30 Day Harry Potter Challenge ~ Day 2

Today Is:

Day 2: Favorite Film

Oh, wow this one is a little harder. I found that the movies while good didn’t and weren’t able to give all the details from the book. And while that is normal some of the details the book gave compared to the movies were very much needed in order to understand some important things. Add to it that my favorite book was the Order of the Phoenix and I didn’t think the movie compared at all (again that is standard). So, in order to pick a favorite movie, I had to really think about what was the movie that gave me the most feels for lack of a better word. What movie made me really go YOU SHOULD TOTALLY WATCH THIS!

And honestly the movie that I felt the most about was Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows pt. 2, but I don’t feel like that is the one that I promote the most because if you haven’t see the whole serious it loses it’s emotional punch. So instead what movie that I can sit and watch over and over, yet never really get tired of is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. There is something about this movie that really makes me happy and sad. I love the tent scene at the beginning with Harry saying “I love magic” all the way through to the dragon scene during the games to looking at the port keys and discovering other means of travel. To the sad ending that I knew was coming and yet didn’t want to see. Also, David Tennent anyone?!

Previous & Upcoming Topics

Day 1: Favorite Book

Day 2: Favorite Film

Day 3: Favorite Male Character Book

Day 4: Favorite Female Character book

Day 5: Favorite Friendship

Day 6: Favorite ship

Day 7: Character Most Like You

Day 8: Favorite Hogwarts Professor

Day 9: Your Hogwarts House

Day 10: Favorite Spell

Day 11: Favorite Quote

Day 12: Saddest part of any film/book

Day 13: Snape – good guy who did bad or bad guy who did good?

Day 14: Books or Film?

Day 15: Favorite mythical beast

Day 16: Character I would bring back

Day 17: Favorite lesson

Day 18 : Opinion on Draco

Day 19: Favorite cast member

Day 20: Two people who I ship

Day 21: Opinion on cursed child

Day 22: Opinion on fantastic beast

Day 23: Favorite magical object

Day 24: Favorite defense against the dark arts teacher

Day 25: What could you want the ending to be if you could change it

Day 26: Favorite location

Day 27: Least favorite male character?

Day 28: Least favorite female character?

Day 29: Favorite room at Hogswart

Day 30: Favorite family

30 Day Harry Potter Challenge ~ Day 1

And so we begin...

Today is:

Day 1: Favorite Book

Summary: There is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it’s haunting Harry Pottter’s dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?

Harry has a lot on his mind for this, his fifth year at Hogwarts: a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey; a big surprise on the Gryffindor Quidditch team; and the looming terror of the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams. But all these things pale next to the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named---a threat that neither the magical government nor the authorities at Hogwarts can stop.

As the grasp of darkness tightens, Harry must discover the true depth and strength of his friends, the importance of boundless loyalty, and the shocking price of unbearable sacrifice.

My Thoughts: My favorite book of the series is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. There is something that feels like a fundamental shift in the story at that book. It almost feels like this is the book where it all becomes real and Harry must grow up. I still feel like before this book Harry was just “playing” the victim and hero. In this story it’s almost as if shit gets real. Harry must learn that shutting out people and not taking advice seriously can cause damage. In this book we see him feeling utterly alone and yet discovering that he isn’t. This book was the changing point from light kids book to adult book for me and one of the reasons I will start a lot of my re-reads from this story line. I found that once this book hit that I had to go back and re-read them all up to this and then I had to wait FOREVER before I could get the next. This is the book that made me an utter devoted loyal fan.

Upcoming Days

Day 1: Favorite Book

Day 2: Favorite Film

Day 3: Favorite Male Character Book

Day 4: Favorite Female Character book

Day 5: Favorite Friendship

Day 6: Favorite ship

Day 7: Character Most Like You

Day 8: Favorite Hogwarts Professor

Day 9: Your Hogwarts House

Day 10: Favorite Spell

Day 11: Favorite Quote

Day 12: Saddest part of any film/book

Day 13: Snape – good guy who did bad or bad guy who did good?

Day 14: Books or Film?

Day 15: Favorite mythical beast

Day 16: Character I would bring back

Day 17: Favorite lesson

Day 18 : Opinion on Draco

Day 19: Favorite cast member

Day 20: Two people who I ship

Day 21: Opinion on cursed child

Day 22: Opinion on fantastic beast

Day 23: Favorite magical object

Day 24: Favorite defense against the dark arts teacher

Day 25: What could you want the ending to be if you could change it

Day 26: Favorite location

Day 27: Least favorite male character?

Day 28: Least favorite female character?

Day 29: Favorite room at Hogswart

Day 30: Favorite family

Review ~ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowlings

Title: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Author: JK Rowlings
Copyright: 2000
Type: Young Adult
Hours: 11 hours 48 minutes
Series: 
Book 3 in the series

Reason for Listening:
Absolutely love this series and thought it would be fun to hear it in audio version.

Summary from Goodreads:
For most children, summer vacation is something to look forward to. But not for our 13-year-old hero, who's forced to spend his summers with an aunt, uncle, and cousin who detest him. The third book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series catapults into action when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the Dursleys' dreadful visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a monstrous balloon and drift up to the ceiling. Fearing punishment from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon (and from officials at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who strictly forbid students to cast spells in the nonmagic world of Muggles), Harry lunges out into the darkness with his heavy trunk and his owl Hedwig.

