A's bookshelves that I had included in this virtual tour on my collection of books have featured today on Papertigers under their Around the World in 100 Bookshelves feature. Please take a look.
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Today is the day for HP 6. Check out this review by A over at Zealot Readers.
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A new school year. Prefect badges. Harry is Quidditch captain. Having done well in their OWL, the trio is all set to take subjects of their choice. A new Potions teacher who accepts 'Exceeds Expectations' in Potions leads Harry and Ron to return to Potions. Books? Well, they just pick up old books from the cupboards.
A master stroke by Rowling, which puts an unusual book into Harry's hands. Now Harry is not only 'the boy who lived', he is also a potions whiz! Making him the top candidate for Professor Slughorn's page 3 ...err... gallery of collectible stars.
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All seems well, though it apparently is not. What about the strange actions of Draco Malfoy? Has he really been inducted among the Death Eaters? The recruits certainly seem to be getting younger- a comment on terrorism and the way very young children get pushed into it. Pawns in a war not of their choice. Certainly it is cause for worry for Draco's mother, who ropes in Snape to protect and assist him.
What makes Snape take on this responsibility? Is he a double agent? Pretending to be loyal to Dumbledore and acting for Voldemort? There is also the fact of his having overheard the prophecy, that Harry comes to know of purely by chance. Doesn't that make him blacker than he is, since it would undoubtedly be he who went to Voldemort with that information?
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Romance. How can we have a story involving 16-17 year olds without it? It blossoms in every heart. Dark theme or not. There is love, longing, infatuation, kissing, jealousy, hatred- the full range. There is also love potion and the brewing of it-
Amortentia: It smells differently to different persons, based upon their individual likes. Quoting from the Harry Potter wikipedia:
"It has a different aroma for everyone who smells it, reminding each person of the things that they find most attractive, even if the person themselves don't acknowledge or are unaware of their fondness for the object of their affection e.g. Hermione Granger smells fresh cut grass, new parchment and spearmint toothpaste. Harry Potter smelled treacle tart, a broomstick, and 'something flowery that he thought he might have smelled at the Burrow' (which he later realized as the smell of Ginny Weasley's hair). Ron Weasley smelled his mother's cooking, bacon and the perfume he gave Hermione in their 5th year for Christmas."
A question to my readers- what would it smell of to you?
For me- New books, jasmine and the first rains on parched earth.
4 comments:
Answer to your love potion question
1. Old Spice
2. like you, the smell of earth after the first rains
3. Freshly chopped onions, tomotoes with a pinch of corriander (WHAT? I love food)
4. RD's old T shirt :)
and I admit here, I hated it when Harry kissed Cho..I so wanted to hit him then :)
According to me 6th Book was one of my favorite.
The Half Blood Prince simply captures my heart. The way the Snape character is etched and groomed is simply too good.
And as for the smell of love potions, I think it would be the smell of melting cheese and jasmine
@RM: No, I didn't laugh when you mentioned the food; it made me think of bhel-puri on chowpatti.
Yeah, Cho. Reminds me of how Ginny didn't want her to go with Harry to show him the Ravenclaw common room, and preferred having Luna take him instead.
@Mathangi: Loved the way Snape's character is brought to us. Fell for him, actually, after watching Alan Rickman's portrayal of him. Went back and watched Die Hard on that count.
Maybe I should do a post on Snape. Sometime soon.
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