Books Seven and Eight

Book Seven: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Pages: 652
Finished: January 13

I made myself a promise that I would list every book that I read, regardless of how embarrassing it is or if I have already read the book once, or twice, or twelve times. Books seven and eight are like that, because I have read these books at least 4 times each, but couldn't stop myself from reading Half-Blood Prince again after getting the movie for Christmas. I hate watching a movie after you read a book just long enough ago that you don't really remember all the details of what differs and makes the book so much better than any movie ever.
I'm not going to lie; J.K. Rowling is a Genius. Yes, that's right, capital letter G. The way that the world that she created envelops the reader, and for a moment even a 25 year old can secretly wish that she was on the train to Hogwarts, is something that I can only hope to someday aspire to. I love this book. Specifically I love the end of this book, and I cry every time that I read it. The betrayal of Snape, the pain and suffering of Malfoy, and obviously the death of one of my favorite wizards is just heart rending.
Of course, the understanding and appreciation of this book is only magnified and made more tragic by the book that I cannot but help read as soon as I put down Half-Blood Prince:

Book Eight: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Pages: 759
Finished: January 15

Okay, I'm not going to lie about this: I love Severus Snape. I love him, with all his tragedy, and his snarky meanness, and I love the memories that he gives Harry at the end of Deathly Hallows. I can remember exactly where I was when I read that Snape killed Dumbledore and I still remember staying up all night after getting the Deathly Hallows to finish it before I had to go to work at 7 that morning. The funniest part was that there were six of us reading at various speeds that night and I was on a mission, and it was SO HARD to not say anything at all the different places where you can't help but gasp out loud. Yes, I am glad to see this book as two movies, because one would just make everything very vague or cut out half the action. I am also interested to see what happens since they have left out several side characters, and so I wonder what will be deemed important enough to make it in the movie. (No, I never really got over Remus not telling Harry about the Marauders) Although my favorite part will certainly be in the last movie, I am hard pressed to find another specific portion of the book that I love the most. Maybe when McGonnagal is particularly brilliant in the final defense of the castle, or when Mrs. Weasley gets back at Bellatrix ("Not my daughter you bitch!" is a great line), or maybe the redemption of Percy "I'm a prat" Weasley. It definitely isn't the epilogue, which only created more questions while giving answers to the questions I didn't have. Seriously, it was the only part of the book that I didn't like.
It will be interesting to see if any book ever makes as big of a stir in the world as these books did, and no, I don't think that Twilight counts because it isn't good literature.
I will never be ashamed of loving these books. Even the ones where Harry is an insufferable teenager, because damn if she didn't get exactly what teenagers are like: insufferable.

Good Reading,
Caitlin