Rereadathon 2: part 2 Wednesday 9th-Friday 11th September

Hello! I haven't had an awful lot of rereading time in the last couple of days, as I was at work Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday night, for some reason, I just could not get to sleep, and by the time about 2.30AM rolled around, I decided to get out one of my books to help wind my brain down. I finished The Martian on Tuesday evening, and so for that stupid o'clock read, I picked up Elinor M. Brent-Dyer's The School at the Chalet. 

The Chalet School series is one of the longer-running girls' boarding school series, running to about 60 books, begun in the 1920s and ending in the '60s. As you might expect, it changes a lot over the course of the books, and this week I decided to go back to where it all began. 24-year-old Madge Bettany decides to start an English girls' school in the Austrian Tirol, near a lake a little way from Innsbruck. Her first pupil is her twelve-year-old sister Joey, who is a bright spark, with a big heart and a passion for life, but whose physical strength does not match up to her boundless enthusiasm. There are only nine pupils on the first day of term: as well as Joey, there is another English girl from the same school, Grizel; Simone Lecoutier, the shy and clingy niece of the French mistress and deputy head, and six Austrians from the nearby village, ranging from nine to sixteen. It's been a long time since I went right back to the beginning, where there is a really cosy, intimate setting, and you get to know all the characters really well. The school grows and grows, and before long Madge leaves the school to get married, but new teachers come in, and pupils from across Europe and beyond. (Although entirely white, except for one Indian girl in one book, despite a couple of the books having misleading titles. I wanted A Chalet School from Kenya to be about an actual Kenyan girl, not an English child whose parents worked abroad!)

Of course, when Elinor Brent-Dyer started writing her school stories in the mid-1920s, she had no way of knowing that real-world events would force the plot to take a drastic turn if it were to continue in 1939, resulting in the excellent Chalet School in Exile. This is outstanding, not just in the series, but in the literary canon in general, as a contemporary account of Austria during the Anschluss, as seen from Britain. It's a hair-raising tale of adventure and courage, as well as sadness, as Madge and Joey, who, although this point are no longer part of the Chalet School, are still attached to it, have to close down their beloved school which they'd built up from one chalet and a handful of children, and escape and start again. On Guernsey, for a little while, then onto the Welsh border for the duration of the war.

I suppose there are three main segments of the Chalet School series: the Austrian years, mostly when Joey is a schoolgirl, then the war years, during which the school moves around several times, and then, finally, returning to Switzerland for the rest of the series. By this point, Joey is married, and the focus moves onto her eldest daughters, triplets called Len, Con and Margot - as well as an older girl called Mary-Lou, who readers either love or hate. I find her a bit too good to be true. She gets away with more than her contemporaries, has to make a project of "improving" any new girl who doesn't quite fit in, and is far too familiar with the teachers, but this is excused because "it's not cheek, it's just Mary-Lou." She really takes the biscuit in one of the books when she is made head girl of the school and her response is "oh, no, I couldn't possibly" after being the unelected leader of the senior school for years. And then, the very next chapter, she gets a special award for - I don't know - being Mary-Lou. "Oh, no, I couldn't possibly." Stupid or false modesty just comes across as stupid and false.

The other book I've been rereading is Stephen King's excellent 11.22.63 which I'm just about used to writing the date the wrong way round now. The hero, Jake, is currently living in 1950s Derry, Maine, in the aftermath of IT. Now I've read IT, the setting is even more eerie and unsettling, and I'm able to appreciate all the references to the previous novel. I haven't got as far into it as I'd hoped, as I spent this morning having a writing session (forsaking my usual local coffee shop for Starbucks - I am ashamed!) and then wandering around the town, looking in the other bookshops and admiring the autumn fashions, with their turning-leaf colours and chunky knitted jumpers. I've bought some wool to make myself a hoodie, in multi-coloured blue and purple shades, and I've also just started teaching myself to crochet with a new magazine partwork, each one teaching a new stitch or two, and with a pattern for a different kind of granny-square which will join together to make a patchwork blanket. I don't intend to buy the entire series - I've no idea how many will be in this series - but enough to make a variety of blanket squares. But I can't crochet and read at the same time, so I'll start knitting the hoodie this evening.

