Random quiz post

For once I'm not doing a quiz to trick y'all into thinking I regularly post. This one interested me.
Behold! A fully completed quiz.
If there are American typos that I've not picked up on, I apologise profusely.

1. Favorite childhood book?

Agent Angel, by Annie Dalton, and Harry Potter, by JK Rowling. Both of these series followed me well into my teens.

2. What are you reading right now?

From Notting Hill With Love… Actually, by Ali McNamara.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?

I don’t have any at the moment, due to awfully high overdue fees. I liked re-reading my books.

4. Bad book habit?

Starting one, flicking to the middle, and flicking to the end to decide whether or not I’ll read the whole thing. It was a smart move with Fitzwilliam Darcy: Rock Star, though I can’t imagine what possessed me to read it to begin with.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?

Again, none, due to the aforementioned overdues.

6. Do you have an e-reader?

I’ve downloaded the iBooks, Kindle and Bluefire apps on my phone – it makes for easy reading on the train trips to uni.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?

Several if I’m going to draw them out; if it’s a good enough book, I usually have it finished in a few hours so there’s no chance to have multiples.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?

Not really, except I’ve tried branching out a bit more. There’s a lot more that I’ve found through trawling review sites. My blog isn’t 100% devoted to books, obviously, so there you have it.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Lynn Regaud, or Unsticky, by Sara Manning. Can’t figure out why I read them. They were vapid reads, and Fitzwilliam Darcy: Rock Star just ruined Pride and Prejudice. Ruined it. Unsticky seems to be the book version of Pretty Woman, and Pretty Woman didn’t appeal to me either.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?

Not very often, though a notable exception was The Godfather – and that was awesome. Awesome in all the ways.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?

YA, adult fic, classics, historical fic and chick-lit.

13. Can you read on the bus?

Oddly enough, I can’t read books, but I can read on my phone just fine. Trains are easier to read on.

14. Favorite place to read?

My bed, or my parents’ lovely corner couch. The hammock used to be great for reading in too, before the dog claimed it as her own and broke it.

15. What is your policy on book lending?

I share, occasionally. If I like you I share.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?

Not intentionally, ever.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?

*gasp* Get thee out of here. Get out. No. You do not do that to books.

18. Not even with text books?

Okay, yes. I do this to my textbooks (well, more highlight). I also do it to my Bible.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?

English. I’m working on Spanish, I can understand bits but not enough to make my reading experience smooth.

20. What makes you love a book?

The characters have to draw me in. For instance, I just read The Jane Austen Marriage Manual (Kim Izzo) and The Wedding Season (Su Dharmapala). Both very generic chick lit formulas – I needed something very simple for post-op, and I was sick of slogging my way through big texts courtesy of uni. JAMM had nothing to offer in the way of characters – why anyone would go for Kate is beyond me, and every character was two-dimensional and boring. The Wedding Season, however, was brilliant – because of the characters. Heck, even the four-year-old was realistic.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?

Friends, covers, and my old school librarian, Gloria.

22. Favorite genre?

YA, primarily. Chick lit is just not as good as it used to be, whereas YA just goes from strength to strength.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)

Fantasy. When I find the right fantasy, I get into it to near Potter levels, but I don’t know enough authors to keep my reading up.

24. Favorite biography?

David Sedaris, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Okay, it’s memoir, but it’s amazing and brilliant and why can’t I be David Sedaris unghhhhhh

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?

I don’t think so. Self-help books are hilarity.

26. Favorite cookbook?

Marie Claire Kitchen, and anything Donna Hay. Donna Hay is a complete genius and I want to become the monster that lives in her kitchen devouring all her baked goods. Sort of like Cookie Monster, except baked goods are an always food.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. It made me realise that my gosh, my life is good.

28. Favorite reading snack?

Tomato soup. Odd, I know. Also enjoy two-minute noodles.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.

Could not understand the appeal of Eragon, nor the Sookie Stackhouse series. Both of them were boring as anything and, in the case of SS, was filled with way too much sex for me to consider it normal. Why does vampirism equal higher-than-average sexytimes, as opposed to the far more rational fleeing?

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?

Very rarely read critical reviews.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?

