I began reading the books back in 2002. I had received a gift card for a local art supply store the previous year for Christmas. As I didn’t frequent the shop much, it was a few months before I happened inside and took a walk around.
I slowly paced my way through the large building with no sense of time as I looked at the paints, papers, ornaments, and a variety of other baubles that many find so important as a means to express their thoughts and feelings on the canvas of their choice.
I had never been much of an artist myself, painting an odd ornament or figurine here and there, scratching out woeful designs and stick figures, and enjoying creating my own stories in my head that never seemed to be able to make their way to the page.
However, I loved read. I had been brought up a huge fan of sports, it didn’t matter much the type. I played baseball and basketball growing up, but had also enjoyed playing football, golf, and many other sports with friends whenever the opportunity presented itself.
It wasn’t until 1992, when I was in sixth grade that I really got interested in reading. My sister would go to the library all the time as kids, grab a handful of books and speed through them before our next trip. However, I tended to grab books on sports, sharks, and whatever happened to catch my fancy at the time.
However, I soon met someone new at a birthday party who changed my life forever. We ended up talking allot at that party and became good friends. He was already quite the avid reader, so I decided to try out what he was reading to see if it interested me at all.
This was my introduction to the youth horror genre. The first book that I can remember reading of these was Chain Letter by Christopher Pike. Books such as Last Act, Scavenger Hunt, See You Later, Slumber Party, Spellbound, and The Midnight Club quickly followed. I also managed to get in a number of R.L. Stine books as well, such as Beach House and the Hitchhiker.
Looking back, it is easy to see here where my latter love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer came from. However, the author that would hook me for good on reading was soon to follow.
I had picked up a book called Spellfire by Ed Greenwood, had quickly fallen in love with it and read it at every possible moment until its conclusion. I had enjoyed my Pike and Stine like a thirsty man in the desert enjoys water, but this was something different… This was ambrosia. This was food from the gods that sent my imagination soaring while it sent my emotions racing in every possible direction. I had found my reading love.
I had always been a fan of fantasy and after reading so many of these supernatural based horror stories, but I wanted something more like what I had just read. Something like the Odyssey cartoon we had seen in the library at school. Luckily, my friend had similar tastes in reading and told me of a great series that he had read and thought I would like.
He then loaned me the first two books of the Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore; Homeland and Exile. I read through the books as quickly as I could, picking up on the strange names, locations, and creatures that abounded.
My love for fantasy continued throughout my grade school years, many times at the expense of my schoolwork. I remember in 11th grade where we were supposed to read The Scarlet Letter for English class. However, instead, I continued to read the second great fantasy series of my life, The Belgariad and Mallorian series by David and Leigh Eddings. There have been others since, but none that made their way into the same lofty pedestal as these two reading pleasures had obtained until the summer of 2002.
I hadn’t found anything that I particularly wanted and as the gift card, like money, seemed to burn a hole in my pocket in those days, I needed to spend it.
I hadn’t been reading as many books since I had been in college as I did in high school. I found the books that I had to read there were pretty interesting and between my full time load in college, homework, and working either a full time job or a full and a part time job, as well as seeing as many movies as I could pack in and a new love for comic books, there was just not the time in the day to read allot of books.
So, when I was walking through and saw a small area of books for sale, it’s surprising that I even stopped to look. I must admit that I have been a collector ever since I got my first job and at this time, even though I wasn’t reading them as much, I was still a book collector. I had started my own mini-library. So, I glanced over the small selection of books and one in particular caught my eye. It was an oversized paperback of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
I tried to remember what I had heard about it. I had spoken to a few people who said that it was amazing, but looking at the picture of an awkward looking young boy on a broomstick with a unicorn running in the background, I was unconvinced to say the least. I imagined it being like the few fantasy books that I had found in our Junior High library that were solely set for young kids and which probably would not be nearly as enjoyable at my current age. I flipped it over and read the back. It didn’t seem too bad and after picking up what I found to be the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I did the same. I remember putting them back down and nearly leaving the store empty handed, but as I would not be spending my own money and I had heard good things I decided to pick them back up and bring them up to the counter. I used my gift card to purchase the books and brought them home.
