wormtail & other annoyances

Diving straight from Prisoner of Azkaban to Goblet of Fire I noticed something in the first chapter. Of all people to call Peter Pettigrew Wormtail, Voldemort does. Personally, I don't think that makes much sense at all. It was a Marauders thing, therefore I thought it was between him, James, Sirius and Lupin. Not Voldemort. I read this chapter in Analysis and a leaned forward to ask Jessi about it, and she didn't have an answer for me either. It just doesn't make sense to me... and it's kind of ANNOYING me.

Alright, I've got to stop thinking about that... the fourth book is kind of a drag. Although, when the Weasleys come to pick Harry up from the borrow I laugh a lot. "Duddley was still clutching his bottom as if it might fall off." The Dursley's truly don't realize how comical they are. I also appreciate Mr. Weasley telling off Vernon and Petunia " You're not to see your nephew until next summer... Surely you're going to say goodbye." And they do.

I'm literally on page 75 and not much has happened yet. They've just arrived at the Quidditch World Cup. And Mr. Diggory has had his "Surely the best man won" moment, when discussing the previous year's quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. He's kind of annoying, Diggory. But Cedric is soo humble compared to his father. Oh, Cedric!

Jacob's still on the fourth book, but he's close to the end. I really do need to hurry it up!

dementors

I finished the roller coaster that is Prisoner of Azkaban. The ending is just CRAZY. You go from being afraid of Sirius and loving Lupin to hating them both. Then loving them and hating Ron's poor rat Scabbers aka. Peter Pettigrew. And just when you think thing are going to go well because Snape's unconscious and Harry's going to live somewhere other than the Dursley's, the moon comes out and Lupin changes and the dementors come and get rid of every single hope that they have. And I love this book, I think it was the first Harry Potter book I actually read more than once. I didn't used to be a fan of rereading books, but this one I love.

Dementors are terrible creatures. Can you just imagine the feeling they would inspire in you? I was talking with my friend's nine-year-old sister because she wanted to watch the Prisoner of Azkaban movie. A second later she decided that she didn't want to because it was too scary, she'd like to watch Chamber of Secrets instead. I remember when I first read both books, my mom read them aloud to me and I made her skip all of the snake parts in the Chamber of Secrets, and I remember being weirded out towards then end of Prisoner of Azkaban. But my friend's little sister said she was scared the most by the dementors when the Hogwarts Express stops in the beginning. It was the thought of these creatures that scared her the most, not big snakes and spiders with gigantic pincers (which I know her sister hates the most). It just struck me as strange that she would pick to be scared of the dementors over the basalisk and Aragog.

So, my text task is to follow Harry and company through the triwizard tournament. I'm behind Jacob by a long ways. Hopefully I can catch up to him.

Azkaban

Sometimes I wish I could go through and read through all the Harry Potters not having read any of them before that one time, just to see what it's like. Currently, I'm in the middle of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry's just figured out that not only does Sirius Black want to kill him, but he is responsible for the death of his parents. Could you imagine having to find that out? If your parents best friends betrayed them? Oh, how I wish I could still believe that Sirius did betray the Potters, but alas, I know he didn't because I've read the series only about three times through.

Anyways. Let's talk about names. Jo Rowling sure has a couple up her sleeve. Sirius, Remus, Hermione, Minevera, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Severus etc. She get's them from all over the place. She has too much knowledge. Names of stars (and not celebrities, but actual gaseous bodies in galaxies.), names of flowers, French names, normal names, names of Roman founders, etc. How does she do this? If it weren't for J. K. Rowling, I don't think I would believe in intended symbolism. English teachers since like 5th, maybe 6th grade have been telling me about symbolism, but it was all from classics with dead authors who couldn't answer questions. But then comes Jo, still alive and well, with her seven novel epic. Then I realize, maybe English teachers are right. I'll admit, there are still times when I doubt symbolism, because HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY KNOW? HOW CAN YOU ACTUALLY PROVE IT? I can't imagine people coming up with such things. I just can't but then I remember, how Remus and Romulus were the founders of Rome, and they were raise by wolves or they were wolves themselves ( I can't remember.) and how Remus Lupin is a werewolf and the world makes a little more sense.

chamber conclusions

Well, I've just finish Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by the one and only, most lovely Jo Rowling. Last blog I was having conflicting opinions about whether it was one of my least favorite in the series and I have come to the conclusions that, as much as I hate Lockhart, it's not.

The ending, in the actual chamber is one of my favorite parts in the novel. I get to see Ginny, Tom Riddle, Fawkes and best of all a dumb founded Gilderoy Lockhart.

I know I touched briefly on the horcrux thing last blog, but in the last two chapters there's a ton of foreshadowing. It's crazy that we knew about something before we were introduced to it. Riddle tells to Harry in the chamber, "I grew stonger and stonger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets." Much like the sixth books when Dumbledore puts on the ring and it reminds him of his sister, and in the seventh book when the trio passes around' the locket making them moody, and finally when Ron kills the locket, the horcrux preys on his love for Hermione. Or how crazy the piece of Voldemort makes Harry in the fifth book.

