Books: July 2005 Archives
It figures that by making Jeff read HP:THBP outloud during the drive back to the city last night, I've now gone and gotten myself hooked into the series. Admittedly, I didn't read HP 5 and really must have skimmed HP 4 more then actually read it because I don't remember much from it but in the first three chapters of the latest one, I kept asking Jeff for a recap (worthless since he couldn't seem to fill me in much) because I felt maddenly out of the loop about some of the characters. Now I'm committed to going back and rereading the fourth and fifth books to get caught up.
Just so it is plainly stated; this is par for the course with me. I'm ALWAYS a late-adopter of anything whether socially, emotionally, personally, or professionally.
No spoilers ahead.
Jeff managed to find the last copy of HP:THBP at Wal-Mart last night...in the returned items bin, which is just how his luck runs. Not being a crazed fan of HP like others (which there is nothing wrong with being a crazed HP fan), I simply applied my bibliophile detective powers and skimmed the second to last chapter which confirmed a major plot point. Then I skimmed the chapter index, found the chapter that included the "Half-blood Prince" and skimmed that one to find out who fits the bill.
Yes I did, yes I did. I'm just that bad of a person. Of course I'll read the whole thing but now I can enjoy it without Rowling's trickery and red-herrings. Of course the other benefit is now I can taunt Jeff, the bigger HP fan between the two of us, with, "I know who the HPB is," or "Guess who...,".
I sort of want to call up some crazed HP friends to do the same but I'm afraid I'd have a hit put on me.
I know I was all crazy over this book a while back and I'm glad, for the most part, that I found it and read it because if I hadn't, I think there would be this lingering doubt in my mind that I was missing THE read of the summer, but honestly, now that I'm done with it, I'm sort of like..."whatever". That's not exactly a resounding recommendation.
I mean, I didn't hate it and I did finish it so that says something. I think over all, it was just underwhelming. I was emailing Max about it today and mentioned that either I had skimmed over something or misinterpretted it because several of the big "reveals" in the plot I'd already assumed were known. I'd get to the reveal and be like, "huh? We didn't already know that?". I don't know what that exactly says but it doesn't really go in the "pro" column.
And the bit about it being longish and Dracula not appearing until well into it? Try page 595 out of a 637-page book. Seriously. I'm all for foreplay but my God.
Overall I liked the idea of the book. It has a good, fresh take on the historical significance of vampirism and the acedemic approach has a distinct feeling of Tartt's "Secret History". I think in the end, this will make a better movie then it does a book which is saying something.
I'm now onto two books of short stories. Owen Kings, "We're All In This Together" which so far is excellent. I was willing to give him a try because he's Stephen King's son, and I'm happy to say he takes teh best writing quality of his dad and makes it is own. It's familiar but still new in a way I like. So much in fact that I actaully emailed the publisher to find out if he's doing any book-signings. He apparently lives in Brooklyn so I hope that's good for at least one New York reading.
The other book is "Children Playing In Front Of a Statue of Hercules" which is edited by David Sedaris. He's chosen his favorite short stories and published a book to support 826NYC. There are some excellent shorts in it that I'm just starting to pick away at so I'm looking forward to be able to report back how excellent it is overall.