This weekend is the Bestival festival, at Robin Hill Country Park a few miles from my house. I always kind of dread this festival. the Isle of Wight music festival is closer to home, but at least the music stops at about midnight. It's not been unheard of for Bestival events to keep me awake until 4 in the morning with thumping bass on a Friday night. And I have to get up at half past 7 for work on Saturdays. Ugh ugh. So I'm prepared for a long reading night tonight, although I might also take my duvet downstairs and sleep on the sofa, as I don't think it is as audible from the front room. We'll see.

Bex's Rereadathon Challenge

Last time, Bex asked which is the one book you reread over and over again. This time, she wants a list. Book bloggers love lists, right?

• Anne of Green Gables. C'mon, you know me better than to expect me to omit this one! I'll reread at least one of the Anne books pretty much every year. Not necessarily the entire series, but I can't go very long without spending some time with my favourite redhead: Anne of Green Gables, Anne of the Island are the usual candidates, but also Rilla of Ingleside (although that is more centred upon her children as young adults.)
• The Lord of the Rings. Back in my sixth form and student days I just could not put these books down. I'd start reading every November, at first in preparation for the film adaptations, and then because it had become tradition. I don't read it quite so frequently any more, but I have read it three more times since starting my blog seven years ago.
• Harry Potter. The ultimate in comfort reading; I start getting the urge for a reread about every two years, usually in the autumn or winter.
• The Chronicles of Narnia. These have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I saw the BBC adaptation back when they used to show serialised children's classics on a Sunday night in the lead-up to Christmas, and when I was about seven, Dad sat me down and began to read: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." I was thrilled to discover this was part of a series with my beloved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I stuck little pictures to the back of my wardrobe and would sit in there and imagine myself away. And I always try to reread The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe before Christmas, and some of the other books in the series in the appropriate time of the year: The Magician's Nephew in spring, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at the end of Summer (hmm... must be about time to reread that again...) etcetera, etcetera.
• Neverwhere. This was the book that made me fall in love with Neil Gaiman's writing. He created a new mythology for London, out of the names of the places, and it just made sense. It was like just scratching away the surface to make sense of a city that is, when you come to think of it, quite strange. I've reread all of his books on my bookcase at least once, I think, except for the Trigger Warning collection which only came out this year. American Gods and Good Omens should also feature on this list, as I've reread them at least three times since buying them. American Gods, in particular, I find new things on every reread (and is also on my reserve rereadathon pile) and Good Omens is just so funny.
• Discworld. With 41 books, of course I don't do a complete reread every year, but there are certain sub-series within the series that I return to most often. Top of that list are the first few Watch books: Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms and Feet of Clay, as well as the masterpiece Night Watch. Then there are the Witches books: Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies and Maskerade. Hogfather gets read a lot at Christmas, and if I don't read the book, I'll watch the TV film. And Going Postal and Monstrous Regiment are others that appear regularly. I'm filling in the gaps this year; there are now only 4 left I haven't read.

So, what about you? Do any of these books or series appear regularly on your reading list, or are your favourite rereads completely different? 

Top Ten Tuesdays (time warp edition): Books of 2014 so far

Tuesdays are funny things. By the time I notice a really good Top Ten Tuesday blog prompt, it's usually Wednesday, and by the time I get around to thinking of my own top ten lists, it's Thursday night, or Friday next week. Everyone else listed their top ten reads of 2014 so far two weeks ago, but better late than never, I suppose. (Plus, it is closer to the half-way point in the year now.)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies at The Broke and the Bookish.

1. The Martian - Andy Weir. The story of a man stranded on Mars, attempting to stay alive long enough to eventually make it back to Earth. This book is quite slow to start off with, but becomes an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride based in scientific plausibility, and the narrator has a goofy sense of humour that makes it impossible not to like him.

2. NOS4R2 - Joe Hill. The horror novel everyone was talking about around Christmas. The tale of a girl with a gift for finding lost things, and a villain whose lair is Christmasland. Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King, and has inherited his father's storytelling gene.

3. The Charioteer - Mary Renault. A gay soldier, wounded at Dunkirk, searches to find his place in the world and is caught between two friendships: one formed of romantic idealism, and the other of heroes and experience. Though painful at times, the book felt optimistic and ahead of its time (the 1950s).

4. Attachments - Rainbow Rowell. A love story with a difference - for the two people involved don't even interact with one another until late on in the book. It's a cosy, feel-good read.

5. Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore - Robin Sloane. A young man takes a job in a bookstore with a secret and finds himself embarking upon a quest that will unearth secret codes, medieval artefacts and the heart of Google. A bibliophile's dream.

6. The Explorer - James Smythe. My second choice involving an astronaut in isolation: a much darker, weirder story than The Martian, but every bit as gripping.

7. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion. A university professor comes up with a project to find the perfect wife. Needless to say, not all goes to plan. A heartwarming and gently funny read.

8. The Shining - Stephen King. I don't usually include rereads on these lists, but it's been long enough since I read this for the first time, and this time around I think I appreciated it even more. This has been made into an iconic horror film, of course, but the novel is so much more than just another haunted house story. It's about family, and fate, isolation and inner demons: The Shining is a gothic masterpiece.

9. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth - Chris Hadfield. The third book on this list about astronauts, this time a work of non-fiction from one of the heroes of 2013. Commander Hadfield reveals just what it takes to become an astronaut (and has made me far more critical of science fiction after reading this book.) An extraordinary man, whose experiences provide insight not just for wannabe astronauts but also for those of us whose feet will remain on the ground.

10. Pretty Girl Thirteen - Liz Coley. A girl returns home with no memories of what has happened over the past three years. A thoughtful, unsettling novel.

Top Ten Tuesdays: 10 best character names in books (and 5 worst.)

Thanks to the ladies of The Broke and the Bookish  for coming up with this feature.

When it comes to writing memorable characters, the right name is crucial. Below are my favourite names to be found in literature through the ages. (Some authors excel at coming up with names for the inhabitants of their fictional worlds, and it is difficult to choose just one, so I have added some runners-up. It would be easy to have ten names from the Harry Potter series, for example.

10. Scarlett O'Hara - Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Not the most likeable of characters, perhaps, but her name is full of romance: huge dresses, windswept hair and a great American epic.
9. Gilbert Blythe - Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Just the right mixture of suave charm and best friend.
8. Caddy Jellyby - Bleak House by Charles Dickens. One of many brilliant names from Dickens (along with Ebeneezer Scrooge, Philip Pirrip, Nicholas Nickleby and the like.)
7. Effie Trinket - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You just know she's going to be as fluffy and insubstantial as cotton candy!
6. Granny Weatherwax - The Discworld series from Terry Pratchett. You know that this is a woman who can't be havin' with any nonsense.(See also Nanny Ogg, Nobby Nobbs, Cheery Littlebottom, Havelock Vetinari... the list goes on... and on... and on... and on...)
5. Bilbo Baggins - The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. (Also: Eomer son of Eomund, Arwen Undomiel, many of the Elvish names. Of course, the Elvish language was created to sound as beautiful as possible.)
4. Lettie Hempstock - The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.
3. Draco Malfoy - the Harry Potter series. J. K. Rowling is second only to Dickens for her skill in naming. (a sample: Albus Dumbledore, Mundungus Fletcher, Severus Snape, Dolores Umbridge, Filius Flitwick, Nymphadora Tonks...)
2. Eustace Clarence Scrubb - The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. It is a most unfortunate name, but, as Lewis writes, "he almost deserved it." 
1. Tuppy Glossop - The Jeeves and Wooster series by P. G. Wodehouse. Doesn't it just roll off the tongue? Possibly the most fun you can have with combining two words. Tuppy. Glossop.

And the worst:

5. Tris - Divergent by Veronica Roth. Sorry, Divergent fans, but I just don't like the name. It seems to be lacking something, somehow. Feels unfinished.
4. Patch - Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. Sounds like a puppy, not a bad-boy fallen angel.
3. Fitzwilliam. Mr Darcy's first name in Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen creates the most lusted-after fictional man in the history of the world, and saddles him with the first name Fitzwilliam. Most unfortunate.
2. Joffrey - A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. The brat didn't stand a chance, really, did he?
1. Renesmee - Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. Try as I may, I cannot pronounce this hybrid of her grandmothers' names Renee and Esmee as anything other than "Renny-smee." Which is just ridiculous. Ick.

Top Ten Tuesdays: Unreviewed books

I've kept this blog for three years now, but only in the last year have I been updating it regularly, posting reviews of most of my reading material - but not all. If I don't review a book, it doesn't necessarily mean that I didn't like it; on the contrary, there are several books I've loved so much that I just haven't been able to do them justice. In other cases, I feel that a review would be just an inferior rehash of the book's synopsis and a "This is great! Read it!"

