Harry Potter Readalong - Chamber of Secrets Part I
It's 11:30pm US Central time as I'm writing this, so I've got 30 minutes to publish this entry before I end up feeling guilty about being late!
First - let me show you this printing FAIL I found at the bookstore:
Where's the Title?
Ah. There it is. Good old J.K's name too.
Come to think of it, the whole book is printed upside down! Or is it the cover that's off?
Back to the readalong - didn't like the first part of the book. Sure, in my eyes, J.K. Rowling can do no wrong, except write diabetes-inducing sickeningly sweet endings and create characters that I either Hate To Love or Love To Hate. Case in point: Dobby, Colin Creevey and Gilderoy Lockhart. Ughhhhhh I despise them.
Dobby and Colin mean well, but MAN they are so annoying. I love to hate them.
Gilderoy Lockhart (not just "Gilderoy", not just "Lockhart", you have to say both at all times) is a character I hate to love. Dude is just hilarious and delusional. His first class quiz killed me, and he loves lilac. 'nuff said.
MAJOR book fail! I wonder if it was a one off or if there are 10, 000 with off kilter printing!
ReplyDeleteI think I would have killed that first quiz, KILLED it.
Oh god, if you feel guilty for *almost* posting late, then I should be booted out of the group for posting 3 whole days late! Actually, no, please don't boot me out!
ReplyDeletePretty much everyone in this book is annoying me so far - and by everyone I mean Dobby, Malfoy, Gilderoy Lockhart and Moaning Myrtle. So. much. annoyance. Or I am just easily annoyed, ha!
That's a pretty awesome printing fail find! Did you buy it?!
Hahaha it's all good!! Yes, the first part is quite annoying, but I do love how it ends and how all the hints come together.
ReplyDeleteNo I did not buy the book, but I really wish I had, just so I could read it "upside down" and then turn the book around so I could show people that I'm not crazy!
Weiiiird misprint! Why would they even put that on the shelves?
ReplyDeleteColin & Lockhart are SO annoying. I love Dobby though :)
Onward to the better half of book 2!
True - I was surprised that the copy wormed its way onto the shelves. Swap "Lockhart" and "Dobby" in your previous sentence and I would totally agree with you... I've tried so hard to love Dobby, but I can't stand his self-afflicted punishments, overzealous attempts to sabotage Harry's school attendance, and OMG third-person speech. (sorry for bashing, I can't help this haaaaate)
ReplyDeleteLOCKHART IS THE GREATEST THE END!
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY. Lockhart > Colin + Dobby, which is why I put up with this hot mess.
ReplyDeleteWow congrats on that weird misprint find.
ReplyDeleteColin and Dobby are SO ANNOYING. The fact that Harry manages to be so nice to them is impressive.
Yeah, it was the weirdest misprint ever!
ReplyDeleteI am constantly impressed that Harry finds it in his heart to put up with Colin and Dobby. If anything, I only wish he also had it in his heart to be more assertive, but then I keep forgetting that he's 12 and social skills are still being learned at this point...
Printing mishaps are hilarious! Although sometimes they suck, like when the book is missing the last 20 pages. I once had a customer come in at the bookstore where I worked with that exact problem and she was soooo upset because she wanted to know the ending. That poor lady...
ReplyDeleteRe: "diabetes-inducing sickeningly sweet endings" -- this is very true, but I think the movies did the endings much worse than the book. The end of the second movie with the whole great hall applauding Hagrid is the most saccharine piece of horrible I've ever seen onscreen. (Especially since no one besides Harry/Ron/Hermione seem to even know/like Hagrid... But that's a different argument altogether.)
LOL @ "saccharine piece of horrible" - I'll have to keep that phrase in mind! Wow, I feel terrible for the lady who couldn't get her ending - that must be the worst, hands down.
ReplyDeleteThat printing fail is hilarious and one of the best I've seen (I used to work in a bookstore)! I really hope you bought it so that you can confuse people around you when you read in public. And yeah, this book is the worst, but Dobby is NOT.
ReplyDeleteYou worked in a bookstore! So jealous - that's one of those jobs I've always wanted to try my hand at but never got around to. I think I would have been useless though, because I would probably be caught sitting on a stool in the corner and trying to sneak in reading sessions.
ReplyDeleteI want that book so bad! It belongs on the Island of Misfit Toys.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the fence about Colin. Mostly I feel bad for him. I just want to take him aside and tell him to chill out a bit because he's embarrassing himself.
HAHAHA I should have gotten that book so I could mail it to you!
ReplyDeleteI was trying to identify my feelings for Colin - it wasn't exactly hate, but it's embarrassment on his behalf for sure. Seriously. Kid needs to chill.
I'm neither pro- nor anti-Colin in this book. once dennis comes on the scene, I kinda start liking those Creevey kids.
ReplyDeleteOh, that quiz. Come on--surely the senior professors oversee some kind of syllabus for new teachers. maybe professors aren't taught pedagogy in the wizarding world, but they're got to be *some* kind of training before they're plopped in front of a classroom.
i hesitate to praise anything that dolores umbridge does, but she's so right that some teachers at hogwarts could benefit from some form of supervision. i know there's that whole curse on the DADA position, but puh-leeze! dumbledore has got to find somebody better than GL to teach. imagine a whole generation of children having no idea what good defense against the dark arts might be (which was clearly tom's reasoning--duh). but really, imagine it.
This guy is so hilariously unqualified, Dumbledore must have absolutely desperate, or crazy. I say both.
ReplyDeleteDolores umbridge was also very crazy, but she also did have Hogwarts think twice about balancing liberal education with bureaucratization, which was desperately needed.