If the book is horrifyingly bad, I am vocal. Actually, no matter what, I’m vocal. Thankfully I’ve not read a lot of books that  I openly despise.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?

Spanish, because I want to read Neruda in Spanish. And The Shadow of the Wind (which I actually own in Spanish but is taking forever to get through). And Marquez. Spanish-language authors really are magnificent, and that’s reading a translation. Imagine how they must be in Spanish, which is an infinitely more beautiful language than English I do believe.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? 

Anna Karenina, because it was huge. Worth every page.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?

The Count of Monte Cristo, because I’ve heard so many things about it that are magnificent and I don’t want to be disappointed.

35. Favorite Poet?

Neruda. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that before, ever, because – I can’t keep up the sarcasm.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?

As many as they allow (so for the Richmond-Tweed libraries, that’s 20).

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?

Never. They all are read, repeatedly.

38. Favorite fictional character? 

I’ve covered this here.

39. Favorite fictional villain?

Voldemort. Oooh. I also like Wickham.

40. Books you’re most likely to bring on vacation?

Whatever’s on my phone, and whatever I can afford while I’m away.

41. The longest you’ve gone without reading.

Never more than a week or two.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.

Beastly. I liked the movie and the book was just blerghhhhh.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?

My thoughts, and occasionally story ideas.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?

Atonement, The Notebook, Pride and Prejudice 2005 (I await the rocks and spears)… and Beastly, because it was awesome and way better than the book.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?

Goblet of Fire and A Walk to Remember. GoF was way too rushed (so much awesome they missed). And, A Walk to Remember? Come on, whoever directed that. The book was amazing to begin with. Why did you have to make it so… painful?

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?

Probably a hundred or so. Would have been on a box set or just going all out and buying happiness.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?

Quite a bit. Voice is important for me.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?

Boredom. If the characters are just irritating, or the plot is ridiculous, or the writing is just atrocious, I’m ready to put them away.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?

I group by category (fiction/non), then by genre, then by author within genre.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?

Keep. They be my books.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?

Right now, just The Great Gatsby. The film’s coming out soon and I want to enjoy it as a film, before falling happily into the book.

52. Name a book that made you angry.

Atonement, Ian McEwan. But it was a perfect and brilliant anger, and I love that it made me angry.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?

Technically, not a book, but The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Also Nineteen Eighty-Four by the brilliant Orwell – dystopian fiction was not my thing at the time.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?

Asking for Trouble, by Elizabeth Young. I read it because it was meant to be the inspiration for The Wedding Date (Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney I think?), which I adore and have adored for years. It just wasn’t as punchy.

55. Favourite guilt-free, pleasure reading?

Chick-lit all the way. Apparently, being a media and communications student/vaguely literature student/writing student, I’m meant to be all high-brow and whatnot. Genre fic is brilliant though, and shouldn’t be discounted.

30 Days of Books, Day 27.

[The most surprising plot twist or ending.]

Call me crazy, but I was pretty surprised when I found out Aunt Petunia had written to Dumbledore, begging to be admitted to Hogwarts. In Philosopher's Stone, Petunia shrieks about Lily, admitting that she knew all along that Lily and James - and Harry, by default - were magical.

"How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that - that school - and came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak!... of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as - as - abnormal - and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"

Knowing Petunia's attitude towards the wizarding world, I didn't expect that she'd wanted much to do with it. I didn't even consider that she would have been close to Lily. She was "proud to say that [she] was perfectly normal, thank you very much".

However, in Deathly Hallows, all was revealed.

Petunia wanted to be a 'freak' as well.

She caught her sister's hand and held tight to it, even though Petunia tried to pull it away. "Maybe once I'm there - no, listen, Tuney! Maybe once I'm there, I'll be able to go to Professor Dumbledore and persuade him to change his mind!""I don't - want - to - go!" said Petunia, and she dragged her hand back out of her sister's grasp. "You think I want to go to some stupid castle and learn to be a - a -"Her pale eyes roved over the platform, over the cats mewling in their owners' arms, over the owls fluttering and hooting at each other in cages, over the students, some already in their long, black robes, loading trunks onto the scarlet steam engine or else greeting one another with glad cries after a summer apart." - you think I want to be a - a freak?"Lily's eyes filled with tears as Petunia succeeded in tugging her hand away."I'm not a freak," said Lily. "That's a horrible thing to say.""That's where you're going," said Petunia with relish. "A special school for freaks. You and that Snape boy... weirdos, that's what you two are. It's good you're being separated from normal people. It's for our safety."Lily glanced back towards her parents, who were looking around the platform with an air of wholehearted enjoyment, drinking in the scene. Then she looked back at her sister, and her voice was low and fierce."You didn't think it was such a freak's school when you wrote to the Headmaster and begged him to take you."