Top Ten Tuesdays are a weekly blog feature held at The Broke and the Bookish, and this week the challenge is to list ten of the books we'd love to share with other bibliophiles, but which for one reason or another we haven't reviewed.



1. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak. The story of a little girl growing up in Nazi Germany. Narrated by Death. Beautiful, eye-opening and heartbreaking.

2. The Help - Kathryn Stockett. This novel has recently been turned into a film which is now (USA) or soon (UK) showing in cinemas. Three women in 1960s Mississippi unite to challenge people not just to accept "the way things are" but to really think about their attitudes towards race, primarily, as well as class and gender.

3. Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. A Cult classic, written by two great names in modern fantasy, before they were really famous, Good Omens shows the bumbling efforts of Aziraphale (angel) and Crowley (an angel who did not fall so much as saunter vaguely downwards) to prevent Armageddon. Hilarious and quotable, with a brilliant cast of characters, Good Omens is fun to play "guess-who-wrote-which-bit" with. (Apparently even they aren't quite sure.)

4. Fingersmith - Sarah Waters. With deliberate parallels to Oliver Twist, this page-turner keeps you guessing and brings to life the murky underworld of Victorian England.

5. The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan. A quirky family story set in 1950s Wales, told by an imaginative 12-year-old who takes it upon herself to investigate the disappearance of a local man, opening up more cans of worms than anyone could have foreseen.

6. Crow Lake - Mary Lawson. Another family story, this time Canadian. Not a lot really happens, to be honest, but it's a story with characterisation strong enough for that not to matter. A short read, maybe 200 pages or so, but one which really draws you into the family's world.

7. The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter fans will know of at least one of the fairy tales, as it is a critical part of the final novel. There are five fairy tales in all, simple but flawless - and one rather gruesome one! The book is enhanced by explanatory notes on each tale from Professor Albus Dumbledore himself, and his musings are typically whimsical yet philosophical.

8. The Company of Liars - Karen Maitland. The year is 1348, and a band of misfits travel across England, trying to avoid the Black Plague. Many are on the run, all have strange tales to tell, but can they trust each other? This book ended on a twist which led me to want to read it all over again, to see if the new knowledge would change the way I read it.

9. The Distant Hours - Kate Morton. Ms Morton has written three novels now, and has pretty well established a recogniseable pattern of family tales, linked through the generations. This doesn't mean her stories are formulaic, though. Far from it! The Distant Hours is a modern gothic tale with all the best parts of such a story: an old house, mysterious sisters bound together by their past, and at the heart of it all, another story.

10. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series - Alexander McCall Smith. This is a lovely, cosy series of books set in Botswana. Mma Ramotswe's cases may not be dramatic compared to a New York detective, but every one is taken seriously, because every case is important to the person who is asking for help. McCall Smith writes which such a love for the country and characters, and the series has a gentle, innocent feel to it that is hard to find in adult fiction nowadays. This is a series I go to for a light, feel-good read, and can easily get through one book in an afternoon or evening.

Top Ten Tuesday: Trends

I love lists, and the ladies at The Broke and the Bookish offer the perfect opportunity to put on my list-making hat and ponder important matters related to all things bookish with their feature: Top Ten Tuesdays. Today they invite us to think about the trends in publishing that we’d like to see less or more of:


Less

1. Interchangeable Magical Boyfriend Creatures. The vampire who falls in love with a high school girl. Or the werewolf who falls in love with a high school girl. Or the fallen angel, or faery, or ghost, or zombie… you get the picture.
2. Misery Memoirs. I’m sure it’s cathartic to write about an awful childhood, and am outraged by some of the things people get away with,  but I hate the emotionally manipulative way these books are marketed, deliberately tugging at the heartstrings with pictures of sad-eyed children, titles that all contain “Mummy” and “Daddy” and taglines about “helpless little boy/girl.”I feel this approach cheapens the very real experiences of those who wrote the books, and I also find it quite disturbing that people bulk-buy true stories about child abuse.
3. Decidedly Dubious Mills and Boon titles. Things like The Greek Tycoon’s Reluctant Mistress, or The Spanish Billionaire’s Bought Bride, or Wedded for Revenge, or Blackmailed Into His Bed. I don’t read the books myself, but these titles don’t suggest healthy male-female relationships!
4. Celebrity “auto”biographies and ghostwritten novels. If You Only Live Once as Katie Price suggests, why is this her fourth life story?
5. Love Triangles. Call me old-fashioned, but it seems to me that if it’s not obvious which of two suitors you want to spend your life with, are you really committed enough to either?