It would be a few months before I even thought about them again. However, as happens from time to time, I get the urge to read. I don’t know where it comes from, but when I get it, it is better to comply than to fight it. So, I walked around my room, scanning the shelves and titles of the hundreds of books that I had purchased over the past few years trying to find something that would satiate this burning desire.
At last my eyes scrolled across: ROWLING YEAR 1 HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE SCHOLASTIC. I pulled the book and thought to myself, “Why not?” I still expected young kid’s fare to be inside, but if so, nobody had to know and who knows, maybe it would actually be worth the read.
The first read through a book is always the longest as you are acquainting yourself with new characters, locations, words, writing style, and ideas. However, the print was pretty big and I quickly found that the story was quite gripping. Before I knew it, the first book was over and the second book was in my hands. I was speeding through these novels enjoying every second, but those seconds would soon be up as I was nearing the end of Chamber of Secrets. So, after school and before work, I made a quick run to the local book store to find the third book. I was in luck. Having only seen them before in the art supply store, I didn’t know how big the following for them already was.
I expected to find a few copies of each book on a shelf somewhere in the store, but when I found them it was more like an entire section with many different types of each book. As I had so thoroughly enjoyed the first two books, I decided to shell out a little extra to buy The Prisoner of Azkaban in hardback. I also quickly found that the fourth book was out as well, The Goblet of Fire. I was shocked at the size of this behemoth. Where the first two books were about normal size and even the third was about the normal size for a hardback, the fourth book was enormous. I took the books back home and quickly finished Chamber of Secrets before moving on to the next two.
I loved the ominous tones two the first two, even though the first was mostly about the magic of the world, the second really started to shift towards a darker shape. The word Voldemort had almost taken power over me by the black nature of the word in the books. However, neither compared to the depths obtained in the third book. It was amazing. It was by far my favorite to that point.
Next came Goblet of Fire which took the magic of the first book and soared to unprecedented levels while interweaving the exquisite darkness of the third throughout. It was another great masterpiece in my mind, but I had loved the third so dearly that Goblet of Fire could not surpass it at that point. I remember thinking that Sorcerer’s Stone was a 9 as was Chamber of Secrets, Goblet of Fire was a 10, and Prisoner of Azkaban was a 10+.
At this point, though, I was stuck. I had nearly a year until the next book would be released and I was on a reading high. So, I ended up reading The Hobbit for the first time, which later fueled my love for Lord of the Rings. I also continued to read the series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels that were being released. However, for the first time it had also, for some still unknown reason to me, given me the desire to try other books outside of the fantasy realm. It was during this period of a year that I read The Catcher in the Rye, Utopia, The Scarlet Letter, The Illiad, Animal Farm, and 1984.
Then, on June 21, 2003, the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released. I remember working at a video rental store that night and not getting off until around 2 a.m. On my way home, I stopped by Wal*Mart to see if they would have a copy as they were pretty much the only store still open at that time of night. I planned on going back to the small book section to try to find one, but shortly after entering the store I saw a huge palette of books in the middle of the main walk behind the registers. I was elated to see that these were Order of the Phoenix and after buying one for around $12 or $13 quickly grabbed a copy, checked out, and sped home. After taking 7 days to read Goblet of Fire, I blew through the new book, a full 120 pages longer at 870 pages in three days. This book was amazing. It took the two things I loved about the forth book, the mixture of the adventure and dark tones/material and flipped them where it was much darker. This quickly became my favorite book at the time. However, I was almost disappointed as I was now up-to-date on the series and would have quite the wait until the next book would arrive. It was during this time that I first became aware of the online Harry Potter presence with whole site dedicated to the books, history, explanations, theories, and spoilers.
It would be two years, nearly to the date until I would pick up the books again. I had read completely through the R.A. Salvatore Drizzt series again as well as the Belgariad and Mallorean and decided to go back and give the Harry Potter books another read. There was a month until the next installment would be released, so I wanted to make sure that I was ready for it and had everything from the first five books at the front of my mind. However, I overestimated how long it would take me to reread the five books and 17 days later, I was finished. This left me time to fit in R. A. Salvatore’s The Cleric Quintet before the sixth book was released.
