4th October, 2008

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

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To Harry Potter fans out there: Were you sad when you finished Book 7? Felt gloomy because there won’t be any more new adventures by Harry, Ron, and Hermione to follow? Yeah, that’s what I felt. I felt sad when I read the last page of this book. I have to accept that Harry’s adventures are over! Well, if I need to relive his adventures, I could just read the books over and over again.

It’s supposed to be Harry’s 7th year of schooling at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry but Harry has more important things to do than go back to school. Albus Dumbledore had left Harry with an important job and that is to destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Voldemort found a way to “divide” his soul so nobody can finish him off that easily. He then kept parts of his soul in various objects and these objects are called Horcruxes. Only Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore know about them.

Nevertheless, it’s not an easy job for Harry to do. Since Voldemort’s gaining power and spreading his influence to as many places and people as possible, Harry, Ron and Hermione are forced to carry out their mission in secret. Also, Dumbledore did not leave much information to help Harry make faster progress. But then, in his will, Dumbledore did leave a Snitch and the Gryffindor sword to Harry, a Deluminator to Ron and a copy of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” to Hermione. They’re puzzled as to why Dumbledore left them seemingly-useless things but somehow, they know that these items would eventually help them destroy Voldemort.

As they try to find the remaining undestroyed Horcruxes, Harry, Ron and Hermione become more and more frustrated. Harry also begins to lose faith and trust in Dumbledore who was almost like a father to him. He also learns more about Dumbledore’s shadowy past which doesn’t improve matters at all.

Anyway, like the previous six books, this one is just as exciting and gripping. I read to see how Ron and Hermione are getting along, what will happen between Harry and Ginny, the extremely mysterious Severus Snape and more! What are the Horcruxes that Voldemort managed to make and how will Harry find them? Was Albus Dumbledore good or bad? Was he actually helping Harry to succeed or helping Harry to die? These questions were being played frequently on my mind while reading this page-turner of a book.

You can expect lots of twists and turns, just like before. Lots of pleasant surprises too! I’m amazed at how Rowling managed to connect the many events together so that they make sense and that not many loopholes occurred.

I also felt sympathetic towards Snape. In fact, I thought that he was the most unfortunate character in the book and that’s why I really felt sorry for him. You’ll have to read it to know why.

Sigh….I can’t believe it’s the end of the Harry Potter series! I’m pretty sure other Potter fans can’t believe it too. I felt close to the characters ever since I started reading the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I’ve read so many times about Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, the Weasley family, Dumbledore, the other professors and became so familiar with them that they’re almost like friends (even Draco Malfoy!)! Do you feel the same way? Do you cheer when your favourite character triumphs? Or do you feel devastated when some characters are killed off? I’ve read somewhere before that Rowling shed tears when she was killing off some of the characters! Well, it’s already hard to read about them dying let alone writing about it.

So, what are your thoughts on this book? I’d love to hear all about it!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: gautami tripathy, nymeth, tanabata, Tuesday

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Posted in Authors R, Fantasy, Titles H at 11:36 pm | Comments (12)



1st October, 2008

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Finally I read the sixth book in the Harry Potter series. One more to go! I read Book 5 way back in 2004…wow, that’s like four years ago. I thought I had grown out of Harry and all his exciting adventures with his Hogwarts gang but no, I was so wrong. I was instantly hooked to the story right from page one until the very last page. Rowling certainly is a talented writer and knows how to pull her readers into the story. No wonder she’s one of the most successful children’s author in the world!

So, it’s Harry Potter’s sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and times are more exciting than ever. Voldemort, the evil enemy of all things good, is at large and his followers are trying their best to help him regain complete power of the wizarding world. Voldemort’s crew call themselves the Death Eaters.

As usual, Harry is always given special treatment and more attention than the other students. This time, he has to endure being called the Chosen One by the others due to some prophecy that he’ll be the one to finish off Voldemort for once and for all. Also, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, is giving Harry extra lessons during the weekends, supposedly to help Harry understand his enemy, Voldemort.

All the same, what’s going on with Harry’s best friends, Ron and Hermione? Hermione, as usual is the one who’s obsessed with studying and being the only one enthusiastically answering teachers’ questions in class. Ron, on the other hand, is still jealous of Harry at times. But this time around, he’s a prefect and playing Keeper in Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. Therefore, his self-esteem isn’t really low nowadays. Harry’s the Quidditch Captain, by the way.

There’s some romantic tension between Ron and Hermione but neither one would admit that they like each other. I was quite annoyed when Ron started going out with Lavender Brown instead of going out straight with Hermione. I wonder if other people thought the same thing too, that Ron should be with Hermione. Anyone else who thinks otherwise? And speaking of love, Harry secretly likes Ron’s younger sister, Ginny, but she’s already in a relationship with Dean Martin, one of Harry’s friends. See, I told you times were exciting.

We are also introduced to a new professor, Horace Slughorn, who’s also the new Potions teacher. The previous Potions teacher, Professor Snape finally got his dream job, which is teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. Slughorn plays favouritism rather openly, showing interest in students who are connected to famous people or students who are just smart and different from the others. Harry is definitely one of them.