But, obviously, Petunia wasn't accepted.
I don't know why, but I often wonder that had Petunia held the mild interest in it that her parents held, rather than the desire to do what Lily did, and the jealousy that stemmed from being left behind - would Harry have grown up differently?

Who knows. Silly question, anyway, when the books are fabulous as they are.

Note: Quite obviously, all that text above is copyright of JK Rowling. 

Quintessentially Tash

I have been stalking Maija a fair bit recently.
Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but if you looked at my Twitter feed, Facebook page, and now this blog... Right. I think it's time for that restraining order, don't you?

Maija's post - written in September; I never said I was a good stalker - has inspired me to get off my butt and write you a post. It's mainly so I can flee the box-filled trauma that is my room, but nevertheless a post exists for you!

What makes me, me?
I think they're the things no one else has noticed. I have two freckles on the front of my neck. When I pointed them out to my family members as a way to identify me when I'm dead and all that's left of my charred remains is my neck, they just looked at me. "What freckles?" my aunty asked, confused. I pointed.
"These ones!"
"... Tash, if you get burned to death, it's hardly likely that your neck will be the only thing to survive," Dad said. "We'll have to identify you by your tooth."
Which isn't as appealing an option, as I don't know what my teeth look like and I have none that I particularly want associated with me (if I died today, I'd look ridiculous and my dentist would cry).

I have always thought I can talk to my dogs. Any other animals, I don't really try, but my dogs and I have always had long conversations about stupid things. You know, conversations about how eating Christmas Beetles isn't probably the most nutritious choice, but then again, neither's chewing on a piece of carpet.
This probably makes me insane.

I love Coldplay, because they have achieved the impossible - their music calms me down when I am mad. I don't know why, but I discovered this amazing skill when I was depressed. (Clinically so, not "my mother won't buy me a Chanel backpack my life sucks I'm so depressed hashtag firstworldproblems".) I don't know what possessed me to buy the Coldplay CDs, but I had $30 cash on me, and the CD shop had them bundled up nicely. X&Y, Parachutes and A Rush of Blood To The Head for $10 each? Eh. Why not?
When I came home and had a fight with my mother that I instantly wanted to solve by my own death (I had a cheery outlook on life), I figured I should probably not waste that thirty dollars. So I put in X&Y, and somehow... I don't know. Perhaps it's distraction techniques, but it calmed me down. And since then, I've been besotted. I am probably known at the local Sanity as being the Coldplay Girl, seeing as when Mylo Xyloto was coming out, the following exchanges took place:

SCENE 1: After finding out there's a new Coldplay album
Me: Excuse me, I've just heard there's a new Coldplay album coming out. I don't have a date, or a name. But I'm pretty sure it's the 4th of October. Or at least, that's when the pre-orders will be available.
Girl: Uh... okay. Let me just check.
Me: No problem. I'll just go look at this Johnny Depp poster.
Girl: There's nothing about it yet. Are you sure they meant Coldplay?
Me: ... yes. I'm sure.
Girl: [dubiously] Well, maybe come back in a few weeks. I might be able to find it then.

SCENE 2: A week later, after Coldplay has officially announced the album
Me: Hi! You probably don't remember me. I was in here about the Coldpl -
Girl: I remember.
Me: Right. Well, Coldplay has announced it now. See? [holds out phone, where email detailing Mylo Xyloto is happily glowing]
Girl: What's it called?
Me: I know. It's a strange name. I'm a bit scared to try pronouncing it, ha ha ha ha.
Girl: [types] Oh. There it is.
Me: Success! When's it coming out?
Girl: October 24.
Me: Excellent. I shall be back then to buy it.
Girl: You don't want to preorder it?
Me: Nah. Somewhere else might get it first. Well, thanks! Have a great day!

