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Thursday Quotables: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!
NEW! Thursday Quotables is now using a Linky tool! Be sure to add your link if you have a Thursday Quotables post to share.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
(published 2003)
It’s never not a good time to revisit Harry at Hogwarts. I’m having a blast listening to the audiobook of HP5. And sure, Harry spends a lot of time feeling angry and ignored, and some very bad things that I refuse to think about happen later on… but meanwhile, there are also all sorts of gems along the way.
“Don’t you understand how Cho’s feeling at the moment?” she asked.
“No,” said Harry and Ron together.
Hermione sighed and laid down her quill.
“Well, obviously, she’s feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she’s feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can’t work out who she likes best. Then she’ll be feeling guilty, thinking it’s an insult to Cedric’s memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she’ll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can’t work out what her feelings toward Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that’s all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she’s afraid she’s going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she’s been flying so badly.”
A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of this speech, then Ron said, “One person can’t feel all that at once, they’d explode.”
“Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have,” said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.
What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!
If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:
- Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
- Click on the linky button (look for the cute froggie face) below to add your link.
- After you link up, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week.
- Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!
Thursday Quotables: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!
NEW! Thursday Quotables is now using a Linky tool! Be sure to add your link if you have a Thursday Quotables post to share.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
(published 2000)
It’s never a bad time for Harry Potter.
A week ago, Harry would have said finding a partner for a dance would be a cinch compared to taking on a Hungarian Horntail. But now that he had done the latter and was facing the prospect of asking a girl to the ball, he thought he’d rather have another round with the dragon.
Oh, the woes of a teen boy faced with the horror of getting a date:
“Why do they have to move in packs?” Harry asked Ron as a dozen or so girls walked past them, sniggering and staring at Harry. “How’re you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?”
“Lasso one?” Ron suggested.
What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!
If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:
- Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
- Click on the linky button (look for the cute froggie face) below to add your link.
- After you link up, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week.
- Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!
Burning Questions: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In which I ask the questions that keep me up at night…
I’ve read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at least 4 or 5 times, and now I’m listening to the audiobook. It’s my first time revisiting HP4 in a few years, and here’s what’s on my mind and making me lose sleep:
WHY IS HARRY REQUIRED TO COMPETE IN THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT???
Apparently, the rules state that if your name comes out of the goblet, you must compete. Dumbledore says that Harry doesn’t have a choice, because it’s a binding magical contract.
Wait a sec — a magical contract?
Doesn’t a contract imply consent? You have to sign your name to a contract in order for it to be binding. You certainly have to enter into it knowingly and willingly.
The noun contract is defined as a written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or tenancy, that is intended to be enforceable by law.
So if Harry’s name was submitted by someone else, shouldn’t the implied contract be null and void? After all, he didn’t put his name in the goblet. He did not agree. (He’s also underage, so he doesn’t meet the tournament requirements.) But really, most importantly, he was not a party to the terms and conditions.
What would happen if he refused to compete, or if Dumbledore refused to let him? Would he die? Would he be cursed? Would his hair fall out? What’s the consequence?
I NEED TO KNOW.
It’s easy, upon first read, to skim the fine print in order to get on with the story — and it’s a damned fine story. And sure, if Harry weren’t required to compete, then there wouldn’t be any plot to the book. (Imagine what a great 4th year Harry might have had if he’d just been sitting in the stands as a spectator, alongside Ron and Hermione.)
So why doesn’t Dumbledore find a way to get Harry out of the tournament, suspecting as he does that someone entered Harry in order to do him harm? Why is everyone willing to just accept the idea of a binding magical contract?
Seriously. I really want to know what would have happened if Harry just said no.
Anyone else losing sleep over this?
Just me?
Thursday Quotables: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!
NEW! Thursday Quotables is now using a Linky tool! Be sure to add your link if you have a Thursday Quotables post to share.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, & Jack Thorne
(published 2016)
HARRY POTTER! Seriously, HARRY POTTER! I read this on Sunday, and have been flipping through it since. It’s all wonderful, but here are a few favorite (non-spoilery) moments:
Scorpius: You know it’s the strangest of things, but ever since being in the scariest place imaginable I’m pretty much good with fear. I am — Scorpius the Dreadless. I am – Malfoy the Unanxious.