More:


I find it harder to think about what trends I’d like to see more of, because the best book are those that are original and stand out from the crowd. That being said, I’d like to see:

1. Amazing story-telling. J. K. Rowling always amazes me by he complete mastery of her story world, her complex plot strands that she never dropped even a minor subplot.
2. Dark, mysterious stories that aren’t specifically fantastical, but aren’t easily explained away either.  (For example, Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger.)
3. Non-romance-based stories in which the protagonist is either single all the way through, or happily settled all the way through the story.
4. Page-turning adventures and mysteries. When you have no idea what is going to happen next, but just have to read “one more chapter” to find out.
5. Strong, stand-alone stories. I do like some series, but many stories go on too long. I’d rather reach the end and wish for more, than get more and be disappointed or bored.

50 Greatest Harry Potter moments.

Next week, ITV1 will be showing a compilation of the top 50 moments from the Harry Potter films. This got me wondering about what my top 50 moments were, in both film and book. Contains plot details of the whole series.

50. The Sorting Hat. (Philosopher's Stone)

49. The Time-turner. "If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight." (Prisoner of Azkaban)

48. "This is what Dumbledore sends his defender. A songbird and an old hat!" A hat containing the sword of Gryffindor, which will only present itself to the most loyal Gryffindors. And the phoenix, whose tears heal any wound. Just what Harry needed. (Chamber of Secrets)

47. Hermione the rebel. "I don't know what's got into you lately!" said Ron, astounded. "First you hit Malfoy, then you walk out on Professor Trelawney - " Hermione looked rather flattered. (Prisoner of Azkaban,)
46. Professor McGonagall: "I always wanted to use that spell!" (Deathly Hallows, Part 2 - film.)
45. Ron: "Why couldn't it have been 'follow the butterflies?'" (Chamber of Secrets, film)
44. The Weasley Twins' attempt at fooling the age line around the Goblet of Fire - and the consequences. (Goblet of Fire)

43. Neville Longbottom.  Dumbledore: "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends." (Philosopher's Stone)
42. The flying Ford Anglia. (Chamber of Secrets)

41. Quirrell's true allegiance. After spending the first book thinking that Professor Snape hates Harry - true - and is trying to kill him - false - we discover that ineffectual, timid Professor Quirrell is not only after Harry, not only trying to bring Lord Voldemort back - but Voldemort is living on the back of his head! And Snape is trying to protect Harry. The first, but by no means the last of such twists in this series. (Philosopher's Stone)
40. The Triwizard Tournament. All of it. (Goblet of Fire.)
39. Tonks loves Lupin! Dumbledore's dead, Bill Weasley badly wounded, but his wife-to-be Fleur is sticking by him. I turned the page - and all of a sudden, two of my favourite characters are in love with each other! Where did that come from? (It is foreshadowed in the book, but I did not suspect a thing. Lovely couple.) (Half-Blood Prince)
38. Luna Lovegood's Quidditch commentary. (Half-Blood Prince.)
37. Tom Riddle's true identity. Hands up who saw that coming first time around? (Chamber of Secrets)
36. Umbridge vs McGonagall. "You are raving," said Professor McGonagall, superbly disdainful. Don't try to outsmart McGonagall, Dolores. You will lose. (Order of the Phoenix.)
35. The duelling club. It is testament to how irritating Gilderoy Lockhart is, that I found myself cheering on Snape before I ever liked him as a character. (Chamber of Secrets)

34. First sight of Hogwarts. This really is a magical world. If only my school had been like this. (Philosopher's Stone.)
33. Owl post. You can run and hide, Dursleys, but there's no escaping Harry's magical identity. He will be a wizard, like it or not. (Philosopher's Stone.)
32. The Shrieking Shack. Sirius is an animagus! And Lupin is his friend! And Lupin is a werewolf! And Sirius is innocent! And Ron's pet rat is the real villain! Shock after shock, revelation after revelation, and everything you think you know is turned upside-down. (Prisoner of Azkaban)
31. "I don't think you're a waste of space." ("Coming from Dudley that's like "I love you.") (Deathly Hallows.)
30. Harry, Ron and Hermione battle a troll. In the girls' bathroom. Aged eleven. And survive. There are some things you can;t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them. (Philosopher's Stone)

