Day 15: your favourite male character:

Black was sprawled at the bottom of the wall. His thin chest rose and fell rapidly as he watched Harry walking slowly nearer, his wand pointing straight at Black's heart.
"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered.Harry stopped right above him, his wand still pointing at Black's chest, looking down at him. A livid bruise was rising around Black's left eye and his nose was bleeding."You killed my parents," said Harry, his voice shaking slightly but his wand quite steady.
Black stared up at him out of those sunken eyes.
"I don’t deny it," he said very quietly. "But if you knew the whole story..”

I swear, I fell in love with Sirius from his very first page and I have loved him ever since. Warner Bros did such a good job of casting him in the movies because he looks just like Gary Oldman in my head.
I love how JK Rowling managed to develop Sirius's character in so few words - if you think about it, comparatively, he doesn't get much page time but still he makes such an impact and his story; Remus's story; the whole back story surrounding Remus and Sirius and The Marauders drew me in as much (if not more) as Harry, Ron and Hermione did. When a book had finished I could pretty much leave Harry and co where they'd left off, until next time. I could never do that with Sirius. I was always wondering what went on behind the scenes, after PoA, betweeen GoF and OotP? What was it like when he was at Hogwarts, or after he'd left? How was it really, in the first war? The little bit of story that JKR let me have of Sirius left me hungry for more. I loved Sirius and his story from the very beginning and I love it just as much now. I love him because he's gorgeous and clever and wise and funny and a little bit rebellious and never afraid to take a risk; in fact, Sirius lives for the risk – the first person to escape Azkaban, people, but let’s be honest here: he’s also arrogant (I’ve always found arrogant men attractive) and a little prone to making rash and careless decisions. It’s a very good job he had Remus around to prevent him from going completely off the rails. Sending him to Lupin’s was one of the best decisions Dumbledore made, but that’s a story for another day....
He’s fiercely loyal – to a fault, actually – and maybe naively he expects the same level of loyalty from everybody else:

"You don't understand!" whined Pettigrew, "He would have killed me, Sirius!"
"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Black. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!”

And he’s brave. Stupidly brave. So brave that it cost him his life:

Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.
[....]
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.... And Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though a high wind and then fell back into place.

He's pretty much everything he should be: he's just what the Harry Potter series needed, just what Harry needed, just what I needed.

Day 11: a book you hated:

‘Breaking Dawn’ – the final instalment in the Twilight series.
Eurgh. I shall try my hardest to refrain from ranting about this book too much, and say only that I hate it…..that said, I’m kind of glad I read it. Twilight is a social thing I think; as much as don’t particularly like the books, they’ve taken the world by storm and I’m pleased I can look back and say “I was there and they were shit” but Breaking Dawn is the worst of a bad lot. I actually fail to understand how these books can have been compared to Harry Potter or His Dark Materials because they are just very bad writing.

