I finished it!

Only two days behind mrsdiscopop, I have just got to the end of the seventh – and final – Harry Potter book… Hence the lack of updates around here (ahem).

I know a lot of people who’ve given up on the Harry Potter series along the way, and frankly I don’t blame them. The last couple of books have been bloated, angsty and turgid – desperately in need of some good editing and, well, a bit more plot.

But Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows blows all of the other books out of the water. It is gripping, dramatic and bursting with action. Fans who have paid close attention to the first six novels will find it particularly rewarding as, by the end, you really come to appreciate how intricately JK Rowling has woven the plot for her septology of sorcery. And don’t forget that she wrote the final chapter years ago – before she even started work on some of the later books.

If you’re going to read it, try to avoid the plot spoilers before you pick up a copy. I had to go to great efforts to ignore all the fuckwits who emailed the BBC with “details” of what happened, and it really does make a difference to approach the novel with fresh eyes. Although I can confirm what John Oliver said on the Daily Show last week: Harry is decapitated by Ron, who turns out to be Voldemort’s robot son.

I jest, of course… and with a hearty “fuck you” to the sort of people who think revealing the closely-guarded plot will raise them any higher than the lowest rung on the ladder of playground notoriety.

The following cartoon made me do a chuckle, though:

[vialinkmachinego]

I finished it!

Only two days behind mrsdiscopop, I have just got to the end of the seventh – and final – Harry Potter book… Hence the lack of updates around here (ahem).

I know a lot of people who’ve given up on the Harry Potter series along the way, and frankly I don’t blame them. The last couple of books have been bloated, angsty and turgid – desperately in need of some good editing and, well, a bit more plot.

But Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows blows all of the other books out of the water. It is gripping, dramatic and bursting with action. Fans who have paid close attention to the first six novels will find it particularly rewarding as, by the end, you really come to appreciate how intricately JK Rowling has woven the plot for her septology of sorcery. And don’t forget that she wrote the final chapter years ago – before she even started work on some of the later books.

If you’re going to read it, try to avoid the plot spoilers before you pick up a copy. I had to go to great efforts to ignore all the fuckwits who emailed the BBC with “details” of what happened, and it really does make a difference to approach the novel with fresh eyes. Although I can confirm what John Oliver said on the Daily Show last week: Harry is decapitated by Ron, who turns out to be Voldemort’s robot son.

I jest, of course… and with a hearty “fuck you” to the sort of people who think revealing the closely-guarded plot will raise them any higher than the lowest rung on the ladder of playground notoriety.

The following cartoon made me do a chuckle, though:

[vialinkmachinego]

I started something I couldn’t finish

Who’d have thought that Morrissey and Victoria Beckham would share a taste in books? Even though what that boils down to is a mutual aversion to reading.

Posh admitted to a Spanish journalist last year, “I haven’t read a book in my life.” And in an interview with True to You this week, Moz claimed, “I don’t read fiction. What’s the point? The basic details of my own life are stranger than anything I ever come across in modern fiction.”

Mind you, if Morrissey’s having trouble finishing books, he’s got no-one to blame but himself. “With any book, I start at the final chapter and work my way to the first,” he says. “This is probably a sickness.”

It might not be a bona-fide illness (unless being deliberately perverse is some kind of neurological affliction) but it’s certainly not going to help you follow the plot, is it?

In the end, though, you’ve got to admire a man who believes his own life story is stranger than the contents of an entire novel read in reverse order. Especially if that novel is Sophie’s World.

True to you

Deep thought

That last post was a bit Heat Magazine, so here’s some food for thought.

Geoff Ryman, author of the internet novel 253 (read it here), which tells the story of each of the passengers on a packed Bakerloo line train, has written a tribute to the victims of the London bombs. It’s incredibly simple, but surprisingly moving.

Is your electricity really green? This article in the ecologist points out that very few companies are actually doing anything to promote alternative fuels, even when they charge you extra for doing just that.

And finally, an interesting riposte to yesterday’s article about movie audiences getting dumber: The New Yorker says that blockbusters are losing out to small-budget movies in the DVD market.

Twisted Mind

Roald Dahl wrote his children’s books in a “tiny cottage” at the end of his garden. It had “walls lined with Styrofoam” and “a jar containing gristly bits of his own spine”. No wonder the six-foot-tall author came up with such twisted stories.

THE CANDY MAN: Why children love Roald Dahl’s stories… and many adults don’t.

Good intentions

Do you, like me, have a pile of ten books you are definitely going to read, as soon as you get the time? If so, you’re in good company – Nick Hornby has devoted a new book to the topic.

I probably won’t get round to reading it, but here’s a review.

Boston.com: Hornby’s love of reading, flair for writing