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.

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!

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!

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!

Ottery St Catchpole

This whole chapter, "The Whomping Willow" is one of the main reasons I really don't like this book - the Ford Anglia is something that just really gets my goat, for some reason. I can't explain it, nor am I going to try to! We forge onwards, and that post will come tomorrow now as I got rather carried away on my exploration of the Burrow and the charming little village it is located in.

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 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!

First Year Ends

Oh goodness, you guys I've finally got through the first book and sat down to blog about it. I actually finished reading it weeks ago, but sitting down to blog felt like too much...I'm busy preparing for the biggest retail event of my life, and it feels a little bit like getting ready to sit end of year exams. There's so much to do!

Light Reading, a Dragon in a Wooden House & Detention

I'm back in the UK! Hurrah! Here is the latest on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone...I wrote it while I was on the plane yesterday, so please forgive any strange tenses, grammar and spelling - it was a 43 hour journey back from New Zealand.

Quidditch and Christmas

I'm writing this from the airport on my way back to London from Australia and New Zealand. It's been a helluva trip! I've had a fantastic time - but I'm really looking forward to getting back home so I can get in the swing of things...and hang out with the cat again.

I've still not managed to finish Book 1, and I'm mortified at how this endeavour has been so de-railed by July's activities. I knew I would be busy in Oz, but not how busy...

Hallowe'en from Down Under

I have got to Christmas at Hogwarts, and enjoyed reading some of the more magical descriptions of Hogwarts that have shaped my imagination over the last 16 years...) It's been a while since I posted - I have a legitimate excuse for this, as I am in Australia! I thought my connectivity would be much better than it has been - it's Australia after all, a first world country, why would it be difficult to get online Down Under?

Milestone

I, personally, have still not fully figured out what I would like to achieve with this blog. I think Corrie and I have agreed that once we finish re-reading the Harry Potter series we would like to continue on our quest of reading books together and using this blog as a means of keeping track of our progress but also of reviewing the books as we go along.

Neither of us has a background in literature, our education is quite firmly scientific in nature and so our reviews will most probably not be as in-depth in analysis as those by professional book critics. I hope this doesn't put people off and that our audience will keep growing. We are simply two girls who share a love for reading and getting lost in stories.

But a blog is nothing more than a diary, unless someone else reads it and interacts with it. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has browsed through our posts (our analytics pages tell us that we have had more than 1000 page views since the blog went live!) and encourage you to keep coming back if you like what you've read so far.

I'm not sure if we've mentioned this anywhere before, but if you would like to have an input into what book(s) we should tackle after Harry Potter, then please vote in the poll that is located on the right-hand side of this page. So far the His Dark Materials series is winning.

So, again, thank you for stopping by!

~ Corrie and Lucia

Source

Pets at Hogwarts

I want to discuss the Hogwartian pets. When I first read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, I was going to a boarding school. Although my brother and I were very good with animals, and given orphaned birds, bush babies, snakes, squirrels, kittens and all manner of other things to look after, these were invariably taken home and not allowed back to school.

Weasleys, Diagon Alley and Knitting

Harry has just met Ron on the train, and they're on their way to Hogwarts.

I can't believe how long it takes me to read a physical book. I would never, ever have thought that this would be a problem for me if you had told me I would struggled with finding the time to sit down with a novel for half an hour until three or four years ago. I suddenly understand why my parents didn't read more when we were kids.

Mental Images: Characters

I've got more into my reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone this week, and I'm starting to get really into the whole analysing of the story thing. I've been switching between my new copy and my old copy, especially since Lucia and another friend suggested that I make notes in my old book; especially as it's purely sentimental anyway, and the value of it is only when I hold it.

The first edition cover of Harry Potter and
the Philosopher's Stone by Thomas Taylor
(UK) [source]

Smeltings

It has been so long since I posted....I won't even go on about what I've been doing, but needless to say I'm feeling busy and stressed! Anyway, I went to the park yesterday, and having forgotten where I was in the book, re-read "The Letters From No One" by accident. I went on a little bit further, and have a million things I want to say - but for now, I just wanted to discuss the Smeltings Uniform.

Technology and a song

As a graduate of a Science and Technology University, and girlfriend of a technology geek (yes, he ordered his Apple Watch the day it was released), I naturally take an interest in the Muggle technology of the HP world. I'm also a musician - these two facts have inspired this blog post. I have read up to Chapter Three now, and anticipate doing a bit more reading when I get home from where I am currently based (a car park in Kent...)

Things We Take For Granted: CUtS

Corrie here. I am by no means the first to think this through, but I did want to talk about this as it was the first time that I've ever really considered it - even after sixteen years of this being one of the most important chapters of a series in my life. We all know about it; it has become an important cultural reference in many places. I'm talking, of course, about the Cupboard Under the Stairs.

This person wrote an entire chapter of the last
book in their CUtS. (Source)