As it turns out, Harry isn't punished at all for his errant wizardry. Instead he is mysteriously rescued from his Muggle neighborhood and whisked off in a triple-decker, violently purple bus to spend the remaining weeks of summer in a friendly inn called the Leaky Cauldron. What Harry has to face as he begins his third year at Hogwarts explains why the officials let him off easily. It seems that Sirius Black--an escaped convict from the prison of Azkaban--is on the loose. Not only that, but he's after Harry Potter. But why? And why do the Dementors, the guards hired to protect him, chill Harry's very heart when others are unaffected?

Thoughts/Opinions:
Jim Dale the man who narrates this novel does a fantastic job of not only remembering what each character sounds like but by keeping them all sorted and slightly different. I really enjoyed listening to this book. It brought back good memories for me and at the same time forced me to slow down and savor it. When I read it the first time I push through so fast that I hardly remembered the small details that were so greatly important later on.
I also enjoyed it because it half way brought back the movies to me and filled in the gaps that the movies left out...
Mr. Dale does a fantastic job with the pacing and keeping the story fresh. He never sounds tired or bored and I found his voice to be strangely hypnotic.
Great story (I am not going to review the actual story due to the fact SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE) however it was a fantastic 12 hours of sweet bliss to listen to. I found myself wanting to get back in the car to hear what would happen next.

My previous review of the books can be found here

Final Grade: 4 out of 5 stars

Would you Recommend this story: Yes it is an excellent series and the audio books do it complete justice.

Challenges
Audio Book Challenge
Out Do Yourself Challenge

Currently Listening To

Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Author: JK Rowlings
Genre: YA Fantasy
Length: 26.5 hours

Goodreads Summary
Harry Potter is due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His best friends Ron and Hermione have been very secretive all summer and he is desperate to get back to school and find out what has been going on. However, what Harry discovers is far more devastating than he could ever have expected.

ChallengesAudio Book Challenge

Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling

TITLE: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

AUTHOR: JK Rowling

TYPE: young adult, fantasy

AUDIO LENGTH: 8 hrs 17 minutes

SERIES

Yes 7 book series

REASON FOR LISTENING:

It is hands down one of my favorite series (shockingly enough there is only a handful of these) so I thought I would see what Harry Potter is like with audio. 

GOODREADS SUMMARY

Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable muggle aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's a wizard, just as his parents were.

But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright.

From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS

I have to admit that this audio was done very nicely. First off there were different voices that didn't make me clench in agony like a lot of people do. I understood each of the characters and who was talking solely based on his tone and pronunciations of each word. I was amazed how he kept them all straight to be honest. 

There really wasn't a down side to this series thus far. It obviously follows the book. The pacing was perfect there was influx to the voices so that you could hear him panting when the person was, or sighing, or crying. I did enjoy remembering all the characters and how they fit together. 

The only negative thing and trust me when I say it was small was how he would say Harry when he wanted to sound exacerbated or annoyed it was like Haaaarrrrreeee UGH got on my nerves. 

Shy of that everything else was rather enjoyable and I have to say I never imaged 8 hours of my life flying by so quickly. 

Recommend to a Friend? Yes if you enjoy audio books this is definitely a must listen to

Goodreads Grade: I think I gave it 4 out of 5 stars simply due to link and it is a first novel even for JK 

Keeping or Passing: I bought it ... sue me

Challenges:

Audio Book Challenge

Out Do Yourself Challenge

Currently Listening To: #HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowlings

Title: Harry Potter: And the Prisoner of Azkaban
Author: JK Rowlings
Series: Harry Potter #3
Length: 11 hours 48 minutes

Summary: 

For most children, summer vacation is something to look forward to. But not for our 13-year-old hero, who's forced to spend his summers with an aunt, uncle, and cousin who detest him. The third book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series catapults into action when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the Dursleys' dreadful visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a monstrous balloon and drift up to the ceiling. Fearing punishment from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon (and from officials at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who strictly forbid students to cast spells in the nonmagic world of Muggles), Harry lunges out into the darkness with his heavy trunk and his owl Hedwig.

As it turns out, Harry isn't punished at all for his errant wizardry. Instead he is mysteriously rescued from his Muggle neighborhood and whisked off in a triple-decker, violently purple bus to spend the remaining weeks of summer in a friendly inn called the Leaky Cauldron. What Harry has to face as he begins his third year at Hogwarts explains why the officials let him off easily. It seems that Sirius Black--an escaped convict from the prison of Azkaban--is on the loose. Not only that, but he's after Harry Potter. But why? And why do the Dementors, the guards hired to protect him, chill Harry's very heart when others are unaffected?

Challenges:
Audio Book Challenge

Currently Listening To

Title: Harry Potter: And the Sorceror's Stone
Author: JK Rowlings
Series: Harry Potter
Length: 8 hours and 17 minutes

Goodreads Summary: 
Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable muggle aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's a wizard, just as his parents were.

But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright.

From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.

Challenges:
Audio Book Challenge