Recently in Books: Reviews Category

It is with much sadness that finished The Deathly Hallows on Saturday. I picked the book up from the wonderful Kinokuniya in Sydney. As always they've gone to a lot of effort when I arrived at 9:01AM to pick up my pre-ordered book. The staff were dressed as students, witches and wizards. Cauldrons, lights and smoke added greatly to the effect, as did the distinct lack of children. Not that I don't like children, it's just that there was no noise, which added to the slightly surreal effect wonderfully carried off beautifully. Maybe a child in the cauldron…?

But no, I collected my book, and went to the coffee shop and sat and read. And read. And read. And read some more.
607 pages in one day, and then off to the pub. Very, very good. Very sad, and maybe not the children's books that they started out as, but still very good. Yes. Good. Sad that it's over, but good.
Mmm. Good. Read it.

Although… maybe not the last chapter, which I understand was written a long while ago, and clearly demonstrates how the authors style and ability have greatly improved over the last 17 years. It feels tacked on because… well, it is.

For all of you wanting to get into this as soon as possible, I give you Potted Harry for beginners at the BBCs news site. It would have been amazingly useful to me, if I hadn't already of listened my way through Stephen Fry read them to me over the last weeks.

So the book is better than the movie, which is hardly a startling revelation. It clearly does read like it was written by a 15 year old, which is annoying because it's true.

That's it. I'm writing a good book now...

Only, maybe not. The way Christopher feels all the time, the confusion, the fear, the isolation and frustration at fucking idiots... that's how I feel in London. In fact I finished it just now on the train home, and when I realized that, it made me cry a little. I am a modern man, you see...

The way he feels when the book ends and there was order in his world, and everything was good. That's how I felt when I was at home.

Only with less, you know, autism.

I loved that book.

[posted with ecto]