Now, I read waaay ahead of where we're supposed to have done for this week (I blame the mini-readathon! And also, you know, it's Harry Potter) but I'm going to try and keep what I know to myself *secret spy face*. But basically, here are some feelings I have:
- The Dursleys are so ridiculously terrible. I feel like I should be complaining about how caricaturish they are, but I can't because their terribleness is what gets us on Harry's side form the very beginning because we can both appreciate how horrible they are whilst also laughing at them together.
- I kind of forgot that there was a time when Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't friends, and I am NOT A FAN OF THIS. Having said this, Hermoine is kind of really bossy and irritating to start with, so I get why they don't want to be her friend, but STILL I can't deal with this time. Not at all.
- I LOVES THE MAGIC! Like how we bond with Harry over his horrible family, we also get to go along on his journey into the magic side of the world, and HOW COOL IS THAT?! There is no telling me that there isn't a Diagon Alley hidden somewhere in London, and one day I will find it, I swear. But the pictures that move and 'non-existent' train platforms and wizard money... If there's one thing that the Philosopher's Stone does, it's building the magical world, and it does it SO well.
- I also love how Ron is all interested in the muggle world. Cause that's how it would be if you were a raised wizard and so everything was just old hat to you!
- Speaking of old hats, the Sorting Hat... I love the concept, but I CAN'T DO SONGS IN BOOKS. So now you know. I blame Lord of the Rings, frankly.
- Malfoy is a weenie. This is something we'll come back to.
OBViously I have about 15 million more things to say, but I'm trying not to shoot my wad over the first 9 chapters of the series (because that would be messy [SORRY]) but basically, what I'm trying to say is, I'm SO EXCITED to be reading Harry Potter again. Next time I may have thoughts that don't even need to be bullet pointed, but for now I'm too hyper for paragraphs.
Okay so I'm going to have to come back to this later because sometimes GIFs don't show up on my work computer (shakes fist at it), but yay! I love love love the magical world-building. And songs in books suuuuck, but I did read it through this time, maybe because I was just soaking it all in. Later in the books I totally just gloss over that part.
ReplyDeleteWHAT IS THE POINT OF COMPUTERS IF THERE ARE NO GIFS?!
DeleteSorry. I got a bit worked up there. Songs suck SO MUCH, but I did read this because it's not that long and there's basically only one (I mean, there's the Hogwarts song like a page later. But it's bearable) I just wanted to get my hatred of book songs out there!
I love that we basically found the exact same gif to represent our dislike and boredom, but with different actors.
ReplyDeleteMagic IS awesome! Can you imagine how terrifying yet unbelievable those first few weeks would be?
Songs are the worst (THANKS TOLKIEN) but I kinda love the sorting hat song. In grade 6 we had to do a literary monologue and I did the sorting hat song and one from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Diversity yo.
I know! We are awesome. Even though I'm tooootally into the first few chapters now!
DeleteIt would be so so so cool though! I just love the whole like, 'this is how things are done in the wizarding world and isn't it so exciting and different and ZOMG butterbeer!' Just Yessssssssssss
Dude, you were a pretty awesome 11/12 year old (?) I have to say! Niiiiiice monologue choosing :)
I love them in an "it begins...yes! " kinda way - but I still speed my way through to Hagrid's arrival.
DeleteButterbeer! I've seen a few recipes online, one night/day we should get everyone in the readalong to make it and have a mass Twitter butterbeering!
Re: monologue -I had an amazing teacher who encouraged my weirdness which lead to my awesomeness. :-)
DeleteWe SHOULD have a mass butterbeering! That would be AMAZING! And YAY your awesome teacher :)
DeleteI couldn't believe how much I enjoyed the first chapteres--first time I've re-read them in over 10 years I think.
ReplyDeleteAND I used my first-ever GIFS in today's post because in a world with talking portraits and moving photographs, I HAD to.
I know, me too! I so vividly remember reading them and being like 'wtf is this?' but now I'm just like NOSTALLLLLGIA! I think that's what it is, anyway.
DeleteYAY GIFS! Welcome to the gang :)
THE SORTING HAT SONG IS GREAT
ReplyDeleteThe beginning is weirdly awesome, right? I can't believe it STILL is after I've read it so many times, but ugh. JK, you are the best.
Yeah, Hermione being disliked by Harry/Ron is weird and it needs to stop. And it will! In the next chapter! Hurray!
IT IS NOT. I think the main thing with songs is that I can't HEAR them, and so I'm just like 'so basically I'm reading a kind of shit poem. Right.' If the book ACTUALLY sang to me... That would probably be ok.
DeleteI love the beginning! And I never used to! But it's just like now I'm all aware of the story, I GET IT ALL. And it's ace!
YESSSSSSS! I totally read ahead because, you know, fun, and I was just like yessssssssssssss at the thing that bonds them. Well, just that they were bonded. Because DAMN I love that girl.
"Shit poem"
DeleteJKR is not amused.
You and I both said the same thing, almost word for word, about Harry, Ron, & Hermione being friends. Because SHE IS AWFUL at first.
ReplyDeleteI also tried to write paragraphs and that failed as well. There are SO MANY THOUGHTS.
She really is. Although I think it's kind of a good way to introduce her because SHE DOESN'T CHANGE, and the things that we once found annoying about her turn out to be the things that save them SO MANY TIMES. So that's great!
DeleteI CAN'T DEAL WITH PARAGRAPHS RIGHT NOW!
