i don't think that i have ever devoured a book so fast in my life. i was so excited for the new installment of harry potter that i read it all in less than 24 hours time... and then cried. ok, if you haven't read the book yet, STOP READING THIS up until the yarn picture. i will post spoilers so come back and re-read this later once you've read the book as well (and the review i'm going to write of it and out.. i'm two books behind on my reading blog.)
first off, here i am receiving my book.
look how happy i am for being up at midnight on a friday night! lisa looks pretty happy too!
anyway, we got our books and i just HAD to read the first chapter before bed on friday night. then i spent most of the rest of the weekend reading before finishing on sunday afternoon. so quick!
a few things about harry potter and the half-blood prince struck me right off the broomstick. harry has finally learned to control his temper! after a year of being tortured by umbridge, battling he-who-must-not-be-named, and losing his godfather, harry has become a solid, sixteen-year old grown up. his anger still mounts but he's learned to keep it under wraps when he knows that arguing is futile. there is, after all, a time and a place for everything. it was a calm and cool harry, and gosh darn it, i was so proud of him as i read along! he's finally become an adult.
there was also that monster inside him that would flare up whenever he saw a certain cute little redhead. oh ginny, you've finally captured harry's heart and it only took you three years! harry wrestled with this for more than half the book. she's his best mate's younger sister and he was torn between wanting ginny and wanting to stay best friends with ron. thankfully, ron acquiesced and with a nod to his pal, harry fulfilled a dream. he had internalized so much of his fear and anger but remembered that love, the beast inside him, should be let loose when the timing was right. i think it's safe to say that even though he broke things off with ginny at the end of the book, their relationship is not over. dumbledore made it quite clear that it's love that lord voldemort (eek!) fears most of all and will be his undoing. not only did harry's mother's love protect him when he was a baby, but the love that he shares with ron, hermione, ginny, and all the rest of his compatriots, will ultimately be his master weapon.
the saddest bit of news was the death of dumbledore at the hands of snape. i'm torn between wanting to hate snape forever and ever and wanting to find out why the heck he did it. i have a feeling that dumbledore asked him to kill him if that's the way the cards were dealt, but it's hard to come to grips with it. dumbledore pleaded with snape not seconds before he was struck down but it was so uncharacteristic of him. you almost get the feeling that dumbledore was pleading with snape to kill him so that the double-agent ruse could continue. snape was bound with the unbreakable vow and would have died if he had not helped malfoy so dumbledore's reasoning would be that it was more important to sacrifice himself than have snape blow his cover. ugh, it's just awful to think about but dumbledore was a great man and harry will carry on the fight without him.
ok, enough hypothesizing for now. i still have to write my review of the actual book before going into my thoughts and theories of what we have in store in the last book.
in knitting news, i'm still making progress on the honeymoon cami, my koigu sock, and am about to start a baby blanket too. i whipped up another crocheted case for my camera this weekend. i'm becoming quite proficient at hammering these things out. this time i used two strands of red heart (orange and white.. i'm calling it the creamsicle case) so that the camera would have more padding. i have no pictures of it yet.. sorry! but i do have a picture of the yummy yarn (above) i bought at school products two or three weeks ago! it's cashmere and silk, hand-dyed and spun, no brand name. i'm going to use it to make a clapotis so i'll post more pictures once i have that going.
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