Book Reviews

I have recently read (for the first time):

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

I enjoyed them. The Harry Potter one better that the other, though. Ms. Rowling really does write nicely. I like an author who makes all the characters speak in their own way. There is an author named David Eddings, whose first series I loved, but whose books have since contained characters who all speak in the same way. There's no way to tell one from the other, just by speech patterns. This annoys me because every person is different and speaks in their own way. Not everyone says "old chap" all the time. Anyway, none of that in Harry Potter.

I like Ron. He's funny. He had the best lines in the book when they found the Devil Snare plant thing. Since the plant likes it cool and dark, they decided they needed a fire to repel it. Hermoine frets that there isn't anything to burn.

'ARE YOU A WITCH OR AREN'T YOU?'

Then after the plant is dealt with:

'Good thing Harry doesn't lose his head in a crisis - "there's no wood" - honestly.'

Also, being a fan of Alan Rickman (loved him in Prince of Thieves and Die Hard), I like Snape. Sorry. I know what happens in the Half-Blood Prince, but I'm waiting for the twist.

As it happens, I own the DVD of Prizoner of Azkaban. I didn't really want it, but we bought it for someone else at Christmas one year and they already had it, so we kept it and got her something else. We watched it once and it was good enough, but I didn't care to watch it again. Maybe I needed to be in the right frame of mind.

My cousin is all set up that I've finally realised how good these books are. She says she's going to get me to watch Stargate next. But I have to watch the tail end of Stargate with her from time to time and I don't like it. I've been watching the last few "dramatic" moments of that show for years now and I just don't like it. She doesn't like Battlestar Galactica, so we're even. It's not like everyone has to like the same things, for heaven's sake.

*****

I had refused to read the Narnia stories, even as a child, because my church thought they were so Christian. I never liked stories with a lesson in them. So I have been avoiding CS Lewis for what? 20 years now? How silly of me. It's just a story. And an appropriate one for kids maybe age 9 or 10 and up. I expect I'd like the movie too. I'l wait until the DVD comes out.

Changed your mind about anything recently?