29. Harry's first broomstick ride. Harry stands up to the class bully, disobeying orders and ends up, not expelled as threatened, but the youngest quidditch player for a century. (Philosopher's Stone.)
28. Snape: "Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade." (Prisoner of Azkaban)
27.  'I want to fix that in my memory forever,' said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. 'Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret ...' (Goblet of Fire)

26. That wonderful scene in the Goblet of Fire film, where the kids are talking about Yule Ball partners when they are supposed to be doing homework. Fred's mimed invitation to Angelina is hilarious, but the best part is Snape who, when hitting them with his book proves ineffective, forces their heads forward. It's the twitch of his sleeves that does it for me! (Goblet of Fire, film)
25. The Mirror of Erised, and how it helps Harry outwit Voldemort for the first time. Dumbledore:"It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. Only one who wanted to find the Stone - find it, but not use it - would be able to get it, otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life. My brain surprises even me sometimes..." (Philosopher's Stone)
24. The Marauder's Map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Bonus points for insulting Severus Snape. (Prisoner of Azkaban.)

23. Harry under the influence of Felix Felicis, the lucky potion - especially the film. Daniel Radcliffe clearly enjoyed hamming it up in that scene. (Half-Blood Prince)
22. Dobby to the rescue. Though I didn't like Dobby particularly, his rescue of Harry et al from Malfoy Manor is brilliant, and his death scene so sad. (Deathly Hallows)
21. The Seven Potters. Fred and George: "Wow! We're identical!" (Deathly Hallows)
20. Ron and Hermione finally get together. (Deathly Hallows)
19. Snape: "Do you remember me telling you we are practising non-verbal spells, Potter?"

"Yes," said Harry stiffly. 

"Yes sir."

"There's no need to call me 'sir', Professor." (Half-Blood Prince)

18. Molly Weasley vs Bellatrix Lestrange, and I quote: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" (Deathly Hallows.)

17. Dumbledore's Army. Despite the best efforts of Dolores Umbridge, a group of students continue practising Defence against the Dark Arts in secret, right under her nose. (Order of the Phoenix)
16. In the Ministry for Magic, we see just why Albus Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort ever feared. (Order of the Phoenix)
15. Ron's return and the destruction of the Slytherin Locket. (Deathly Hallows)

14. Platform 9 3/4. Harry's first introduction to the Weasley family, who promptly adopt him as one of their own. (Philosopher's Stone)
13. The Weasley Twins' exit from Hogwarts. They make sure that Umbridge is left with as much chaos as possible, and the staff and students do all they can to help. Best line comes from McGonagall to Peeves the Poltergeist. "It unscrews the other way." (Order of the Phoenix.)
12. "Look... at... me." Severus Snape was never going to survive the series, but his death scene was a shock, so sudden. It seemed a bit anticlimactic on the first reading, but then, with a bit more information, it all makes sense and is so very sad. An addition to the film makes it more obvious. "You have your mother's eyes." *sniffle, sob* (Deathly Hallows.)
11. Neville Longbottom faces Voldemort, survives and kills the Dark Lord's last horcrux, his snake Nagini. (Deathly Hallows)

10. Escape from Gringotts. On a dragon. (Deathly Hallows.)
9. Expecto Patronum! And then it hit him - he understood - he hadn't seen his father - he had seen himself. (Prisoner of Azkaban.)
8."I am not worried, Harry," said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you." Throughout this book, Dumbledore has trusted Harry with more and more, treating him as an equal, until their roles are reversed. This is the moment in which Harry comes of age. (Half-Blood Prince) 
7. "King's Cross." Harry's near-death experience, in which he meets Dumbledore once more, and finally - finally - understands everything. Dumbledore: "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" (Deathly Hallows)