SCENE 3: The day before Mylo Xyloto is released
Me: Hi! I'm just wondering if you've gotten Mylo Xyloto in yet.
Different Girl: No! I'm sad.
Me: [not quite able to believe there's a fellow Coldplay lover at Sanity] Me too! I was hoping you'd have gotten it a few days early, like you did Offspring.
Different Girl: Apparently there's an embargo. How lame.
Me: Extremely lame. Anyway. I'll be back tomorrow then.
Different Girl: Awesome! I'll see you then!

SCENE 4: THE MOMENTOUS DAY
Me: Hello! Coldplay is out today!
Girl: ... we haven't had it delivered.
Different Girl: Don't worry. Come back around 1. They usually deliver then.
Me: I will be back at 1.
....
Me: Is it in yet?
Different Girl: No! Gah! Try a couple more hours.
Me: Will do!
...
Me: How about now?
Different Girl: We got a phone call from the courier. They're not bringing them in today.
Me: DANG.

I eventually got the CD after much craziness, but from a different CD store.

Right. Well. What else makes me me?
I have an unusual fondness for Harry Potter. Not because I want someone to say to me, "Yer a witch, Natasha," and ferry me off to Diagon Alley. I love the symbolism, I love how much detail and how much work she's put into the books, and I love how every bit ties neatly together. It might be English nerd of me, but I may have gone through all those books and deconstructed them for the sake of deconstructing them.

At the moment, my closest friend is my cousin Daniela. It always ends up this way. I fear I am turning her into a miniature (yet taller) me, but possibly with better music taste. She is a lovely girl, very sarcastic when she wants to be. She also has a fair bit more common sense and doesn't get overexcited about stupid things, such as Chameleon Circuit releasing a new album. ("So... they sing songs about Doctor Who?" "YES." "... You are a bit of a nerd. I'm not even apologising for saying it.") She is, however, great fun. I've noticed that whenever we get together to watch movies, it always ends with us ranting. "That doesn't even make any sense. Oh my gosh, that character is so lame. I could act better than them... hey, Tash, that was such a great movie, hey!"
We recently did this for Pirates of the Caribbean 1.
Daniela: "You know who I really hate? Elizabeth. Look at her. She was smarmy even when she was a kid."
Me: "I want to know just what part of Norrington can make that age difference okay. I mean, look. Imagine that as a photo on their mantlepiece. 'Elizabeth was twelve when we met, and I was already captain in the Royal Navy.' Why does he even want to marry her? He can marry me. I'm sure the age difference is what he's used to."
Daniela: "Also, why is Governer Swann's wig brown? Why do they all go white when they move to Jamaica?"
Me: "Urgh. Will Turner. Who invented that guy?"
Daniela: "Worst character decision ever. Look at him. Www....Will Ttturner. Pah. Learn to speak."
Me: "Why does Elizabeth have freckles, but suddenly not have them when she grows up? I mean, how is it physically possible that in England she gets freckles, but suddenly in Jamaica she's all freckleless and not riddled with cancer?"
Daniela: "Maybe she just turned into a giant freckle. Do you always watch this scene with Why Is The Rum Gone in your head?"
Me: "YES. I thought I was the only one who did that."
Daniela: "How hard can it be to call her Elizabeth? I call her Elizabeth."
Me: "Bet he went home and wrote all about calling her Elizabeth in his diary."
Daniela: "Ha! 'Dear Diary, I think Elizabeth likes me. Like, like likes me. She wants me to call her Elizabeth! I don't think I should propose yet, though. I might wait for a little while. Like, in the middle of a battle on Davy Jones' ship.'"
Me: "I am so glad they cut those two out in the end. Preacherboy for the win!"
Daniela: "Hush! Johnny Depp!"

I draw, and I write.
These two make me very happy. I wish I was better at drawing. According to my mother, this is very selfish as I am very good at drawing. I disagree, but whatever. This is the only picture, besides a picture of Ron I left in the tearoom at work to scare everyone, that I have uploaded to Facebook.

I don't like it very much. I much prefer fashion illustration.
I enjoy writing. Writing is a heck of a lot of fun.

