Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry spends most of this book being very angry. Angry at his friends for not writing to him, angry at Dumbledore for not being straight with him, angry with Dolores Umbridge, angry with Professor Snape... Harry was actually quite unlikable for the first part of the book, he came across as too obnoxious - Maybe this had to do with…

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

And this is where the Harry Potter series stopped being aimed squarely at children. You can tell just by the size of it - it's twice the size of Prisoner of Azkaban and three times the size of Philosopher's Stone. This is probably my favourite book of the series behind Deathly Hallows (for reasons that will be explained later), it's…

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

At this point I feel these are still children's books, although the tone is starting to shift a little. I loved the dynamic between Remus Lupin and Harry - it was the first time Harry really learned about his father from someone who knew him very well, although they seemed to talk about Sirius Black more (given his escape from…

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The Chamber of Secrets is a cracking mystery - The main villain turns out to be someone... er... something most unexpected. A part of Lord Voldemort's soul encased in his diary - Later revealed to be a Horcrux. And the Sword of Gryffindor was given Horcrux destroying abilities in this book too. Again, how much of the future did J.K.…

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

In terms of "stuff what I read", March was most definitely Harry Potter month. One month, all seven books. These were originally going to be one "MASSIVE POST", but I felt they'd be better as separate entries over the course of a few days. Anyway, this was the second time I have read the series, and I got through the…

I’m doing it wrong

Usually I’ve written my Sunday entry by now – I like to make notes of any ideas I have, or any exciting events there may have been during the week, and most times I actually write it ahead of time when the inspiration strikes. This week however, the only thing of note that has happened is that interview I had, but I’ve already covered that in a post of it’s own… So… I’m struggling to think of things to write about.

Oh, I remember something now, the Live Arcade game this week was Game Room (essentially a collection of demos for rubbish old games), and it was free. That sounds good, right? Free game – free Achievements. Not really very many achievements, but some, 80 G’s added to your Gamerscore for free, nonetheless. To get anywhere near the full 1000 you need to pay for the individual games, and considering they are mostly priced the same as proper Live Arcade titles, it’s a bit of a money-spinning exercise by Microsoft there. Did I mention the games are all awful? Well, one or two could be construed as “classic”, but they’re mostly dog-shit.

Something else I could mention is that I’ve been re-reading the Harry Potter books this month, I finished Deathly Hallows the other night and I’m slowly writing up my thoughts on them. Expect those posts early April.

Reading round-up for February

Or, "Stuff what I read last month". Once a month is enough for this, I reckon. Writing up my thoughts on a scheduled day once a week would be too risky (I may not have finished a book that week!), and writing up my meagre thoughts as soon as I've finished something would mean lots of little posts dotted around.…

RFBW: The Hobbit

It's time for me to reveal my favourite book of all time! The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien My Dad used to read this to me at bed-time when I was, I guess, about 8, that was the first time I heard the story. The first time I read it myself, I was about 16, but I didn't finish it. I…

RFBW: Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials

Northern Lights Dæmons. The manifestation of a soul outside of a persons body. It's such an imaginative, un-normal idea, and I love how in the parallel universe this is set, it is totally unimaginative and thoroughly normal. Lyra has to be my favourite heroine of all time. Feisty, aggressive, brave and very much a free-spirit, her unwitting betrayal of her…

RFBW: Jeffery Deaver

The Blue Nowhere This is one of Jane's books that she recommended I read. She really likes her crime thrillers, whereas I am more of a fantasy/science fiction fan. Still, I'm always willing to give new things a try (even if it is just to say I don't like them). Basic premise is this: One gifted computer expert likes to…