On July 16, 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released. I had only been living by myself, in my new house for a year at the time next door to my brother when the book was released. During this time he had decided to give the series a shot as well and thoroughly enjoyed it. So, on the 15th, we drove out to one of the better book stores in our area. We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant called Macaroni Grille before coming inside for the fun and games the store offered for the launch.
We saw people dressed up as their favorite characters and participated in a Harry Potter quiz as well as a Harry Potter trivia for prizes. Then, at midnight, the moment we all had been waiting for arrived. Lines ran the length of the store and around shelves. I had pre-ordered the Special Edition of the book and quickly went to the line for it. Not long thereafter, we both had our copies and quickly made our way back home. As he had work in the morning, I left the inside car light on so he could read on the way home. I brought my copy inside and decided to read a couple of chapters before bed. However, I looked up a few hours later and realized how late… or should I say early it was. I went to bed so that I could function at work the next day.
Immediately after work though, I was back to the book, which around 7 a.m. the next morning I had to put down again. Finally, that evening I made it back to the book and finished it about 48 hours after purchasing it. It was a great book. I noticed that the material was becoming more and more adult as it continued and remained dark and ominous. It did not manage to surpass the fifth book in my eyes, but was still amazing.
I still remember, though, the emotion that I felt as I read through the battle in Hogwarts and the death of the most powerful character in the book. I remember quickly after I finished reading, finding places where people were putting their thoughts and ideas and posting my own, including multiple ways that Dumbledore may not actually be dead. This may still very well be the death that impacted me the most in any of my reading over the years.
It was again over a year until I read any of the Harry Potter books. In October of 2006, I decided to read through Half Blood Prince for a second time. This was the first and only time that I read a Harry Potter book out of order, but I had questions from things that I had read online and theories that I wanted to test a bit.
I couldn’t kick the need to reread the entire series, though and with the 7th and final book looming on the horizon, I had to read them all again. So, it was the summer of 2007. I was working an 8-5 job during the day and working a part time job on the weekends doing a survey of boat ramp usage for the local power plant which provided me ample reading time. I would read at night during the weekdays after work and most of the day on the weekends between my responsibilities doing the survey.
On May 13, 2007, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was back in my hand and one month later, I was ready for the release of the final book. I had about a month left before this would happen and I was on edge for the release. My hopes were sky high for this book as the series had already been a masterpiece that would be regarded as one of the greats of all time. All that was needed was a solid close.
So, on July 20, 2007 I made my way to the new closer Wal*Mart in our town where I found a line starting in the electronics area that made its way halfway across the store. This was shocking to me as I expected this at the bookstores, but not at Wal*Mart. Also, the mixture in the line was amazing; groups of teens, pairs of people in their twenties and thirties, parents with young children and/or teens, even some older people there by themselves to get their next Potter fix.
I had picked up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for myself and my brother and quickly made my way back home to start reading it. By this point my sister and father were also hooked on the book, so we had agreed to pass them around once we were done with them.
With my current hours, this did not take long. I read a few chapters that night and then many more the next day. By the time I went to sleep late that night/early the next morning, I was done. I quickly passed the book along to my father to read, but had to wait to discuss everything that happened with them until everyone had read it.
This did not take long as a week or so later, everyone had completed it and we were all able to talk about the final chapter in the series and our thoughts on it. I loved the book. However, it surprised me (although it should not have) that it was another complete story. Instead of writing a conclusion book, she had created another tale that happened to conclude the series. This is where my first disappointment with the series had come in. I had hoped for a few chapters at the end that would tell us what had happened after the time we had been in with all of the characters. We did get the final chapter that gives us a little insight into what happened next and found out even more from Q and A’s with J.K. Rowling afterwards. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the final book, I had just hoped for more wrap-up at the end.
So, it was late July of 2007 and I would be moving soon halfway across the country to live. It took a while to transition and then to settle in to my new home, but now, here I am in July of 2009. I started getting excited for the new movie a couple of weeks ago and watched the first five movies over again. I enjoy them, but they are not always my favorites. However, they still portray a bit of the magic that you feel when reading the books. So, it is no surprise that here I am halfway through the first book, planning on a full read through of the series over the next month or so.
