Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Boy Wizard

I promise, no spoilers here, but I just wanted to comment on my feelings about the end of the Harry Potter era. I was extremely disappointed when the sixth book came out to accidentally see spoilers on the Internet before I had read the book myself so I wont be letting any plot details slip.

To sum it up I felt very satisfied with book seven. There were moments in the book that were a little lost, and there were moments that were quite rushed, but overall I was really happy to see things finished up the way they were.

There were certainly moments of shock too. A number of small details I let slip to my son before he started reading, because I was concerned at the speed in which they happened in the book, with no chance for him to prepare himself. And yes I know in real life that is the way it happens, if someone dies or is involved in an horrific accident it usually comes out of the blue, but as an adult I have had experience with dealing with that type of thing. My son, at age 11 never has. He has already put the book down on a few occasions, to escape the emotion, and regroup before continuing.

I am one of those people who get very involved in the books they are reading, and the films, or TV shows they watch. Once I picked up the book on Monday, I was a goner, I had to keep on reading to the end, I even cancelled my yoga class (not something I do lightly) because I needed to keep reading. Harry has been a part of my life for a long time now, to me he almost felt real, so I can imagine how it is for younger readers. I am now waiting for my son to finish reading so that I can go through it again at leisure, and really immerse myself in the book, the first reading for me was rather frenzied and I am sure there was lots of detail that I missed.

Has anyone else read it?

If anyone wants to have a discussion on it feel free to leave me a comment, that way we can get into detail if we want, and anyone who hasn't read it can simply steer clear of the comments and not have the suspense spoiled.

I am a little sad now that the series has ended, but the true beauty of books is that the stories are always there, just waiting between the pages :-)

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Paul Potts, the story continues

As Crankybeereminded me, there was more to the story of Paul Potts who I posted about previously. Most of you have probably heard, he won the competition, but I thought I would just add the clips of his semi final and final performances if anyone is interested. This whole story just touches me deeply.

The first one is the Semi finals, the second the finals, enjoy.