Throughout the book, we are also suspicious about Snape’s loyalty. Harry insists that he’s on Voldemort’s side but Dumbledore is adamant that Snape’s on their side. Harry frequently wears his Invisibility Cloak when he’s spying on the enemy and discovers some very interesting facts.

I was also guessing who the half-blood prince could be. Harry’s been using an old Potions textbook which belonged to The Half-Blood Prince. The Prince seems smart and made a lot of useful notes in the book. Thanks to the book, Harry’s doing really well in Potions class, a subject he has always been weak at.

All right, this has been a pretty long post for a book which I think most of you have already read. Now I’m off to read Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: nymeth

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Posted in Authors R, Fantasy, Titles H at 2:21 pm | Comments (6)



27th September, 2007

Holes by Louis Sachar

Stanley Yelnats has always been unlucky in life, that is, he’s always been in the wrong place at the wrong time. In fact, many Yelnats have had the same fate like him. It’s as though they’ve been cursed, which might just be true.

There are some flashback parts in this book that will explain why some things happen now. In one flashback, there’s the story of Stanley’s great-great-grandfather, Elya Yelnats who broke his promise to a Madam Zeroni, a gypsy, as she gave him advice on what he could do so that he can win the beautiful Myra’s hand in marriage.

Then, there’s the famous outlaw, Kissin’ Kate Barlow who kisses the men she killed. Hey, her history in this book is really interesting! She couldn’t be with the guy she loved and somehow ended up being on the most wanted list.

Anyway, back to the present. Stanley was caught for stealing a pair of sneakers belonging to a famous baseball player, Clyde “Sweet Feet” Livingston. He claimed that the shoes fell from the sky but of course, no one believed him. He was then sent to Camp Green Lake where there’s no lake and nothing was green.

At the camp, all the boys there were supposed to dig a hole a day. If they found anything interesting, they were to show it to the counselors there. It seems that digging holes everyday will build up the boys’ characters who were sent there because they did something wrong in the first place.

Stanley meets his campmates and soon gains their respect. They call him ‘Caveman’. The other boys have weird nicknames too like Zigzag, Armpit, Magnet, X-Ray, Squid, and Zero. Zero is the quietest and also the fastest hole-digger. Later on, Stanley and Zero become friends and they strike a deal with each other.

It’s quite an interesting book and like most books I like, easy to read. The perfect book to read when you’re feeling sick or down. I read this a few days ago when I was down with the flu. It helped to pass the time well.

In short, it’s a downright entertaining book with moral values, too, that is try not to break the promises that you made or you’ll suffer the consequences like Elya Yelnats! Furthermore, you will chuckle each time Mr. Sir says, ‘This isn’t a Girl Scout Camp.’ And oh yeah, there’s the 2003 Disney movie, ‘Holes’, which is based on this book. The movie is just as entertaining, too. Enjoy!

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Valentina, Dewey

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Posted in Authors S, Titles H, Young Adult Fiction at 2:31 am | Comments (9)



12th May, 2007

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

I’ve had many people telling me what a funny book this is but I’m afraid that I don’t find it that funny. Still, it was entertaining to read about the vain and dandy Wizard Howl who supposedly consumes the hearts of young girls!

Anyway, the story starts with Sophie Hatter. She has two younger sisters, Lettie and Martha. Her parents owned a ladies’ hat shop in Market Chipping. Her mother died when she was only two years old and her father married one of his shop assistants, Fanny, who then gave birth to Martha. So, Martha is considered Sophie and Lettie’s half sister. Well, the sisters do get along well with one another.

When Mr. Hatter died one day, the shop is left in Fanny’s hands. With not much money to spare for Lettie and Martha’s schooling, she sent Lettie to Cesari’s, the pastry cook, to be an apprentice and Martha to Annabel Fairfax, a witch, as an apprentice, too. Sophie is left to help out at the hat shop.

Sophie did not realize that she could talk things to life. Because of her, the hats in the hat shop have been selling like hot cakes. She gave character to the hats that she talked to while trimming them. One fine day, the evil Witch of the Waste paid a visit to the hat shop and without warning, turned Sophie into an old, old lady. It’s obvious that the witch does not approve of Sophie’s magic.

However, Sophie is calm and cool about it. She doesn’t mind being an old lady. Hence, she set off and somehow arrived at Wizard Howl’s castle. Since she’s an old lady now, she’s not worried that the wizard might eat her heart. She then became the wizard’s cleaning lady.

While she was there, she got to know Howl’s young apprentice, Michael and even made a deal with Calcifer, the fire demon. She promised to break Calcifer’s contract with Howl and in return, Calcifer would turn her back into a young girl again.

Diana Wynne Jones is a very descriptive writer and it’s clear in her books. Almost everything is described thoroughly and well and you get a clearer picture of things. She makes Howl a self-centred wizard but quite a kind-hearted one, too since he allows old Sophie to stay in his castle. I really like the ending, though! And yeah, don’t worry, there are indeed some funny parts that would make you chuckle.

