Summer at Hogwarts - Anamagi

We are now a little over 2 weeks into the Hogwarts Summer term and that means it's time for your 4th quiz. As you should be getting near to the end of Prisoner of Azkaban todays topic deals with Anamagi, as well as the Patronus Charm.

Quiz 5: If you were an Animagus what animal would you turn into? In the same vain what would your Patronus be? I don't believe I've read anything stating that they must be the same, so if you have any opinions on this topic as well, feel free to answer for extra credit!

I've been putting a lot of thought into this lately and can't seem to come up with a definitive answer. I think I would either be an Owl or a Rabbit. What I think is interesting about being an Anamagi is that it reflects your true self in a different way than being sorted into a house would, like how Sirius becomes a loyal dog and Pettergrew a rat. In that rain I think I'd be an Owl, Solitary but caring but on the other hand I could be a playful rabbit, hopping around being adorable.  

I hope you all aren't as indecisive as I am! Enjoy the rest of PoA and I'll see you tomorrow for a warp up post!

Summer at Hogwarts - Registration

Hello fellow students! By now you've at least read part of one of the Harry Potter books and are preferably over 70 pages into Prisoner of Azkaban. Today we will be taking a break from our quizzes to pick our classes for next term.

If you're new to Loving books or over from the Hop feel free to participate in this and all other Summer at Hogwarts quizzes.

The Question: What class would you most like to take at Hogwarts? Are you crazy for Charms or dreaming of Divination?

Hogwarts offers a an abundance of courses for it's fictional students. I think I'd be most interested Charms. It seems like the right balance of usefulness and whimsy for me. On the reverse I don't think I'd be very interested in Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures, and I'd probably be ok at Potions but not really like it as a class.

Hop and Shop

It's Friday (or will be in a few hours) and that means another Hop! Thanks to all who have stoped by from Crazy-For-Books weekly Blog Hop. It's been a not so eventful week, I've been running my Summer for Hogwarts read-a-long and started a new job. I'm hoping to get a few more reviews and non Potter related posts up this week, including this one.

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I haven't really been buying books lately. ARC copies show up frequently enough and I still have a ton of books from Christmas but one of the other book communities I follow is starting a new book club. I used this as an excuse to head over to Costco to grab a copy of Norwegian Wood. Of course I had overestimated Costco's stock, but did end up with two other books.
To make a long story short I got 4 books this week. 2 from Costco, 1 from Barnes and Noble and one is an ARC from Goodreads

I'm really excited for all of these. I've been on an Italy kick lately. Not Italian fiction but American fiction set in Italy so The City of Falling Angels and The Blind Contessa should fit right into that, and I've heard nothing but good things about Murakami. I'll hopefully be starting both Norwegian Wood and Contessa shortly, as well as keeping up with my Harry Potter summer project and maybe even finish Lolita. Stay tuned for crazy cool Harry Potter questions, reviews and a possible give-a-way in the not to distant future!

Summer at Hogwarts - Chamber of Secrets

Hello everyone! We're now 10 days into the term and that puts us at the end of another book - Chamber of Secrets.  Hopfully a few people have keept up with the reading and have now officaly opened the chamber, defeated the basilisk and are now starting your third year shadowing Mr. Potter at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Sticking with my No Reviewing Books We've All Read and Enjoyed policy I'll now dive into things I noticed, liked and didn't like about Chamber of Secrets.

For starters I'll mention that this was my tied for my favorite book in the series for quiet some time and it still holds a special place in my heart, but on this read it did not live up to my memories. I think the biggest issue i noticed on this read was the pacing. I thought it was just a little off and sometimes had a hard time following how much time had passed. Not that this is really that important in the grand scheme of things, especially knowing the story so well but it still kind of irked me.  

What really struck me was how little I thought about this book, it was just a quick read but in the whole of the series it does little in moving the plot along, much like in Sorcerers Stone. There is obviously a lot of useful information here, even if it wasn't apparent the first few reads before HBP and DH came out. However this is the start of my love/hate relationship with House Elves, especially Dobby. He is so annoyingly hilarious and every time he appears on a page i both want to close the book and laugh. 

My favorite thing of Chamber of Secrets is the the overwhelming mystery that passes through it. What is the Chamber? Where is it? What's in it? Who's opening it? Why is Harry a Parseltongue? Of course all of these things are answered by the end of the book, but these questions are really the only intriguing part of the book for me and probably the only reason I finished it instead of skipping ahead.

