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HP Beholder 2011
Feb. 1st, 2011 03:59 pmOh, look, a fannish post.
I've signed up for HP Beholder - the only fannish activity I've been involved in for quite a while now. It continues to be my favourite fest, what with characters such as Aberforth Dumbledore, Aunt Muriel and Petunia Dursley getting some serious loving.
In order to get into the spirit of things, I have started to re-read Order of the Phoenix. I think, after all these years, it's obvious that this is my favourite HP novel. OotP is where I first liked Harry Potter the character - I had been rather indifferent towards him prior to that - and I love the atmosphere of the whole book. Reading the very first paragraphs, with the sweltering summer heat and Harry hiding in the hydrangea bush, already catapulted me back into the excited and elevated mood I had been in when I first read the novel (on a hot summer day; I read it in one day, sitting on the windowsill and eating cherries). And the aspects that many readers disliked about OotP, namely the moronic behaviour of the characters and the stagnation of the plot, has always very much appealed to me. These are no heros; these people are petty, narrow-minded, self-centred, resentful idiots, and they are supposed to save the world. Also, I love how they don't share important information due to sheer stupidty, and I love the atmosphere of stagnation that permeates the entire novel. Plus, OotP gave us Dolores Umbridge, who is as fine a villainess as I ever saw.
In conclusion: I <3 OotP
I've signed up for HP Beholder - the only fannish activity I've been involved in for quite a while now. It continues to be my favourite fest, what with characters such as Aberforth Dumbledore, Aunt Muriel and Petunia Dursley getting some serious loving.
In order to get into the spirit of things, I have started to re-read Order of the Phoenix. I think, after all these years, it's obvious that this is my favourite HP novel. OotP is where I first liked Harry Potter the character - I had been rather indifferent towards him prior to that - and I love the atmosphere of the whole book. Reading the very first paragraphs, with the sweltering summer heat and Harry hiding in the hydrangea bush, already catapulted me back into the excited and elevated mood I had been in when I first read the novel (on a hot summer day; I read it in one day, sitting on the windowsill and eating cherries). And the aspects that many readers disliked about OotP, namely the moronic behaviour of the characters and the stagnation of the plot, has always very much appealed to me. These are no heros; these people are petty, narrow-minded, self-centred, resentful idiots, and they are supposed to save the world. Also, I love how they don't share important information due to sheer stupidty, and I love the atmosphere of stagnation that permeates the entire novel. Plus, OotP gave us Dolores Umbridge, who is as fine a villainess as I ever saw.
In conclusion: I <3 OotP