In Breaking Dawn Bella becomes a vampire. Not just any vampire but the worlds most amazing vampire. There is this whole build up throughout the whole series about how awful it is to be turned to a vampire but in the end none of it is actually applicable because Bella becomes a vampire and all of a sudden she’s this amazing, agile, perfect, beautiful woman. It’s a bit ridiculous really, but then why should that surprise me? The books are, quite simply ridiculous. It makes me quite angry actually; the messages in this book are laughable and so anti-feminist it’s shocking. Bella is an embarrassment to women everywhere.
For starters you have the whole Bella gushing over Edward thing, which is a running theme throughout the whole series and is just hard to read. Seriously? That’s not a novel, it’s a vomit fest and when you combine that with the fact that Bella never thinks she is good enough for the man that sneaks into her bedroom without her knowing and watches her sleep, well, what kind of message is that giving to the teenage girls that read these books? & Edward is a control freak, there is no getting away from that fact: he won’t let her drive her own car, he ‘forbids’ her from visiting her friends, he hangs around inside her bedroom when she’s asleep and she lets it happen. She has no life outside of Edward and she seems to be fine about it. Meyer is basically saying that the only thing you have to do to get the man of your dreams is change everything about you that makes you who you are. Bella gives up her friends, her family, her humanity for Edward. And he gives up….nothing, but hey, he’s all pretty and sparkly so it’s fine. Should teenage girls with low self esteem really be reading about how the less-than-average Bella would die without her amazing boyfriend? How it’s fine to be with a guy that is clearly a complete and utter control freak? How when your control freak boyfriend does a runner leaving you with nothing (because you gave up everything for him) and you meet a new guy the best thing to do is totally string him along? That would probably be a no.
Guess what else? Stephenie Meyer doesn’t agree with sex before marriage, kids. It is very important to wait. Wait until you’re married and then let your husband beat the life out of you in the bedroom, don’t be a prude. It doesn’t matter if you wake up covered in bruises as long as your wonderful husband is distraught about it in the morning. Bella loses any redeeming features she had, which in all honesty weren’t many, after sleeping with Edward and no matter how pretty RPattz is, he can’t make Edward into somebody appealing.
So, it’s fine to fall in love with a total control freak at the expense of your friends and your family and your sanity; it’s fine to drop out of school and marry said man and in doing so cut yourself off from your entire family; it’s fine to let him hurt you. I suppose the next logical step is that when he gets you pregnant at 18 that’s also fine. Make sure though, that you don’t get an abortion because when Bella falls pregnant with Edward’s baby (lets not even get started on the science of this) which begins to slowly kill her from the inside, breaking her ribs and her pelvis and starving her, she does ‘the right thing.’ Surely, whatever side of the fence you’re on when it comes to the great abortion debate, you can’t deny that this is a bit much.
As for the whole imprinting thing. That just made me uncomfortable.

Basically, this is not a good book.

Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving:

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

My Dad read these books before I did, a long time before I did actually. I think that's probably why I never showed any interest: my Dad and I don't share the same taste in books. He's big on the whole sc-fi/fantasy thing - Issac Asimov, David Eddings, Terry Brooks - and I am catergorically not so it was always safe to say that anything he was reading I wouldn't want too. Yes, I know, I made a very similar mistake with Harry Potter at first in assuming anything my little brother was reading wouldn't be my cup of tea. What can I say? I never learn!

I read them, eventually, a few years ago because the wonderful Jen Campbell told me I should and what you need to know about me is that whilst I might have a history of not reading books I should read because I wrongly assume I'll hate them, I also have a history of reading anything Jen (or my Granny) suggest I should. So, Jen kept telling me I should read them and I was a bit unsure but decided to go for it and BAM. I was hooked. It was like Harry Potter all over again. Lovelovelovelovelove. Lots of love. Actually, I think I might be due a re-read....

in which i am at the Harry Potter premiere

I've been meaning to write this post for a while but it's taken some time for me to be anything even remotely coherent about it all. I'm still not sure I am, so I apologise now if I come across as a gibbering wreck of a fangirl.

I think every now and then you experience something that will change you forever. For me, one of those experiences was Thursday July 7th 2011 when I went to the premiere of the final Harry Potter film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part2.

As a Harry Potter fan this was a dream come true and I can't begin to tell you what an amazing and surreal experience it was. From the moment I got out of the blacked out Mercedes at Trafalgar Square to be knocked backwards by the force of the thousands of screaming fans, I was totally and utterly overwhelmed; I was literally shaking from the adrenalin. From Maggie Smith(!!!) smiling at Ian and I with an "isn't this mad" to being feet away from Ralph Fiennes as we walked the red carpet to chatting with Robbie Coltrane in the bar the whole experience was just totally surreal.
We also went to the after party which was equally surreal and bucketloads of fun: Warner Bros can certainly put on a party! We're not just talking canapes and champagne either, although both of those were avaialable in abundance. We're talking every cocktail you can think of; hog roasts on the terrace overlooking Tower Bridge; stew and mash; a huge BBQ; a chocolate fountain; a sweet shop and a candy floss stand. And live music. Wow. Talk about unforgettable. I met Nat Tena who made me laugh til I could hardly breath and then I danced to her band
(people everywhere, you need to check out the work of Molotov Jukebox because they are amazing: http://www.myspace.com/molotovjukebox )
I chatted with James and Oliver Phelps and Jason Isaacs, I got an albeit very blurry photo with Rupert Grint and I almost died when Darren Criss danced past me - I chatted with him too.
Have some exciting photos (and please excuse my deranged look. ha):


