Peter Di Cicco

It has already been one week since I finished the final book in the Harry Potter series (I blazed through Deathly Hallows in two days), and it has taken me about this long to come down from the emotional high.

To bring you up to date, I read back through Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the week leading up to Book 7’s release, literally finishing it on the day before. I then dutifully waited for my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to arrive, as I had ordered it rather than ventured to one of the many midnight release parties, which admittedly sounded like quite a bit of fun. Then, I spend all day Saturday and Sunday reading, more out of my inability to put the book down than anything else.

I will find some time later on to post my full (and spoiler riddled) thoughts on the book, but I wanted to note a few quick impressions first.

• I’m probably going to be saying, “Merlin’s pants!” a lot now.
• I want a T-shirt that says, “Mudblood and proud of it!”
• Luna may very well be my favorite character of the series, but I think Kreacher might have stolen the show in this one.
• Neville is pretty badass, too!
• Yes, I admit it, I teared up for one of the (many) deaths in this book. I won’t say which one yet, but I will say I was surprised both by the death and my reaction to it.
• How old can wizards live anyway?
• I do not envy the screenwriter who has to adapt this sprawling epic if they keep trying to make these movies shorter.
• Though one of the most satisfying ends to a series I can think of, with all the (unavoidable) references and influences via Tolkien, the least J.K. Rowling could do is give us a proper Appendix as well.

And while we are on the subject, I caught Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the IMAX over the weekend. It’s worth it just to see the entire wizard battle in 3-D. As much as I noticed they left out, I am incredibly impressed by how it was adapted. Also, after reading Deathly Hallows, go see it again or see it for the first time if you haven’t already. There are a few references to Book 7 that I’m still trying to figure out whether they were planted by Rowling (well, at least one I know has to have been) or whether they were just happy accidents. Still, there is at least one thing they cut that I am trying to figure out how they’ll get around how it plays into Deathly Hallows. Also, it might not be John Williams, but I love Nicholas Hooper’s score!

I’ll give it a little longer so as not to spoil it for everyone who has not yet finished. Then, I’ll tell you all how I really feel.

(including my thoughts on the longest book being adapted into the shortest movie)

Two days plus to go, and I’m cruising along on my goal to re-reading entire Harry Potter series. Went through Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix last week, and I am now about half-way through Half-Blood Prince, which puts me perfectly on track to finish Book 6 just in time to dig into Book 7.

So, how is the series shaping up on yet another reading? Quite well. I had not read Goblet since the movie came out, and I managed to get a little into Phoenix before I saw the movie, so it was a nice way to keep a fresh perspective. J.K. Rowling gets a bit of a bad rap for her verbosity in the series starting with Year 4, but I love it when she delves further into the world than purely for the sake of plot. After all, you could say the same thing about Tolkien, and the Quiddich World Cup is far more fun than Tom Bombadil and Old Man Willow (but don’t get me wrong; some of my favorite passages in The Lord of the Rings concern Tom Bombadil).

So, if Prisoner of Azkaban is the early high water mark for me in the series, it’s too easy to say Goblet is even better. It is almost twice as long, so it has a distinct advantage in being able to deepen the characterization that I so love. So, where does that leave Phoenix, the longest of the books? That is up there as well, in no small part because of how seriously the situation worsens for Harry and company, whereas Goblet was still the ol’ fun and games until the climax when someone truly got hurt. Also, as whiny and, well, hormonal Harry is throughout his 5th year at Hogwarts, I’d have to say, that’s correct. That’s how 15-old-boys are! And that’s without having to fight of Dementors, do detention with an Orwellian school principal, and keep the Dark Lord Who Must Not Be Named from invading their minds.

Finally, that brings us to the movie. As I said before, Prisoner of Azkaban is the early high water mark for me with the books, and incidentally it is as well for the movies not the least because of Alfonso Cuaron’s visual inventiveness. So, needless to say, I have been anxiously waiting the filmed version of Order of the Phoenix because I hold the book in such high regard as well. I won’t bother with a full review (after all, that’s what Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes are for), but I will say that the movie is up there as well. It will take at least one more viewing to decide, but it may be my favorite. With a running time of 138 minutes, the shortest of the series (and downright miniscule compared to the 161 minutes of Chamber of Secrets) I was worried that the longest of the books would suffer.

Yes, they did cut out many of my favorite passages (”Weasley is Our King!”), and I could do a treatise on the adaptation, but on the whole I can’t really complain. Screenwriter Michael Goldenberg certainly had an embarrassment of riches to adapt from. And having never heard of director David Yates before this movie (he has apparently done some fine work for the BBC), after seeing his work here, including that incredible wizard battle in the climax, I greatly look forward to his work on Half-Blood Prince.

Yes, we have come a long way since the days of Chris Columbus. (Ah, so many puns, so little time.)

Song of the Week:
“Carnival of the Animals: Aquarium” by Saint-Saëns

P.S. I’m not up on the Harry Potter message boards, but what are the Vegas odds on Harry having to Apparate to Mustafar for the final battle with Voldemort and to throw the Horcruxes into Mount Doom while Hippogriffs fight the Dementors over Hogwarts?

This week… The Half-Blood Prince
Next week… The Deathly Hallows

With the much anticipated release of the 7th and final Harry Potter book looming on the horizon, I have finally taken up the task I have indented pretty much all year–to re-read the entire series again before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released on July 21st. Ambitious, yes, but after plowing through Script Frenzy, I have decided it can be done.

I started off immediately after my success with Script Frenzy (because I had the time) and got through my copy of the British edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (that’s Sorcerer’s Stone to us Yanks) in two days. Not a record considering that my first experience with The Boy Who Lived ended up with me blazing through Sorcerer’s Stone in about four hours back in early 2000. Ah, such innocent times they were, before the movies, when I had only an inkling of the hype, and before I even knew how wrapped up in these characters I would be.

I got through Chamber of Secrets easily last week, and this week I have more carefully been going through Prisoner of Azkaban, which I have nearly finished and have decided may be my favorite of the books. It is certainly my favorite of the first three before J.K. Rowling got more verbose. Not that there is anything necessarily wrong with verbosity, but I’ll get into that more as I get to Goblet of Fire. But Azkaban was the book where Rowling got serious, deepened the mythology and really propelled the series into what it has become rather than the simplicity of giving Harry just another adventure each year.

I will check in further as I get through the series, which will hopefully culminate in my finishing Half-Blood Prince by July 20th so I can batten down the hatches and spend the weekend absorbing Deathly Hallows. By the way, in case I haven’t plugged this enough, go sign up at GoodReads, which is an awesome online community for people that love books.

Let the reading begin!

Song of the Week:
“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams