Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It's a little over 24 hours since I picked up the book at Borders yesterday at midnight. This was without a doubt the best read of my 30 years on this earth. I will write more later as I am just going to reread the book again at a slower pace. I also wish to not spoil the book for anyone.

Some of my favorite moments:
"Dawlish is still in St. Mungo's and Gran's on the run."
"You know, sometimes I think we Sort too soon..."
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"

Thanks Jo this was well worth the wait.

The Order of the Phoenix

I enjoy Order of the Phoenix a great deal more than most. Sure it has Angry Harry-but if I had to go through all that I'd be pissed too. My favorite parts:
1. Voldemort's possession of Harry and then vacating the premises when love is in the air. I can just see Volde jumping around saying "Ewww!....Love...Nasty!"
2. Umbridge getting hauled off by Centaurs.
3. Neville kicking ass.
4. Luna Lovegood.
5. The badges given out at the Ministry of Magic "Harry Potter-Rescue Mission."

The Deathly Hallows

So I've just discovered that there are major spoilerish happenings on the interwebs. People who ordered their copies of Deatly hallows from DeepDiscounts.com got their books already. (Lucky bastards.) Of course these idiots are now posting scans of the book on the internet. Again-bastards. So I think I am headed into official internet silence. After tomorrow's internet orders for the shows I'm designing, other than email checks and whatever blog posts I can manage, there will be no other internet viewings until after the book is finished.
More time to spend with the cats.
UPDATE: The following piece in the Times is causing an uproar, claiming it has spoilers galore. I don't think it does. It has hints and mentions a few things from previous books but it does not give details. I thought it was the perfect thing to read to quench any taste I might have had for a spoiler.
This piece from the NY Times is great. It is their carefully worded review of the book. Again who are these people that just go buy the book early? So unfair!

Goblet of Fire

I finished Goblet of Fire two days ago. It is my least favorite of the books but it does have some key points for the series at large.

1.No one stops being a Death Eater. Sirius mentions this to Harry when describing Karkaroff. It is indeed true as Karkaroff is killed later. Every other Death Eater has either died in the line of duty or on Volde's orders. Foreshadowing to Snape's Death? You betcha. Draco's death? Could be the reprieve, likely he'll be used alive to torment Narcissa and Lucius for a while at least.

2. Mad-Eye Moody fake out. One of the best fake-outs in the history of Literature. Absolutely Brilliant. It even works so well when you know the conceit and are re-reading and thinking about it from Barty Crouch Jr.'s point of view. Why is he so nice to Neville? He's sneaky and manipulative sure, he's trying to emulate Moody, and he wants Harry to figure out the Gillyweed thing. But Mad-Eye Barty is really kind to Neville. Residual guilt perhaps? He was stopped in his Death Eater tracks by a Dementor so I suppose we'll never know.

3. Snape's reveal of the Dark Mark. I think this tiny moment is HUGE and proof of Snape's true colors more on this at the Snape Theory.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

In the third installment of the Harry Potter series we really get the ball rolling. Major characters and plot points are introduced. This is my favorite of all the books so far. Mainly because we are introduced to the Marauders and their backstory. We also meet Trelawney and see how divination works in the Wizarding World. And let's not forget, Gryffindor finally wins the Quidditch Cup. The most brilliant part of the book is JKR's writing. She frequently set's us up and bowls us over with plot twist after plot twist.

HP&POA brings up several big questions that as of book 6 have not been answered:
Why is Neville so afraid of Snape? Sure Snape is very critical of Neville, but so is Neville's whole family. Neville is terrified of Snape. Does Neville know more of Snape's history than we think? I belive that's possible. Neville's Grandmother has told him all about his parents, Voldemort, and the Death Eaters. What has she told him about Sanpe? I hope we find out in Book 7.
When we are first made privy to the events of Halloween '81 by Sirius he mentions how he was to check on Wormtail that night. When he didn't find Wormtail, he went to check on Lily & James and found them dead. If Sirius was not the secret keeper, how would he know where to go? I hope we get a clear description of this night in Book 7, because I am so confused.
How did Peter Pettigrew get sorted into Gryffindor? And what made him adopt such Slytheriny ways? I think we will find Wormtail's redemption as a Gryffindor in Book 7.