Because I've realised it's nearly 10:30 and I am still lounging in my pyjamas (I'm a slob now), I'll wrap this up quickly with the thing that most makes me, me.

I'm a Christian.
I don't always live up to the standard that Jesus left me. Lately, I've been failing more than succeeding.
I know, however, that He loves me no matter what. He knew I'd trip over my own feet when He chose me.

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. - Romans 14:4

He still pulls me up and still calls me His daughter.
He shows mercy that I don't think I could even show, if someone slapped me in the face that many times. I know I couldn't show that.
And He is the epitome of flipping awesome, because He doesn't judge me based where I've come from. He doesn't say that because I'm a nearly-20-year-old who has suffered from depression and anxiety, who has a ridiculous love for Coldplay and Harry Potter, and who either takes things too seriously or not seriously enough, that I'll not do anything for Him except sit there and look pretty. He says that I can, and I will, do things. Because I'm His.

And that is cooler than anything.

I want to do another post similar to this next time, but sort of based off what the opening to my elusive novel is. So you have that to look forward to/dread.

30 Days of Books, Day 15.

What's that you're saying?
Two blog posts?
I'm nutty, whatever. Also, I somehow slept for three hours during the day. This has designated me the role of You Must Wait Up For The Washing Machine To Finish, and while I patiently await the ceasing of metallic whirring, I'll write for you guys.
Bet you're all so grateful.

Also, on the last post there was something known as Percy The Internet Monster Has Been Eating My Formatting With A Side of Worcestershire Sauce. I'll fix that when I wrestle the sauce bottle from Percy and lock him back up where he belongs (which is endlessly tormenting the Bieber fans over on Tumblr).

[Your favourite male character.]

Rockin' one pretty suave intense stare.

Ah, Remus Lupin. How I adore thee.
I first fell in love with your scruffy persona as I reached page 59 in my copy of Prisoner of Azkaban. How could I not? I realise I was only in grade 4 at the time, and could not possibly understand love. But I still loved you. Maybe it was the suitcase, maybe it was the awesomeness of being able to sleep through absolutely anything three teenagers concocted, then continue sleeping while Neville whimpered in the corner, only to wake up as Dementors sailed on through a train. And when you woke up and hoarsely commanded everyone to be quiet, then sent those Dementors packing?
My chubby nine-year-old fingers curled with suppressed glee at the introduction of such a great character.
You continued in exuding excellence for the remainder of your time in the novel. You were the prefect, but still had the touch of mischievousness that classed you as a Marauder. Who could forget your immortal line delivered to Severus Snape, composed on a tattered, magic-filled, parchment map?

Mr Moody presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.

Reading about you as a fifteen year old intrigued me. I was probably eleven at the time (awaiting the Hogwarts letter that never came; eight years on, I still live in hope that the owl was perhaps attacked by an eagle - common over here - and never finished the journey), and I'd also just gotten my first notable crush. Don't worry, Lupin, he wasn't nearly as cool as you. He didn't deliver witty comments, post-exam no less, about his werewolf status:

"Give five signs that identify the werewolf... think I [managed to get all the signs]," said Lupin seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors eager to get out into the sunlit crowds. "One: he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin."

I'll admit it - hearing about Nymphadora Tonks' interest in you made me a little queasy. Not that she's a bad person, of course. It was just at that moment that I had to learn some hard truths.
Namely, that you and I were not to be.
How could I compete? Not only could she have shocking pink hair and purple eyes, she could also transform into whoever you wanted her to be. I, unfortunately, had the power only to lose weight, and even that was something I did begrudgingly. And she was an Auror. I, meanwhile, was a high schooler who worked part time in a bookstore.
One thing seems cooler than the other.

Anyway, then your cowardice made you seem more human. My unrequited love didn't falter; I still waited in the wings, lurking about in case you decided that Tonks was too high maintenance with the hair-changing and the child-bearing (such a nuisance) and that you needed someone simple.
Of course, you died. That put the kibosh on our wedding plans more than you going back to Tonks did.

However, before you died, you managed to have some Lupin babies with Tonks. Teddy Lupin.
... sorry, Lupin. You'll always be my favourite, but I think I'm going to romantically pursue your son (in the most literary of ways). You don't mind, do you?

