Pages read: 495/4100; 3605 to go.
Soooo I'm about a day behind...didn't get as much done yesterday as I wanted. I'll finish book 2 this evening, but as I'm a little over halfway through, I thought I'd post some stuff I've noticed.
Overall: Prolly my least favorite of the series to re-read. It's not necessarily the worst book... but reading it is a struggle (or, as much of a struggle as reading HP can be. So it's still pretty enjoyable xD). Here's why:
- It is EERILY similar to the movie. The Sorcerer's Stone movie matched the book pretty well, but this one is just NUTS. Almost all of the dialogue is verbatim from the book (the Cornish Pixies scene is what made me notice it -- it's EXACTLY the same), so I'm just hearing it in the actors' voices. Pretty much nothing is left out of the movie... the only different thing so far has been Nick's Deathday party, which is fun. One of my favorite things about rereading the series is noticing all the things that are left out of the movies, but with this one, there's not much at all. No wonder CoS is the longest of the movies.
- It's fraught with re-introductions of characters and concepts that were introduced in book one (i.e. Harry's past, how Quidditch works, how the houses and the house cup work...). This was fun to read in Sorcerer's Stone, because it reminded you of things you hadn't read about in a while, but now they're just re-introducing things I already knew about...bleh.
- It's very similar in style and flow to the first book. The first and the second are essentially mystery novels, which is cool -- the little hints are fun to notice throughout (Quirrell hints in the 1st, Ginny and Myrtle hints in this one) -- but the flow of the plot is just so similar to the first one. This is probably why the 3rd one is always so refreshing -- it's a change of pace.
- More werewolf discrimination stuff...In Lockhart's class, he forces Harry to help him reenact his encounter with a werewolf and how he defeated it. Ironically, he's going to be fired and replaced with a werewolf.
- This one seems to foreshadow book 6 a lot. When in Borgin and Burkes, Draco is poking around and sees the opal necklace he later tries to kill Dumbledore with. Also -- this blew my MIND, but I was disappointed to discover that Josh and Dawn already knew about it xD -- the vanishing cabinet that Draco has to repair in the sixth one! It breaks in this one! Nearly-Headless Nick makes Peeves break it over Filch's office so Harry doesn't get in trouble. Filch: "'That vanishing cabinet was extremely valuable!' he was saying gleefully to Mrs. Norris. 'We'll have Peeves out this time, my sweet --'". I had never noticed that before. 6 or 7 years before book 6, Jo already had stuff planned, and she set up for it here and there in book 2.
- More Legilimency! Snape accuses Harry of being "not entirely truthful" at the scene of the Chamber message: "Dumbledore was giving Harry a searching look. His twinkling light-blue gaze made Harry feel as though he were being X-rayed."
- FAVORITE LINE SO FAR: "Harry," said Hagrid abruptly as though struck by a sudden thought. "Gotta bone ter pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?" Makes me laugh every time. xD
I like comments!!
I like comments too! Sorry that Josh and I are no fun, but I've re-read the series more than the both of you two, so most of the stuff that you two notice, I have noticed a few years ago. Haha sorry :/ That is really funny about the movie being almost exactly similar to the book. I noticed it more with the dialogue with Dobby in the beginning, but you are right! That Cornish Pixie scene is the exact same!
ReplyDeleteJust because I post it here doesn't mean I've never noticed it before. I just like re-noticing things and making new connections to discuss with people. The vanishing cabinet was the only new thing. :P
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