A Plane Ride Well Spent

USA Time: 11:23 am

Addis Abeba time: 6:18 pm

Wow. So I finished Harry Potter about 20 minutes ago. I'm sort of incredulous that I've already finished. I slept a great deal, and ate some yucky airplane food, but it was exciting enough 

So Sean was a butt and told me that Dumbledore died. It really annoyed me, because I'd taken such extreme precautions tonot read spoilers, although they were prevalent everywhere.

I really thought that Dumbledore would die in Voldemort's cavern because I knew he was going to die. Probably had I not known overtly, I would have thought that Dumbledore was as invincible in terms of character longevity as Harry himself. I wouldn't have had the edge-of-my-seat anxiety during that scene.

I realize that each book has two components, as I was thinking about what reene said about the book picking up at page 500.

They have the "day-to-day" Hogwarts life section. There are intimations and small pieces that contribute to the overarching storyline, but overall, it's going to class, negotiating friends and love life, Quidditch, etc.

Then there's also (to steal a Buffyism) "The Big Bad". In the PoA movie, they had to essentially cut out the former section to make enough room for the latter.

Most people probably like the latter better. The action, the adventure, the suspense. But reading Half Blood Prince while on the plane made me realize that one of the reasons I didn't like the PoA movie as much is because I rather like the former.

I get much more sucked into the story when I follow a day to day life, as the seasons go. I feel far more that I'm there. I like the interaction of characters that I've followed for 6 books now. And yes, the impending doom of Voldemort is always there, but despite deaths in books 4, 5 and 6, I still have this mental image of Voldemort as Tom Riddle, sort of weird and creepy and alienated with no friends, discovering that his mother hadn't cared enough to stay alive to take care of him.

Or seeing the shame of his noble wizarding family. Or it could also be his introduction as part of stuttering Professor Quirrell... but I really just don't perceive him as menacing.

In actuality, I find the Death Eaters to be scarier, like I find anyone imbued with fanaticism. To feel empowered by that sort of devotion enough to do things that you wouldn't normally do. Bad things! That's just nutty!

So yea, I didn't find myself slowed by the non-action part of the story. I wish that