It should also not be a surprise as to the time of year. It is July and the summer months seem to be perfect for Harry Potter and it has become a bit of a tradition. Out of the 8 years since I first started reading the books, this will be the fifth year that I have done so. Ever time has also fallen within the months of May – July. This will be the first time that I will read into August but it seems to remain to me that this is the time of the year for Harry Potter.
I owe allot to the books that have filled my life with so much enjoyment over the last eight years. They always allow your imagination to fly while assaulting your emotions at every turn. Here’s to you J.K. Rowling for giving us a series on par with the great stories of ours or any age. May Harry Potter and friends live on in our hearts and our minds, always.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
I Watched the Watchmen… Then I Read It Too
vs. 
So, I went to see the movie Watchmen as soon as it came out and had a hard time describing my feelings for it. I really enjoyed the film, but it was very different than I had expected. Instead of the normal action packed superhero film, you had more of a though provoking tale of a nation spiraling to its own doom, heroes of questionable character, and the occasional action scene thrown in for good measure.
I really enjoyed the quirky characters trying to uncover a plot bigger than they could ever imagine. They lived in a slightly different world than our own at that time, but you could see how our world could have easily been brought down a different path.
So, as I was having problems deciding on my overall feelings of the film, I decided to see where it originated and picked up the graphic novel, “Watchmen” at a local bookstore.
After waiting a little while to let the movie sink in, I began reading and was interested by the way the story in the movie closely followed the one in the book, but also, the extra information that you found in the book.
There are a few main differences between the movie and the book.
The first is the information that ends each chapter. Watchmen Graphic Novel is a comprised of 12 chapters. At the end of each chapter there is included extra data. In the beginning, we get excerpts from the book written by the original Night Owl. Later on we get psych evaluations on Rorschach, newspaper print about Sally Jupiter, and an interview with Adrian Veidt among other pieces.
These are really nice additions to the story that help fill out the great characters that we are only allowed to learn about for the one book.
The second difference is the comic within a comic. One character that continues throughout book that seems to portray the voice of the common man is a newpaper vendor on the streets of New York City. We see the headlines of the most current paper and he gives us insight into what the reaction to such events would be.
He has one customer who seems to be there everyday. He is a young black man who usually sits quietly smoking a cigarette and reading each new issue of a comic book while the newspaper vendor speaks his mind. We get little insight into the reader, but we do get pieces here and there of the comic that he is reading about a man who is on a ship that is destroyed by a ship of undead pirates. He washes up on shore and buries his shipmates before realizing that the pirates were heading in the direction that they were, back to their home city. In a frantic rush, he digs up his shipmates and makes a grisly raft out of them. After some crazy turns, he eventually makes it back home, but as he arrives, he believes that the pirates must have already arrived and those living would be the ones that turned on the others and made deals. So, he kills a couple out for a midnight ride before heading to his home. Once there he kills a man before his wife enters. He flees, only then realizing that the pirates had not come and that he was a murderer. He swims back out into the sea ready to die when he sees the ship and has another realization. They have come for him alone.
I have to say that I did not get very much out of the story in a story aspect here. I realize that there are supposed to be parallels between the two, which I would occasionally pick up on, but for the most part, it just slowed down the read and occasionally jumbled it up a bit. I was much happier with the end of chapter data than I was with this element of the story.
The third major difference that stands out is the method of destruction that Adrian Veidt uses. In the movie, he just has explosions, whereas in the book he has the giant extraterrestrial octopus that kills people with its psionic shockwave when it dies. This I’m a bit passive on. I thought that it worked fine in the movie the way it was. However, in the book it is a culmination from some earlier information that makes the payoff better.
So, in the end, I have to say that I liked both the movie and the book form of Watchmen. Judging them by each other, I would have to say that I enjoyed the book a bit more. Both are well worth the while though. I do have to disagree with those that hold the book aloft as one of the great books or even comic books. I think that the distinction here comes from the comic within the comic. Those who hold it on such a pedestal must have enjoyed that aspect much more than I and probably took more from it than myself as well, for I can easily see this as being one of my more favorite comics, at least, had it not been included.
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