On a more serious note:
Harry: [Name deleted], playing with Time? You know we can’t do that.
[Name deleted]: How many people have died for the Boy Who Lived? I’m asking you to save one of them.
One more:
Albus: So what would you like me to do? Magic myself popular? Conjure myself into a new House? Transfigure myself into a better student? Just cast a spell, Dad, and change me into what you want me to be, okay? It’ll work better for both of us. Got to go. Train to catch. Friend to find.
I loved this book! I’m traveling this week, but when I get home, I plan to read it all the way through again… this time, calmly and with an eye for detail, rather than just inhaling it as fast as possible.
What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!
If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:
- Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
- Click on the linky button (look for the cute froggie face) below to add your link.
- After you link up, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week.
- Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: I loved it!
Today’s the day! And what a day it’s been!
Thanks to the glory of Amazon PrimeNow, I woke up to find this on my doorstep (delivered at 1:00 a.m., according to the tracking notice):
Which I ripped open as soon as I got my hands on it, and grabbed this:
At which point, I sequestered myself away with my book and a big mug of coffee, and didn’t come up for air until I got to this:
Well, you certainly won’t get any spoilers out of me about the plot, but I will say that I loved being back in the world of Harry Potter, was delighted by the familiar characters as well as the new ones, and thought it was clever, moving, and loads of fun! Yes, it’s a bit weird reading a script and not a novel, but that’s okay. One thing that absolutely came out of this reading experience for me was a burning desire to get to London and to see the play! Don’t know how, don’t know when, but I’m going to make it happen.
Because I loved it all, and I’d give anything to see these two — and the rest — live on stage:
Did you read it yet? What did you think?
Following up: Reviews, news, and some HP too!
I’ve come across bits and pieces of information related to two different books I’ve read recently, and thought I’d take a moment to share some links of interest. Plus, a smidge of Harry Potter, because Harry Potter is always worth talking about!
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First, some follow-up regarding The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot:
When I wrote about the audiobook of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks earlier this month (review), I focused just on the book content — what I enjoyed and what I didn’t, my overall impressions, etc. What I didn’t do at that point was to look for information about what has happened since with the family of Henrietta Lacks, the HeLa cell lines and their use in research, and the author of the book, Rebecca Skloot.
One of my questions while listening to the book had to do with the Lacks family. While the book discusses the sad situation of many of the family members, their financial struggles, and their inability to afford health coverage, it was not clear to me whether any of the book’s profits would be benefiting the family. A commenter on my blog was kind enough to mention that the author had started a foundation in honor of Henrietta Lacks, and that made me realize that I should share some of the information I came across here as a follow-up to my review.
First of all, Rebecca Skloot has established the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, to benefit the family of Henrietta Lacks as well as others in need. Ms. Skloot is the president of the foundation’s board of directors, and contributes a portion of her royalties and speaking fees to the foundation as well.
There have also been additional developments in the scientific community in regard to the HeLa genome, the family’s privacy rights in regard to their genetic data, and the ongoing use of HeLa in research.
Some reading links:
Henrietta Lacks Foundation: http://henriettalacksfoundation.org/
New York Times article about the foundation: http://nyti.ms/1BOaypD
The Lacks Family website: http://www.lacksfamily.net/
(includes information on speaking engagements, pictures and videos, and a link for making donations)
Rebecca Skloot’s FAQ page: http://rebeccaskloot.com/faq/
(includes detailed answers to questions about HeLa research, new developments since the book’s publication, the impact on the story, her writing process, and more)
New York Times op-ed piece by Rebecca Skloot (“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the Sequel”): http://nyti.ms/17TSE93
There’s a lot more information out there and tons of articles that come up with a simple Google search for “Henrietta Lacks” or “HeLa”. I’m glad that I followed up and learned more, and I hope these links are helpful for those of you who are interested!