6. Priori Incantatem: Lord Voldemort has returned, and he will kill Harry Potter. Harry is just fourteen years old, he knows nothing of duelling. He's toast. But he's not giving in without a fight, and with an expelliarmus - the disarming spell and the only useful spell he knows - the two wands connect. (Goblet of Fire)
5. Dumbledore: "Well - it's just that you seem to be labouring under the delusion that I am going to - what is the phrase? - come quietly. I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius." And sure enough, he does not. (Order of the Phoenix)
4. "The Prince's Tale." After seven books, eight films of keeping us guessing, finally J. K. Rowling's most complex creation reveals his true character, and it is heartbreaking. Excellently acted by Alan Rickman in the film. (Deathly Hallows)
3. The final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort: in which Harry survives - again - the killing curse, and defeats the most evil wizard of all time with nothing more than his favourite disarming spell. The Elder Wand recognises Harry as its true owner, and he becomes the master of death - not by becoming immortal, but by facing his own mortality and being unafraid. (Deathly Hallows)
2. The Boy Who Lived - because his mother loved him enough to die for him. (Philosopher's Stone - recurring theme)
1. Harry's sacrifice. Harry not only looks death in the face, but walks willingly towards his fate, his companions all those he has loved and lost, giving him the courage to do what must otherwise be impossible. Beautiful, beautiful scene, wonderfully written and perfectly adapted. It will give you the chills. (Deathly Hallows.)

Top Ten Tuesday (Customised)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the girls at The Broke and the Bookish blog, for those literary list-lovers out there. This week's subject is The Ten Biggest Jerks In Literature: bloggers' most hated male characters, whether designated villains or anti-heroes. I missed the female equivalent a week or two back, so instead I'm listing the five male and five female characters I think would most benefit from a good smack.

May contains spoilers

Male:

5: Bob Ewell - To Kill A Mockingbird. Ewell is a disgusting piece of work; an abusive, cowardly slob of a man who covers up violence with lies, threats and more violence. He is the catalyst for the major events of the novel, going after the helpless and innocent because he is too afraid to challenge those who can protect themselves.

4. Mr Casaubon - Middlemarch. Mr Casaubon marries Dorothea Brooke early on in the novel, attracted by her beauty and intelligence, then spends the rest of his life grudging the virtues that first caught his attention. He can't stand that she might disagree with him, and is fiercely jealous of any other man who might look her way. Even after his death, he stands between his wife and happiness.

3. General Tilney - Northanger Abbey. What a snob General Tilney is! He is keen for his son to marry young, innocent Catherine when he believes her to be an heiress to a fortune, but the minute he discovers that he has been deceived, he practically throws her out of his door, sending her home unaccompanied, without money or chaperone with no concerns for her safety. Catherine concludes that, though she may have let her imagination get carried away with her about Tilney's dark and secret past, "in suspecting General Tilney of either murdering or shutting up his wife, she had scarcely sinned against his character or magnified his cruelty."

2. Edward Cullen - Twilight. Edward, Edward, Edward, what do the girls see in you! Sneaking into a girl's room to watch her sleep without her knowledge is not romantic, it is creepy! Does the word "stalker" mean anything to you? That's just the tip of the iceberg, but what makes it more worrying is the number of girls - and grown women - who claim that the sparkly vampire has spoiled real men for them.

1. Angel Clare - Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Although Angel isn't the real villain of Thomas Hardy's novel, he provokes more anger in me than the smarmy Alec D'Urberville for his sheer hypocrisy. You do not confess your guilty secret to your new wife and let her forgive you, then abandon her when she admits the exact same thing. Slimeball.

Women:

5. Luce - Fallen. Other contenders are Bella of Twilight and Nora of Hush, Hush for sheer drippiness and the "I Can't Live Without My Sparkly Boyfriend" attitude that is a brilliant checklist of How Not To Act When Dumped. But Luce is worst of all because her conviction of being "In Love" with Interchangeable Magical Boyfriend Creature Daniel, comes after minimal interaction with him, which is aggressive, abusive or indifferent on his part. But she "feels a connection with him." So that's all right, then.

4. Aunt Elizabeth - Emily of New Moon series. She gets better as the series goes along, but when a recently orphaned little girl comes to live with her, Elizabeth makes it is quite clear she is not wanted. And she only agrees to let Emily, a writer to her core, continue her education to High School, if Emily will refrain from writing fiction. This may not sound much, but to someone like Emily, writing is not just a hobby. It is an essential part of life.

3. Aunt Read, Jane Eyre. Another unwilling adopter of a lonely orphan, but where Elizabeth was just old-fashioned, Aunt Read is nasty. A bully, and mother to other bullies, she makes sure Jane knows that she can never be worth anything.