What are your thoughts on Chamber of Secrets?

The Prisoner of Azkaban recap will be more in depth, and will have more compelling quiz entry's along the way. 

Summer at Hogwarts - Words vs Images

Hello fellow readers! Hope you've been enjoying (and if possible keeping up with) Chamber of Secrets. I'm here with your third quiz of the Summer Term.

Book or Movie?
Which do you prefer? Did they live up to your expectations? If you can be specific, we all have our pet peeves and this is a chance to rant about them!


 I know some people love the books and movies equally, other who have refused to any of films because they stray to far from the book. I'm not a huge fan of the movies, though I did see Half Book Prince at a midnight showing. I find the movies themselves lack the substance that make the books so enchanting. My biggest issue with the movies is that there will be two movies for Deathly Hallows. Don't get me wrong, I'll take as much Potter as I can get but if they wanted to extend the very lucrative film series why just do it for the last chapter? Starting with Goblet of Fire they could have made longer films or split them into two parts like they will be doing with Deathly Hallows.

Other than the lack of detail I really don't have a problem with the films, I think they're beautifully cast and (usually) visually stunning. Though nothing will ever touch what the books created.

Summer at Hogwarts - Sorcerers Stone

Hello fellow Muggles! We're now five days into our class syllabus and that puts us at the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers (Philosopher's) Stone. I hope at least a few of you have burred your noses in the first chapter of Harry's life.

Now instead of reviewing a book I obviously enjoy and have read previously I want to talk about what I discovered on this read.

Like most people I've talked Harry Potter with I was never really a fan of the first few chapters. I always through they were slow, without much information and generally the reason why I start most of my Harry Marathons sometime after the first book. This time through I was surprised that I enjoyed the first three chapters. I enjoyed the contrast between the everyday Muggle world and the Wizarding world and enjoyed seeing Harry's struggle in a world he doesn't belong.

The other thing that I hadn't really noticed before was this overwhelming theme (i'm not sure if theme is really the right word here, but oh well)  of everything being new. Harry's first year at Hogwarts is full of firsts, friends, Quidditch, magic and respectable role models. Through the book Harry is commenting on new this community is to him. What really brought this full circle for me was at the the end of the gangs first stay at Hogwarts where Harry is thinking that he will  never forget the day that he won the House cup-

It was the best evening of Harry's life, better than winning at Quidditch or Christmas or knocing out mountain trolls...he would never, ever forget tonight.

I guess what really made this stand out for me is that, in the course of the whole series these events are pretty trivial, but for Harry as a character they are the foundation of his new life. These are the first things that really bring him happiness and thrust him into his new life, and us into his story.

Now I'd like to hear from you, even if you haven't been reading along:
-What stood out for you on this read that you never noticed before?
-Is there anything you would have changed in Sorcerers Stone? (what would you have liked to see more/less of, earlier introductions of characters or plot devices, anything!)
-Would you have been able to get the stone out of the mirror?
and a slightly more personal question, bust since the mirror of erised doesn't appear again in a significant way
-What would you see in the Mirror of Erised?

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and jump right into Chamber of Secrets!

Summer at Hogwarts - Whats your house?

Now that Summer at Hogwarts has officially started I hope some of you have dived into Sorcerers Stone. Of course one of the important points in the first third of the book is that of being sorted into houses. I always thought the idea of sorting people based on personality traits interesting, mostly because it would never work in the real world, but it is done so charmingly in this book.


This brings me to my next Summer Quiz: Where would the sorting hat put you? Not where you would put yourself or where other people think you should go at first glance, but if you were to really look at yourself where would you go?

In case you're wondering, here's the passage from the Sorting Hat song that talks about the houses.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends. 


So what are you- lion,  serpent, badger or eagle?



When I was an annoying preteen first reading the books I really wanted to make myself a Slytherin because it seemed so cool to be bad. It would be like being the femme fatale in a Noir film. Of course i'm not very confident or cunning and would, in reality (or the suspended reality we're existing in here) other Slytherin's would just eat me up and spit me out. No, in reality I'm meant for Ravenclaw where I can safely learn from books and always have a few extra facts to impress while watching Jeopardy. 


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