The Ghosts of Hogwarts

I have finished my PhD, woohoo! As I am currently looking for a job, I don't have much to occupy my days and so I thought it was high time I return to the blog.

Let's dive straight back in where we left off so long ago!

I'm quite looking forward to this chapter, because it features one of my favourite scenes from the book - the Deathday Party.

Return to Quidditch!

I'm so excited about "The Rogue Bludger" because it returns us to Quidditch, which I'm super happy about! As a mad 'hobbies' person, I really love hearing about the extra-curricular stuff that goes on at Hogwarts, and Quidditch is absolutely no exception.

Not to mention that this is one of my favourite chapters because to be quite honest, bad things happen and that's just real life.

Quidditch and Detention

I got all excited, thinking this is the chapter when we meet Moaning Myrtle, but then I realized there is another 'meh' chapter before then.

Let's just get right down to it, shall we...

The Ineptitude of Gilderoy Lockhart

At times like these, when the world just seems like such an cruel and scary place, I like to escape inside a book. I haven't had a chance to do that today, as I had experiments to run during the day, but I'm happy now to flick through Chamber of Secrets and find comfort in the old and familiar.

The Writing on the Wall

Just to follow on slightly from my post yesterday, the events in Paris have been absolutely shocking over the past 24 hours, and my thoughts are with those affected. I was using the hashtag "pray for Paris" on Twitter, and getting some criticism for it, because people have been saying that religion is what has got us into this mess in the first place. I'm not particularly religious myself, and I simply want to say that we could all do with practising a little kindness, tolerance and compassion to everyone - not just Parisians.

On that note, let's move on to something a little more light-hearted - Hogwarts, Harry Potter and the tricks our heroes get up to in this chapter!

The Recklessness of Harry and Ron

Chapter 5 is tricky - reading it as a child I remember really liking it and thinking it was very brave of Harry and Ron to fly all the way to Hogwarts, but as an adult I just think it's super reckless and I disapprove of their behaviour.

As Corrie said when she reviewed this chapter a few days ago, this post will be full of criticisms.

The First Attack

The first attack of Chamber of Secrets is about to happen, and we are catapulted into the intrigue of life with a malicious beastie roaming the castle. Read on, fair Harry Potter fans!

Amazing fan art of Filch and Mrs Norris by Levon Hackensaw (source)

A day of spewing slugs

This chapter has always absolutely horrified and enthralled me. The slugs and stuff...ew.

I saw one of our participants last night and she said she was terrified because she thought we were both waaaay ahead in the series (we all know Lucia is on Order of the Phoenix)! I just wanted to say that I am reviewing the chapters literally as I read them - I have just completed Chapter Eight, and this is Chapter Seven, so don't be intimidated by that!

The Arrogance of Lucius Malfoy

It is full steam ahead here on Read All the Things these days, as both Corrie and I endeavor to blog every day. I am glad to see we are doing so well - it's only been a week and already we've managed 13 posts!

With that in mind, here are my thoughts on Harry's misadventures in Knockturn and Diagon Alley.

Cornish Pixies? Snort!

I always feel enchanted when I read about the first few weeks of a new year at Hogwarts. I used to love September, and everything it brought with it. New school uniform, a new pencil case and stationery, a new lunchbox (and one year the graduation to buying my lunch every day!), and always a brand new planner to record my homework in. I believe there is something truly magical about an empty planner, notebook or diary. There is so much potential!

Hogwarts! (source)

Harry Potter and the Incredibly Poor Decision

Now that I've got my little exploration of Ottery St Catchpole out of the way, it's time to tackle the meat of "The Whomping Willow" - and the incredibly poor decision that Harry and Ron make. I have a lot to say about this, and not all of it pleasant - you may want to grab yourself a sweet beverage to neutralise the sourness of my thoughts!

The Kindness of the Weasleys

Looks like Corrie and I are neck-and-neck in our review of Chamber of Secrets, but I am sure that we will pick up on different things and discuss different topics - which is what makes this whole challenge so great!

Gilderoy Lockhart and some handy foreshadowing

Does anybody else find Gilderoy Lockhart incredibly annoying? I know he is meant to be, but oh my goodness gracious me, what a pain in the ass that man is. Anyway, let's take a trip to Knockturn Alley.

My dream home - The Burrow

I'm travelling between London and my parents home in Devon a lot and oh my gosh this nomadic lifestyle is exhausting! I have had draft posts on here for a month, but Lucia has made me feel ashamed that she's putting so much effort and I've been rubbish, so here I am again! Let's see how long my resolution lasts this time.

I'd just like to agree with Lucia in saying that CoS is not my favourite book. We met up for a coffee last night to chat about it, and I think we agreed that we both found Dobby very annoying, and it was irritating that there's SO MUCH recap in the book, which makes reading them back-to-back a bit tough.

The Cruelty of the Dursleys

Right, enough about audiobooks, it's time to go back to the original challenge - reviewing the Harry Potter series.

And so, without further ado, let's see what J.K. Rowling had to say about Harry's summer holiday.

The Chamber of Secrets - iBooks!

Poor Lucia has been trying to help me back into the swing of things recently, and I've failed her miserably with the Chamber of Secrets. However, JKR has just released all the HP books on iBooks through Pottermore - including new animations, notes and the books themselves. I'm going to use the Blogger app on my phone and read the book on iBooks, and hopefully everyone will be much happier!

My new Harry Potter book, hehe.

The reason I say that is because I miss Harry too. My audio books no longer work on my phone (let's not go there!) and I always have craft in my bag which wins out over a physical book. No more!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

It's finally here - with only a three month delay, no less. Oh well, better late than never, right? Without further ado, let us finally venture into the pages of Book 2 of our challenge.

An Announcement!

I'm here with a service announcement for you guys.

I've just popped here today to say that Lucia and I have decided to postpone reading of Chamber of Secrets to next month, August! We have both been on holiday and have had less time to read than we anticipated - so we start our month of blogging about CoS tomorrow.

Print this out and do some colouring while you wait, hehe.

I'm really looking forward to it, and can't wait to start rediscovering Harry Potter without feeling like I'm not making the most of my holiday!

Much love,

Corrie xx