she's a good writer. He also has ranty issues with the relationships (but yeah, okay, I'll give him that one), various deaths and unnecessary darkness.

I also love all the tiny little characterisation points, most of which don't make it into the film. I think they show she's a good writer. As examples, we have 'NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH' and the part where the three Houses all kind of snarl and point their wands at the Slytherins. Either of those will bring tears to my eyes and provoke that funny tight feeling in my stomach.

Not so Lewis, for he is a Manly Man (we watched Gnomeo & Juliet the other day - I flooded the basement with my tears while he... uh, laughed. If you don't cry at that film, I'm sorry but You Have No Soul). So, as every argument among adults eventually does, it downgraded into:

L: She can't write!
H: She can!
L: She can't!
H: *cries* She can!
L: Are you stupid!?
H: I hate you!

During which much was resolved, naturally.

Eventually (and that's a loooong 'eventually,' people) Lewis brought me a cup of tea and cautiously nudged it towards me, and I stopped sniffing pointedly into my tissue and edged a little more Lewis-wards, so we're all good. 

For now. 

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Not-Review: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

I read this yesterday, pretty much in one sitting, because I was fed up and not feeling too well and needed a comfort read. I adore this book and it gives me a Happy Book Fuzz like no other.

Anyway, I'm not going to review it, because who needs a review of a Harry Potter book?  

So all I will say is - 

'You don't understand!' whined Pettigrew. 'He would have killed me, Sirius!'
'THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!' roared Black. 'DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIEBDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!'

Mm. 

I Have To Own This #1

I'm a sucker for book-related merchandise, I admit it. I'm also a sucker for desperately wanting something and then not being able to locate the link when payday finally rolls round. So this semi-regular post will hopefully have the dual-purpose of filling you all with bookish lust and allowing me to find the damn things if (read: when) I've decided that I can't possible live without them.

  

These are all from Evie's Teesand I need them. If I don't get one of these within three weeks, I think I'm going to spontaneously combust and I'll just be a little heap of pink dust ad sad longing.

I can't decide which though. I prefer the Harry Potter ones to the Percy Jackson one (although that's still awesome), so I'd probably start with the Marauder one.

The same shop has some Hunger Game t-shirts too, but I'm more lusing after...

 

... this. It's from Amazon, of all places. I definitely want the above Potter-y t-shirts first, but then I have a voucher for Amazon.COM and for some reason these aren't on the UK website. We Britons want our fill of Hunger Games Goodness too, you know!

 

The Sunday Sum-Up and Book Blogger Hop #2

I don't think I've ever been quite so glad to reach the end of the week. I haven't got through quite as many books as I'd planned to, but that's mainly down to an embarrassing addiction to LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. In fact, I'm sorely tempted to stop updating you on this week's bookly progress, and just post picture after picture of LEGO Captain Jack...

Or not, cause I'd actually like to keep the few followers I have. Anyway, here's this week in a pleasant, listy format.

• So. We have nice, shiny reviews of Who's Afraid of Jane Austen? How To REALLY Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Henry Hitchins, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark and The Wizard of London by Mercedes Lackey. I also reviewed Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card without getting too crabby at the hours of my life spent that I'll never get back.  

• Should you so desire, you can see what's on my wishlist this week by clicking here.

• I also shone the spotlight on Lady Chatterley's Lover using Jodie's The Time Will Come meme over at Books For Company.

This week I'm reading Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence and then I'm moving on to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I'm so excited to finally read it, I've been dying to get hold of it for weeks now!

 

"What book-to-movie adaption have you most liked?  Which have you disliked?"

I'm sure many of you will sneer, flip your hair and stomp off in disgust after reading this, but I'll accept the possible punishment of being stabbed by crazed Harry Potter fans because it needs to be said. Those films are awful. 

I've seen every single one of the damn things, and I admit that the later ones have improved, but I've hated them since the beginning.

It's the actors. That's all it is. They couldn't have chosen three worse main characters if they'd tried. If I could choose one actress to shoot in the head it would have to be a young Emma Watson. It is it really necessary to talk with your eyebrows? Or open your mouth so wide bats could safely nest inside?

To be fair, I don't have a problem with her in the later ones. She's much much less annoying since about the third one. I still don't like her but I can deal with it. 

Everything else about the Harry Potter films I like - the settings are beautiful, the supporting characters (especially Alan Rickman) are wonderfully cast and they keep to the plot to an acceptable extent.  It's just....*shudders* her.

Oh yes. Book adaptations I actually like. I'm usually fairly good at thinking of the film and book as separate entities so I don't automatically hate the adaptation like some people.

Lord of the Rings is a good example. I really enjoyed all three films. Answering this question has made me realise how much my opinion is based on how well cast the characters are. I liked LotR mainly because of Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo... they were all perfect for their roles and could actually, you know... act (that helps in an actor, I've found).

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