However, more than all of that was the film, which was quite simply: stunning. It went so far beyond my expectations that I could barely see them. I was an emotional wreck from the start: we watched Dan, Emma, Rupert and Jo's speeches before the film started and I was a mess from there and then at various points through the film the audience just clapped and every time that happened I got a lump in my throat because it just hit me that the people I was sat in the cinema with, this was their film and they loved it and I loved it and this was it. The end. & what a fabulous end it was: somebeody somewhere ought to give Alan Rickman an award for this as he made the film his own. From his very first scene he was outstanding and he almost broke my heart. I cried from The Prince's Tale (the added scene with Snape finding Liy's body slayed me) to the end of the film and was emotionally drained for days afterwards.
The scene with Dumbledore at Kings Cross was amazing and the Resurrection Stone scene was just spot on. It was beautiful, so so beautiful (and so good to see Sirius again.)
Neville was amazing, Molly's 'not my daughter you BITCH' was phenomonal, the Ron/Hermione kiss was beautiful and I loved how that happened in the Chamber, Maggie Smith was fabulous beyond words and I can't not mention the Malfoy's because Lucius and Draco were spot on with their 'we're not sure we want to be bad anymore but we're REALLY scared of Voldemort...'
Speaking odf Voldemort, Ralph Fiennes as ever did the most amazing job. I even liked the epilogue which had me rolling my eyes when I read it.
It was just outstanding and the perfect ending to a series that owns the hearts of so many people. I feel privileged to have been a part of it and it will take a lot of beating. Thank you Mark and Emma Williams for taking me with you. You made my life.

day 04: your favourite book for your favourite series

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is in my humble opinion the best book of the series, and not only because it introduces us to Sirius Black, possibly my biggest literary crush (and of course to Remus, who I’d like to keep in my pocket) but because it’s full of emotion and humour and suspense. Love love love.

I’d read the first two books of the series around the time of the release of Prisoner of Azkaban, and whilst I devoured both of those it was this book that really stole my heart. I fell in love, and I fell hard: with Harry (who I fell out of love with in the following books!), with know-it-all Hermione, with not-quite-as-dazzling-as-his-siblings Ron, with chocolate sharing-dark secret Lupin and most of all, oh, most of all with Sirius Black. I loved the Maurauder’s back story – how I loved it – and the start of the back story surrounding Snape, I loved the way it made me question things I’d never even considered in books 1 and 2 – darling old man Albus Dumbledore is not – and how it’s a little bit darker than it’s predecessors and now, over a decade later, it still remains my favourite of the series.

Why do I love it? Because of Ron’s attempt to use a telephone; because of Remus on the Hogwarts Express; because of the Boggart in the wardrobe; because of the Marauders Map, hell, because of the Marauders generally; because of Sirius; because of THAT scene in the Shrieking Shack. Sirius Sirius Remus Sirius. Prisoner of Azkaban has well rounded, well developed characters, a storyline that doesn’t lose it’s focus, no Voldemort (a fact you appreciate more after reading the later books) and a climax that STILL makes me forget to breathe. It definitely marks the start of my intense love for the series.

Day 03 - your favourite series

it has to be the Harry Potter series. These books are a part of me, I don’t even know how to express what they mean to me. I think I possibly love them a little too much. The characters are my friends; my family and I know the books almost by heart. Iwas 14 when the first book was released, although I didn’t actually start reading this POA was released when I was 16. I remember reading books 1 and 2 in a weekend and then bugging my brother to read book 3 faster so I could get my hands on it. I read that one in an evening and then went right back to book one and started again. I’ve read the whole series countless times since then – in the summer of 2005 I read Half Blood Prince 5 times. The Harry Potter books make me laugh, they make me cry, they are my comfort reads and now I know it’s all over I feel a little bit lost.