Howl’s Moving Castle is now an animated movie from the director of Spirited Away. It would be nice to watch it to enjoy the story even more!

Buy Howl’s Moving Castle

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Posted in Authors J, Fantasy, Humour, Titles H, Young Adult Fiction at 1:44 pm | Comments (4)



14th February, 2007

Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones

Finally, I finished reading Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones! Honestly, it was a difficult book to read, as it was utterly complicated. Even after I’ve finished the book, I still don’t understand some parts and I think I’ll have to read 4 or 5 more times to fully comprehend the whole story. I don’t think I can bear to read it again anyway. I’m considering selling the book off on eBay!

The story starts with a letter from Hexwood Farm to the Sector Controller Borasus, complaining about an ancient machine called the Bannus, which had been intentionally activated one of the clerks.

Then, there are 5 Reigners who control everything in the universe. Well, the present 5 Reigners are bad ones because they had cheated the Bannus many years ago. The Bannus’ job is to pick up 5 Reigners, each from different Houses, every 10 years, if I’m not mistaken.

One day, Ann, a 12-year-old girl who lives near Hexwood farm wanders into the wood. In the wood, in a weird and bizarre incident, she meets Mordion, the Reigners’ Servant. A Reigner Servant is responsible for killing people on the Reigners’ orders. However, Mordion hates the Reigners very much and wished to take revenge on them.

He creates Hume out of his and Ann’s blood. Mordion plans to train Hume so that Hume can finish off the Reigners for him. But later on, he realized how cruel it was to train Hume to do such a thing and did not want Hume to do the dirty job for him anymore.

There are more characters and even more complex events after that. This is the first book that I don’t particularly like from Diana Wynne Jones. I hope her other books would not be like this, too! I like this book’s cover though.

Buy Hexwood

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Posted in Authors J, Fantasy, Titles H at 8:00 am | Comments (4)



13th January, 2007

Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

I really like this book especially the ending, which was very touching. Harriet M. Welsch thinks she is a spy and she acts like one too. It’s quite funny the way she peeps into people’s houses to see what they are doing and what is going on. She is 11 years old and keeps a notebook. It is like a diary to her. She writes notes in her notebook frequently and feels utterly lost without her precious notebook.

She has a nurse and she is affectionately known as Ole Golly. Harriet is very close to her and she will give Harriet useful advice. Usually quotes from poems. Only Ole Golly understands Harriet’s need to always write in her notebook.

Harriet has 2 best friends, Sport and Janie. Sport likes to cook (he has to cook anyway because his father is a writer and he’s in charge of the cooking) while Janie dreams of being a scientist. Her main goal is to create a chemical that will blow up the whole world. Yeah, really eccentric.

One day, Harriet accidentally lost her notebook. Unfortunately, the notebook fell into the hands of her classmates. She wrote some nasty things about them and they sure did not like it. They grouped together and went against Harriet. They refuse to talk or acknowledge her or be her friend. She became even lonelier when Ole Golly resigned from her job as her nurse. The term nurse here is not your hospital nurse. A nurse is something like a nanny or governess.

Then, Harriet’s parents thought she has some psychology problem and sent her to see a shrink. Well, things soon got better after that. This is a thoughtful book and is a great read for everyone.

Other Bloggers’ Reviews: Grace

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Posted in Authors F, Modern Classics, Titles H at 9:02 am | Comments (2)



5th January, 2007

How To Walk in High Heels - The Girl’s Guide to Everything by Camilla Morton

A really catchy title, don’t you think? This was my Christmas present by my sister who is always trying to make me behave more like a lady. Sometimes I listen to her advice and sometimes I try to defend myself. =) Anyways, this book is helpful in a way, with lots of great tips and witty suggestions. It teaches you how to lead the life similar to a celebrity or a princess.

It even mentioned that a 5 cm heel is considered practically FLAT! Moreover, the higher and the thinner your heel is, the higher your status will be. So girls, better invest in a pair of really good and high high heels in order to receive more attention because duh! you will become really tall and easily noticed! It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

I liked one where the title is How to Change a Nappy. There are other eye-catching titles too. It even has tips for the low-tech girl. You can learn how to use a printer, how to ebay, know the different parts of a computer, which is the keyboard, the monitor and the mouse (it does not bite), and more.

In fact, almost everything a girl needs to know is in this book. Well, like I said, almost. So, don’t go expecting that everything can be found in this book.

How to Survive New Year’s Eve, How to swim in shades, How to sound like a politician, How to use a knife, spoon and fork, How to love champagne, How to find and delete viruses, How to make popcorn, How to change a light bulb, etc. And if you can’t do it, take a step back and let a man finish the job for you. No point getting your well manicured nails dirty or broken. That’s a popular tip in there.

Lastly, I guarantee you’ll learn a tip or two, which you may find useful one day. And to all the girls: enjoy being a girl! There’s nothing more you could ask for.

Buy HOW TO WALK IN HIGH HEELS: THE GIRL’S GUIDE TO EVERYTHING

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Posted in Authors M, Girls/Women, Humour, Nonfiction, Self-help, Titles H at 9:34 pm | Comments (2)


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