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Jane's Great Re-Read: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The re-read is continuing at a fair pace. The First three in the series have verily flown by but I’ve reached the first in the Door stop phase of the series. Goblet of Fire is over twice the length of Prisoner of Azkaban so it is always feels a little daunting. That said this is the pivot point in the series. This is where Voldemort regains a lot of his powers and I can remember the first time I devoured the novel I just sped through desperate to know what was going to happen next and then dying for the Order of the Phoenix. I am looking forward to the…
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Jane's Great Re-Read: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Aw yeah. Re-reading Prisoner of Azkaban was a complete joy. This really is J K Rowling writing at her best here. No extraneous bits, the plots moves at a thundering pace and it is fantastic. Even the time travelling which is notorious to pull off well is competently done. The character development really starts here, we start to learn more about Snape and some of the reasons why he hated James Potter so much. Oh Severus, so much disappointment for you in this novel. So without further ado five things from Prisoner Minerva Mcgonagall being disrespectful and passive aggressive towards Professor Trelawney and barely even managing to conceal it from…
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Gatekeepers and why I'm not a fan
I have a problem with Gatekeepers in geekdom and fandom. Self-appointed guardians of what it means to be a fan. Those who have a personal credo and if you don’t know the answers to the questions or you weren’t there at the beginning then you can’t be a real fan. I’m quite a sensitive person, I’m a survivor of bullying and I hate us and them mentalities. I understand the need for folks to create their own communities where they create safe spaces and the desire to control that space by building walls around it and pulling up the drawbridge. I am someone who usually ends up outside the castle…
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Jane's Great Re-Read: Prisoner of Azkaban
I have really been looking forward to re-reading this one. This is where things start heating up. Harry blows up Aunt Marge, there’s the lovely bit with the Knight Bus. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, the marauders. Oh yes Sirius and Lupin I adore them. So many characters and elements get introduced in this novel I can’t wait to get reacquainted with them. I remember Prisoner of Azkaban as being the book where the stakes really got high and it felt tightly plotted and well executed. The doorstops that come after this loose some of the tightness that is in this one. Also the cover has a purple header. I…
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Jane's Great Re-read: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – the verdict
As I previously mentioned Chamber of Secrets was always my least favourite of the series and I think my memory let me down a bit with this. This is a good thing because it was much much better than I remember. I think there are parts to this story that really don’t make sense until you read The Half-Blood Prince and that’s okay but it feels a little bit foggy in places. I think part of the issue is that my memories of the book are tainted by the film adaptation. Dobby is far less annoying in the book than he is in the film. The humour is far more…
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Jane's Great Re-Read: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
After a couple of new reads: Eleanor and Park and Transmuted I am starting Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This is probably my least favourite of all the Harry Potter books, I think it’s down to the fact that JK Rowling tries so hard to persuade the reader that Hagrid might be responsible for Muggle Attacks and even from the first reading I was adamant that it could never be him. I’m not a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart either. But then we aren’t supposed to be. I suppose I just think of this novel as being the weakest. That said I’m returning after a gap of five years…
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Jane's Great ReRead: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
I’m tackling this in two parts: the first general experience of re-reading for the millionth time and secondly five things that made me tingly warm in a fangirl sense. I have tried to count up how many times I’ve read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, definitely more than seven, I’m guessing maybe as many as ten I discovered Harry Potter in my final year of University and I was going to be an English Teacher so I made a point of reading ‘kids books’ so that I would have a wealth of recommendations for students (I was exceedingly idealistic even if it didn’t work out for me). I fell…
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Well hello insomnia
Funny thing going back to the day job after a glorious couple of weeks off is the rising tide of panic and belief that I can no longer do the job. Thanks brain you really are super special. My anxiety and its best pal the Fear were in tag team super force last night as I tried and failed to sleep seeing midnight, 1.00am, 2.00am and 3.00am before losing conciousness for the alarm to wake me at 6.30am. I could do without the insomnia but it has become a pattern that when I am due to go back to work it will kick in with a vengeance. This leaves me…
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Jane's Great Re-Read Harry Potter
And so the great re-read is kicking off with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. This series of books is my ultimate comfort read. I am imagining slipping my feet into warmed slippers as I open my beaten up copy of Philosopher’s Stone for what could well be the tenth time. So here it is. Well thumbed and yellowing with age. It smells of Suncream and a misspent youth. Harry Potter was the first fandom I participated in. I loved theorising what would happen. I found the books just before they exploded into ubiquity I was recommended by a friend and I can remember feeling a bit snobby about…
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2014 frustration in a nut shell
I really didn’t manage to get anywhere near as much writing as I wanted to. The reasons behind this are many and varied. My job is still quite demanding and has not settled into a pattern I can control yet. Coupled with extended periods of extremely brain busy times which leave me with no capacity to do more than the basics. This sucks but until the situation changes which I’m hoping it will soon then that is going to remain. I am also a creature with hobbies. Musical theatre, board gaming and knitting crochet all of which a necessary to my well being to stop me going completely off the rails.…