OMG, this post is awesome. Except for the 'shooting your wad' part because THERE IS MAYONNAISE IN MY SANDWICH. :(
ReplyDeleteI totally in some tiny part of my heart believe that one day someone will find Diagon Alley. AND THAT DAY WILL BE AWESOME. And not just because then I can legitimately buy my own magic owl (finally).
Hermione definitely needed her hair pulled once or twice at the beginning there. And Mary Poppins has exactly managed to match her lipstick to her coat, which is amazing because it's a really odd colour. The girl in Boots would be so proud.
I AM EAGERLY AWAITING MORE OF YOUR EXCITEMENT! :D
OMG NO! I'm so sorry. I sort of regretted typing it immediately afterwards but there is NO GOING BACK in a blog post (because I'm way lazy).
DeleteI think I might poke around some skeezy pubs in London, see what I can find. I'll report back.
I DID NOT NOTICE MARY'S LIPSTICK! But that's so great! God, she's amazing.
Ok firstly, I mean, those songs. WHY DO YOU EVEN, fantasy novels? NOBODY likes them.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hear you on the Not Friends Yet busienss. At one point in the second half of the book Hermione is like, We need to go tell Dumbledore, and Ron is like, We don't have any PROOF, and I am like, OH RIGHT, they aren't besties with Dumbles yet and can't just walk up to him all, This is what we think is happening. SO WEIRD.
Hey, Alice likes them! But Alice is strange. I think I'd definitely like them better if they were ACTUAL songs that sang to me, but they clearly haven't thought up music to go with them.
DeleteOh man! I forgot there was a time when they were totally like 'ooh, Dumbledore's a bit intimidating, and he might not believe us!' Harry hasn't even had a CONVERSATION with him yet, has he? Oh man, it's so weird being back at the beginning again!
Boo songs. They will be skimmed, at best.
ReplyDeleteI *like* the first chapters because HARRY POTTER! but I was definitely impatient for Hagrid to arrive.
JKR builds the magical world SO WONDERFULLY and it's all I can do not to weep thinking about it. Damn, I love these books.
Skimmed, if not skipped. Tom Bombadil, man. That's all I'm saying.
DeleteSee, I wasn't even impatient for Hagrid! Especially in the first chapter when I'm like 'I KNOW WHAT THEY'RE CELEBRATING!!' and so on, but I really think my reaction is just because I remember HATING the first chapters the first time I read it, so now that I like them A BIT, it's like they're amazing.
I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! *happy siggggggh*
I actually like the first chapters! Am I the only one?? The Dursleys are so ridiculous and we hate them so much that Harry is just the coolest seeming kid ever. Or maybe that's my nerd complex showing again... but seriously, I like the first bits, though of course I like the bits with Hagrid and magic better.
ReplyDeleteIt would appear so! I mean, I like them NOW but I never used to. But yeaaaaah, the magic bits are clearly the BEST :)
DeleteThe songs aren't the best BUT they remind me of one summer when a friend and I tried to memorize the Sorting Hat song and we would recite it in the backseat while our parents drove us to the mall/the pool/other places where 12-year-olds thrive.
ReplyDeleteSo the songs have a special place in my nostalgic heart...
Woooooow, you had the MOST fun as a 12 year old!
Delete...I'm not even sure if that was sarcastic or not. Just don't call it a *song* when it's clearly A POEM. I won't be tricked into reading poetry Rayna!
Lol, the songs in LoTR are awful, but I kind of like singing the "school song" (which we never hear again). Though I have to say, listening to Jim Dale sing it on the audio version is less fun, despite his generally fantastic narration.
ReplyDeleteWho is this Jim Dale I keep hearing things about?! I believe that, clearly, ONLY Stephen Fry should be reading the audiobooks! GAWD!
DeleteI can't do songs in books either - unless I'm told the tune said song should be sung too. But otherwise it's all awkward in my head.
ReplyDeleteOMG the Dursley's are beyond terrible. Like, it doesn't matter what could be said about them in the future books, nothing can forgive them for treating Harry the way they did.
I didn't find the first chapters boring, but all I could think was, this would have been REALLY boring if I was a child reading them!
It's TOTALLY awkward! I think that might be the main problem!!
DeleteThe Dursleys are the woooooorst. I wish I could tell you they improve but I can't tell you ANYTHING AT ALL. It's for your own good.
YES! That's the thing, I think. Cause as a kid, you've been told that these books are really good, but instead there's just this boy who's kind of been a bit bullied and stuff, and it's like 'righhhht...' But yeah. Way better now, obviously!
I read Chapter 10 out loud to Angel last night (he fell ASLEEP if you can believe it), and every time someone said "Miss Granger," I was like THAT'S ME. Hermione is my people.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of in love with Harry Potter. The books...not the boy. I'm not gross.
He fell asleeeep?! That's not on, really! Duuude, this is going to sound SO dumb, but I totally didn't make that connection. HOW STUPID! Cause it's totally your name! Obviously! *Smacks self upside the head*
DeleteI'm so relieved you're not a paedophile. That could have been way awk.
My 11-year old self thought the Dursleys were the cruelest, most cold-hearted people ever. And then I read it again, and my 26 year old self thought that they were cheesy, like "Matilda's parents" cheesy.
ReplyDeleteI need to keep reading so Hermione can be friends with Harry and Ron. I hate that Hermione is annoying and I hate that the boys are obnoxious to her. They need to be friends like ASAP, haha!
I can't do songs in fiction either - so glad the movie chose to leave it out. It would have been painful to bear.