In this chapter we also learn how much alike both Voldemort and Harry are. "Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himsel. We even look something alike..."

Might I add that Dumbledore even says that a piece of Voldemort is inside Harry. "Not something he intended to do, I'm sure..."

This book really wraps up nicely. Hermione awake, Ginny alive and most importantly Gilderoy in St. Mungo's for good.

Onwards to Azkaban!

I HATE LOCKHART!

"I hate Lockhart!" I exclaimed today in class. Graham gave me a strange look.

"Ms. Lockhart?" he asked.

"No," I said, laughing. Beside me Jacob was laughing too. " Gilderoy Lockhart."

"Harry, Harry, Harry..." Lockhart always says in a condescending tone, or he gets his picture made with Harry, or accuses him of begging for fame. I just don't understand how some one can be so full of it when he's famous for stuff he didn't do. If I was him I'd be scared to death that someone would expose me.

Today I've read almost half of Chamber of Secrets. I actually think it's my least favorite in the series, though I hate some parts of the fifth book when Harry's just feeling sorry for himself. I do love this book because it introduces the whole horcrux thing, which reminds me of the sixth book which is one of my favorites. I really can't say I dislike any of the books, but this one... hmm... well I guess I take that back about the second being my least favorite. The fourth is not one of my favourites but by the time I get on to that one I'll probably have changed my mind again.

Anyways I took a break from reading before I finish this chapter and start APUSH homework and beginning work on my narrative. Chapter Eleven, The Dueling Club.

"'As you see we are holding our wants in the accepted combative position,' Lockhart told the silent crowd. 'On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course.'

'I wouldn't bet on that,' Harry murmered, watching Snape barring his teeth."

To be honest, right now I wouldn't mind if Snape did away with Lockhart. But soon I will be appeased and Lockhart will be in St. Mungo's.

Suspcion

A guilty pleasure of mine since freshman year has been The Private Books by Kate Brian. They follow Reed Brenan sophomore from Cronton, Pennsylvania to Easton Academy in Conneticutt. As a scholarship student Reed must maintain a perfect GPA and try to fit in with all of the trustfund kids at her knew prep school.

Reed has her eye on the Billings dorm. THE dorm that every girl in the boarding school wishes they were in. The Billings leader Noelle Lange notices Reed and allows her in to something only Easton and Billings legacies are allowed into, the dorm. Except it's not just a dorm, it's a family, a twisted sisterhood with lots of hazing that Reed must undergo to become one of them.

But that's all in the first book. It's a very interesting series about these prep school girls who have a Skull and Bones type of secret society. They're full of secrets and rituals. The best part of these books though is that someone ends up dead, missing, or shot at at the end of each installment.

The most recent one, Suspicion, begins with Reed stranded treading the waters of the Carribean Sea over Christmas break. This time someone is trying to kill Reed. Luckily, her friend Noelle notice that she's not at the party on the yaht any more and they send out rescue boats for her. Once Reed recovers from treading water for three hours she wants to go home, but Noelle insists that she stay another day and promises not to let Reed out of her sight.

Things get better and Reed prolongs her stay even though her parents would like her home in Pennsylvania. The Noelle, Reed and the rest of their group go to the spectacular New Year's Eve Bash to honor Reed's rescuer Sawyer. Before midnight Reed leaves to go back to their beach house to settle down, but once she gets on the boat she's bound, blinfolded and gagged. Her captors take her as far away everyone as possible to a desserted island. They have her at gunpoint when she tells them to go find her billionaire boyfriend Upton Giles because he'll pay more than whoever paid them to do this to her... They leave Reed stranded on the island for six days until they come back telling Reed that Upton declined their offer and went to the police, except her captors were the police. It's really too crazy. But I love it. Thankfully this book didn't leave me hanging that much, Reed is saved by Upton and fed after six days of pretty much nothing in the hot hot sun. She and Noelle make it back to Easton for the beginning of second semester after visiting her family. The only thing I'm curious about is how/why their dorm Billings was burned to the ground.

Woman in Front of the Sun

Woman in Front of the Sun: On Becoming a Writer by Judith Ortiz Cofer is the nonfiction book I picked up off of my bedroom floor this weekend to read. I figure that I should try to keep my number of nonfiction books as close to my number of fiction books as I can. My mother heard the author speak last year, so I figured I'd get to reading it soon enough, plus it's short enough that it won't take away much time from Harry Potter.

Ortiz grew up in the bario. She was a Roman-Catholic and attended a Catholic School. "What is tradition?" her teacher asks.

"Tradition is something that's always been done," Ortiz responded. Ortiz has difficulties understanding her families traditions along with those of the church. Why must married women wear black flowers and unmarried wear white? Why do the boys get to go out and play while the girls stay home? Ortiz stands up against things in her community that she doesn't think are right. Though sometimes she's looked down upon by her family or church members her teacher is always there edging her on.