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Next, regarding The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult:
The Storyteller (review) is a work of fiction, but its depiction of Holocaust survivors and the narration of one particular survivor’s experiences seem all too real. The book raises a question about guilt and regret; whether evil acts can be outweighed — or at least, counterbalanced — by a life dedicated to helping others. In The Storyteller, a 95-year-old man confesses to a young friend that he was once an SS officer who oversaw the treatment of prisoners at Auschwitz. The friend seeks help from a prosecutor who works to hunt down Nazi war criminals and bring them to justice. In the book, the characters discuss the difficulty of bringing elderly suspects to trial, especially as there are fewer and fewer witnesses still living with each passing year.
I was reminded all over again of the relevance of the issues raised in The Storyteller when I saw an article in the newspaper this week about the trial just getting under way in Germany. The defendent is a 94-year-old man who was a guard at Auschwitz, and is being accused of being an accessory to the murders of 170,000 people.
You can read more about the trial here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/11/auschwitz-guard-trial-concentration-camp-germany-reinhold-hanning
It will be interesting to follow the course of the trial and see the outcome, particularly as there are several similar cases still pending in Germany. I was particularly struck by this fact included in the article: “Of 6,500 SS members who are known to have served at Auschwitz, only 29 were ever brought to trial in Germany. ”
If you haven’t had a chance to read The Storyteller yet, by all means do!
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A final note:
After two serious subjects, I thought I’d end with something completely unrelated and totally upbeat: By now, I’m sure everyone has heard, but just in case…
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is being released in book form! *happy dance*
This is NOT another Harry Potter novel, but rather the script from the London stage production. The book will be released on Harry’s birthday (July 31st, for the Muggles out there), and is available for preorder now!
Some news pieces about the book:
From the BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35539552
From EW — a clarification from J. K. Rowling about what the book is and isn’t: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/11/jk-rowling-cursed-child-book
And the Pottermore announcement: https://www.pottermore.com/news/ww-publishing-cursed-child-script-book-announcement
I’d still prefer a trip to the theater in London, of course — but since that’s not going to happen any time soon, I’m tickled pink about the book! Who else is counting the days until July 31st?
Greetings from Hogsmeade!
Earlier this month, I spent a wonderful week in Florida with my two kids. The highlight for us was – absolutely – enjoying the amazing Harry Potter attractions at Universal in Orlando. I thought y’all would appreciate seeing the photo highlights of our visit to Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, and Diagon Alley!
My wand. Yes, I have a wand. It chose me.
Being in Harry Potter heaven was sheer joy for the three of us… here’s a little taste:
(Click on any of the images to view as a slideshow)
Ice cream (yum!) at Florean Fortescue’s
Watch out! There’s a dragon on the loose!
A night stroll through Diagon Alley.
It’s always winter in Hogsmeade.
Gringott’s
Wizard in training
Entering Diagon Alley
The Knight Bus, complete with talking head
Welcome to Hogwarts!
Thursday Quotables: Greetings from Hogwarts!
Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!
NEW! Thursday Quotables is now using a Linky tool! Be sure to add your link if you have a Thursday Quotables post to share.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
(published 1997 )
Greetings from sunny Florida, where I’m spending a few days basking in the delights of Harry Potter at the Universal theme parks. With my kids, of course. I mean, I’m an adult and everything… you wouldn’t catch me squealing with delight over butterbeer and Honeydukes. No way.
How does it feel to see Hogwarts for the first time?
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.
“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec,” Hagrid called over his shoulder, “jus’ round this bend here.”
There was a loud “Oooooh!”
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
I’m sure I’ll have oodles of pics of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and Diagon Alley by the time I’m back home…
What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!
If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:
- Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
- Click on the linky button (look for the cute froggie face) below to add your link.
- After you link up, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week.
- Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Best/Worst Movies Adapted From Books
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week.
This week’s theme is Top Ten Best/Worst Movie Adaptations. Back in December, I did a top 10 list featuring the top 10 movie versions of classic books — so in the interest of not repeating myself, I am not including any of those movies here. After all, I am not Clueless, and I do have some Pride (and Prejudice). I wouldn’t want my blog readers to be Gone With The Wind due to my Vanity (Fair). (Click on the link above if you want to see all of my classic choices!)