Notes to this post:

• I am not really in love with Lupin. At least, I'm fairly sure I'm not. I haven't fallen in love with a literary character before as I believe such a thing is physically impossible. Then again, in this world people also marry segments of the Berlin Wall. ["To the world, the Berlin Wall was a symbol of oppression. To Eija, it's her husband."] Regardless, this post is purely in the name of lulz and whatnot, and so if you stumble on this post - feel free to regard me as a lunatic. Just... not for being in love with Lupin.
• But Lupin still is my favourite character.
• I still have not gotten over David Thewlis being cast as Lupin. Worst casting choice ever, guys. I'm sure Mr Thewlis is perfectly agreeable, but LUPIN WAS MEANT TO BE AMAZING IN ALL WAYS. This included the whole smoulderfactor. 
• However, I believe Luke Newberry as Teddy was absolutely inspired, and for that, casting directors, you are forgiven a thousandfold.

Well, the wash has finished. 

Goodnight, and I hope my rambles amuse.

EDIT: You must read that article. It is fascinating. Confusing beyond all belief - I don't think I really want to know how one has a 'full, loving relationship' with a wall - but... it's certainly a read.

POST DH2 EDIT: I officially revoke all forgiveness, David Yates. You took away my Teddy Lupin. Not only did you kill Lupin (okay, that's JKR's fault, but... you could have made him not try and hold Tonks's hand, make it easier on all the Lupin fangirls), but you got me all excited about Luke Newberry AKA Perfect Teddy Lupin, and then? "Oh. Right. Uh, I'll put him on the DVD for you. I think. Soz."
Uncool, David Yates. You made me sadfaced.

30 Days of Books, Day 2.

[A book you've read 3 times.]

Flipping difficult.
Flipping, flipping, difficult.
I don't really read books from beginning to end more than once. I'm one of those abhorrent folk who flick through books once they've been read and go for my favourite moments.
Anyway, consulting my bookshelf for the most dog-eared, ruined copy of a book, I have found a book I most certainly know I have read three times over.

And I don't care what America says.
This is the right cover.
*insert immature nyah*

Hands down, this was my favourite Potter novel of them all. I can't quite figure out why, but there's a weird sense of joy I get from it. Maybe it's that, while reading the novels, I feel it's here that Rowling really gets into the swing of the novels, that pure sense of adventure that hurtles through the last five books in a clearer fashion than Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets.
Maybe it's the lack of Voldemort. I adore Voldemort (not in a creepy way; I'm not a huge fan of murderers but my writer-side emerges to go "That is one epically designed character" and froth), but there's something refreshing about Harry having to deal with another foe that's not Voldemort, and having to deal with things not being as they seem.
This is the novel that kicks things off for me. Yeah, the Horcrux did appear in CoS, but Pettigrew escaped in this one.

It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by those who once followed. Tonight, before midnight, his servant will break free and rejoin his master, and with that servant's help, the Dark Lord will rise again, greater and more terrible than ever before...

And from that, Voldemort ran free.

People may howl at me, but for all the beauty that the other novels possess, the intelligence and the respect for reading that are contained in the pages, I feel that this novel portrays them in the most accessible way. You can tell that Rowling understands the importance of words, and you become aware that she's passing those words down to the children who need to understand it as well.
I read this book when I was 8.
I'm still reading it today and being inspired.

For Christians out there who declare that Harry Potter is inappropriate reading, there is no instance where Rowling intends to turn children into witches and magic-folk. I'm a Christian myself, and I see no more problem with this series than with Lord of the Rings, or C.S. Lewis' Narnia series. The world Rowling has chosen to tell her tale in isn't a conventional one, but how else do you teach kids to take notice of things? 
The themes she portrays are no more different than any other YA novel - or adult one, for that sense.
She writes about confusion, about loss, about hurt, about pain.
She writes about friendship, unspeakable joy, and seizing the day.
She shows children that there are tasks that you're called to do, and no matter how big they are and how small you are, you CAN accomplish them.
And above all, it's a battle. About good vs evil, and about good triumphing in the end.
Isn't that what we all want?


Fantastic, amazing, and oh-my-gosh-all-the-sneaky-references-froth.