2. Mrs Norris, Mansfield Park. Yet another aunt of the same type, Mrs Norris puts Fanny in her place as the poor relation dependant on her wealthy family, making sure she knows she is second best, and chiding the timid, good girl for being a nuisance. A nuisance? Fanny Price? I'm sure she doesn't know the meaning of the word.

1. Dolores Umbridge, Harry Potter and the Order of the  Phoenix. The Umbridge Woman makes the fifth Harry Potter book hard work to read, and is the reason that this is my least favourite book of the series. A mixture of cutesy-poo and sadistic, Umbridge sneaks her power into everything that makes the world of Harry Potter so magical, and breaks it down - or attempts to - a bit at a time. I don't even love to hate her - she is too horrible even for that.

2-in-1: Blog Hop & Top Ten Tuesday

It's been a long time since I've participated in any blogging memes, and today I've decided to make up for it by doing two in one post.

The Book Blogger Hop

hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For Books.

Usually a weekend thing, last week's Book Blogger Hop has been held back until today, when we are asked:

"Outside of books, what is your guilty pleasure?"

I have to confess that just lately I've been watching Glee. (I hang my head in shame.) I saw the first two episodes when it was first shown on UK TV but didn't get into it at all, but then when series 2 came on I got hooked! I usually end up shouting at the screen (usually at Rachel) and making snarky comments, but I keep coming back for another episode.



Top Ten Tuesday:

This is the first week I've taken part in the Top Ten Tuesday hosted by the girls at The Broke and the Bookish although I've been reading other people's posts regularly. I love lists.

The Top Ten Books I'd like to see made into Movies:

1. Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery. The last book in the Anne of Green Gables series, this is  about Anne's six grown-up children when the First World War strikes. After the wonderful TV adaptation of Green Gables by Kevin Sullivan, the book series and the films parted company so that the film version of Anne at the time of the First World War has nothing in common with the book. Rilla of Ingleside would work quite well as a stand-alone story, because the focus is on Anne's teenage daughter Rilla, rather than Anne herself.

2. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I suspect it is only a matter of time with this one, as it is the only book by Waters not to have been adapted into a TV drama (The Night Watch will be on our screens later this year.) Done well, it would make a creepy and atmospheric historical horror film.

3. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. As its title suggests, this is a werewolf story, the tale of the only female werewolf in the world, Elena Michaels, who just wants to live a normal life but who is drawn back to the "pack" and the former lover who betrayed her. I heard rumours of an adaptation a few years back, but nothing seemed to come of it.

4. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. This is a bit of a cheat, as the story was a TV drama before it became a novel, and not a bad one for a BBC low-budget programme, but with modern special effects and a bigger budget, it could be even more amazing. But a film is nothing without its cast and I don't think anyone could replace Patterson Joseph as the Marquis de Carabas.

5. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Sky One made such a great job of Hogfather that I would love to see them make the "Watch" books into two-part dramas to the same standard. I put Guards! Guards! down here specifically, but I would expect it to be followed up by Men at Arms, Feet of Clay...

6. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Can you see a theme developing here? And the great thing is that this one is not wishful thinking, but being adapted for a four-part TV series. Neil talks about the project here.

7. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. The Thursday Next books are a literature nerd's treat, set in a parallel world where it is possible to hop in and out of books and - if you're not careful - change what happens within the pages. In The Eyre Affair, Literary Detective Thursday has to rescue Jane Eyre, who has been kidnapped by an evil mastermind. There could be some trouble with an adaptation, however, as there are some scenes that can work only with text, such as someone communicating through footnotes. Difficult.

8. Malory Towers by Enid Blyton. I don't think these books would work very well as a film series - too episodic and not eventful enough - but it could be a nice after-school series a la Tracy Beaker or the Blyton's Famous Five that was made into a CITV series when I was about ten.

9. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. This was the big young adult novel of last year, about a girl who is killed in a car accident, before waking up to find it being the morning of the same day. A cross between Groundhog Day, The Lovely Bones and Mean Girls, Before I Fall is a wonderful book that would look great on the silver screen and appeal to teenagers and adults alike.

10. What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge. Although old-fashioned, the Katy series is a girls' classic to be compared with Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, but I don't think that it's ever been adapted for the screen.