Tradition in my "community" is totally different from that of Ortiz. I'm not Catholic, nor am I hispanic. I get to go and play outside with the boys. And I don't wear black or white flowers to church, I wear none at all, sometimes I even wear jeans. My dad feels strongly about traditions though. Some times I feel as though his traditions are archaic, but I see the reasoning behind them. Though, at times I wish that our family kept certain traditions in place. For example, family meals. Eating supper with my family is one of my most favorite parts of my day because it gives me a chance to catch up with them. Sometimes we'll go out for dinner, which my sister hates, so she doesn't come and we bring her something back, and I wish that my parents would make her come so that the table is full....

My favorite thing about tradition is the song in Fiddler on the Roof.

Books vs. Movies

So, I'm finishing up Sorcerer's Stone, hopefully I'll be done by Friday so that I can read Chamber of Secrets over the weekend...

One thing I think about when I read these books is how they compare to the movies. It's not really a matter of how bad/good the movies are... I try to separate the two as different things, which helps me appreciates the movies more. However for some reasons when I read the books I expect things to happen that actually didn't happen in the book, just in the movie. Some thing I noted earlier in the book when the Dursley's bring Harry to the zoo because Ms. Figg couldn't watch him on Dudley's birthday. In the book Harry talks to the snake in the reptile house while the Dursley's were wandering around Dudley and his friend come over and the glass vanishes and the snake gets out, then he kind of nips a Dudley and goes away. Dudley freaks out of course like he does in the movie. However in the movie, Dudley falls in to the window after the glass vanishes and when he tries to get out the glass is back...

One thing I absolutely LOVE in Socerer's Stone is the scene with the centaurs... In the movie Malfoy and Harry come across Voldemort/Quierrl in the Forbidden Forest drinking unicorn blood. Volde-quierrl slithers towards Harry and all of a sudden this centaur comes galloping through the clearing and saves Harry and talks to him. I like the book better for this scene because when Firenze saves Harry he puts him on his back and the gallop off to the other centaurs. There Harry meets Bane and Bane's ideas are very tradition where as Firenze is very unorthodox. Bane thinks that Firenze should have left Harry to Voldemort, to die. I love the centaurs because they're into astrology and following the stars. They seem to know everyone's fate. "Mars is bright tonight," they tell Hagrid... I'm going to be a total nerd and say that Mars being bright must have something to do with war because Mars was the god of war. Mars was bright because it was close. Therefore war is close eh. haha. I really do wish they had kept Bane in at least. He always left me perplexed.

All I've got to do now is Go Through the Trapdoor to visit The Man with Two Faces and then I'm finished.

The Philosopher's Stone

So I had a great plan. I was going to read seven nonfiction books in a row after the book about Elizabeth the first, and then lug my seven Harry Potter books off of my bookshelf and have a Harry Potter frenzy. However when I walked into Analysis on Monday and saw Jacob Armando with his nose in Socerer's Stone, I decided I couldn't wait. It's been since the last book came out that I've read all of them through. That was two years ago I guess which doesn't seem that long ago but it really is. (Plus today, September 1st I missed the Hogwarts Express seeing as I was in America asleep in bed when it pulled out of King's Cross, so I had to figure out someway to get there.)

So when I got home Monday I dug around in my sister's room to find my copy of the first book. I lent it to her because she's never read Harry Potter. (Which I don't understand!) I opened it up and started reading. It was strange to be reading the first one again. I've never truly realized how different the first one was from the seventh one.

The first book starts out side of Harry's mind. With the Durselys who were "proud to say that they were perfectly normal. Thank you very much." I feel as though in the first book, and I'm not that far along yet, you hear more from the narrator then Harry himself, but as the books progress you hear more from Harry. Especially in the fifth book, he's always whining.

It's funny rereading this book because between seventh and eighth grade I wrote all over the first two chapter because I was inspired by internet speculation I guess and so along with the text I'm also reading my notes in the margins. I walked into Coach Fowlkes's class after lunch and Ian Banks was looking in my book. He asked me why I wrote in it. And I told him because I liked to. He thinks I'm really weird now, but I've done it kind of off and on since around seventh grade when we read The Giver. Reese makes us underline, highlight and star things everyday in class. Dr. Snider said that she never reads without something to write with so I figure me and my margin writing habits are in good company. It's interesting though, in my copy of Socerer's Stone I only wrote in the margins for the first three chapter because I got so into the story, which happens a lot. If I have a pen with me while I'm reading sometimes I'll write something or underline something if it's interesting...so that I can find it again with ease.

Well, I'm going to go read more now because Harry's only just got his wand...

P.S. The reason I titled this blog Philosopher's Stone is because I don't understand why they changed then name for American publishing. I feel as if it's an insult saying that we won't understand something... after all it technically existed, at least in alchemist theory. I think I read a Nancy Drew when I was younger... she was in France working on a case that had to do with Alchemists some how and the Philosopher's Stone was mentioned... I just don't understand.