Best:
1) Much Ado About Nothing: The new black-and-white film directed by Joss Whedon is modern, funny, snappy, and a pure delight.
2) The Hunger Games: I don’t know about you, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how great this movie turned out to be. Maybe it helped that I hadn’t read the book in a couple of years, so I couldn’t indulge in my usual post-movie nitpickiness. In any case, I thought The Hunger Games managed to pull off the very hard combination of being faithful to the tone and overall content of the book while still managing to be cinematic and a great piece of entertainment on its own merit.
3) Lord of the Rings trilogy: These movies are all just so, so beautiful and inspiring. Visually stunning, gorgeously acted, all put together so perfectly.
4) Coraline: I loved this animated adaptation of the Neil Gaiman book. The Other Mother was appropriately creepy, and watching the movie really felt like stepping inside the book.
5) Carrie: Sure, this is going back a ways, but there’s something so iconic about the shot of Sissy Spacek covered in blood. The movie captured the horror of Stephen King’s novel so effectively, and managed to be super-scary and surprising even for people who’d read the book.
Worst:
1) The Other Boleyn Girl: Does it count as a bad adaptation if the source material wasn’t great to begin with? I have a circular relationship with this movie and book. I saw a trailer for the movie, thought it looked good so I decided to read the book, wasn’t crazy about the book, and then found the movie disappointing as well. Eric Bana was so miscast as Henry, and Natalie Portman just wasn’t Anne Boleyn. Plus, the plot of the movie veered off in strange ways from the plot of the book, which already took a lot of liberties with the story. Just not good, all the way around.
2) The Hobbit: Sorry, Peter Jackson, but one wonderful book does not need to be three movies. The Hobbit movie was not boring to watch, just overstuffed. J. R. R. Tolkien wrote a terrific, compact piece of fiction. Other than making more money, why split it into a trilogy?
3) The Time Traveler’s Wife: Terrible casting, especially Eric Bana as Henry. (Hmm, maybe I just have a problem with Eric Bana playing characters named Henry?). The Time Traveler’s Wife is one of my very favorite books, but I found the movie bland and watered-down, without the book’s tragic arc and sense of doomed romance.
4) The Stepford Wives: Maybe it’s dated, but the book by Ira Levin was definitely a suspenseful thriller in its day. The 2004 movie version starring Nicole Kidman tried to be a comedy and failed miserably. Just painful to sit through.
Mixed bag:
The Harry Potter movies! Look, I’m a huge fan of the books, and I like — sometimes even love — the movies, but the books and the movies feel like totally different animals. The first two Harry Potter movies were not good works cinematically. They were so faithful to the books that they didn’t stand on their own as movies (if that makes sense), and had more of a juvenile sentiment to them than was necessary. I liked the Prisoner of Azkaban very much as a movie, if I overlooked the sometimes glaring departures from the book. Still, it had a sense of style that was its own, thanks to director Alfonso Cuarón, and was both fun and suspenseful to watch. In some ways, I consider Goblet of Fire to be the best movie. I loved the Triwizard competition set-pieces, including the dragon chases, the underwater scenes, and the hedge maze. Yes, there’s the problematic portrayal of Dumbledore in this one, which I know upset a lot of HP fans (myself included) — but as a movie, it was quite spectacular. The Half-Blood Prince movie didn’t feel quite right to me, perhaps because of the omitted background scenes and the changes to the climax which made the events make less sense on screen than they did in the book. And the Deathly Hallows movies? Amazing, in some ways — visually stunning, with some very satisfying emotional pay-offs (Snape!), and I loved the illustrations used for the tale of the three brothers… but also long and with some strange choices in terms of what was included and what was cut. Kudos to the Deathly Hallows movie, thought, for explaining the whole Elder Wand mumbo-jumbo much more concisely than the book ever did.
So what books-into-movies make your top 10 this week? Any you especially love or hate?
If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday. Happy reading!
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