Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - Book #6

*If you haven't seen the movies or read the books there are major spoilers in here - you've been warned!

A few weeks ago I came home and found a trail of blocks leading me from the hall to this message:

It gave me a good laugh!  For those of you who don't know, Burke calls me pudding (usually just "pud").  It started out as a joke making fun of weird pet names people have for each other and somehow it stuck.  So now we are one of those couples with weird pet names that we were trying to make fun of it the first place!  Jokes on us. :)

Anyway, I loved seeing this message because I am always the one wanting to read and I loved that Burke was into the book enough to want to finish it too!  Our year of Harry Potter is swiftly coming to an end with our most recent conclusion of book #6 in the series.  I only read each of the last 3 books once and I think I read this one when I was 16 or 17, so in a lot of ways I was reading it fresh with Burke and enjoying the same surprises as he was.  I love how interwoven with all the danger and intrigue Harry is experiencing, there is the elements of light-hearted relationship drama, love triangles and couples "snogging" all over the castle.  One moment Harry is saving the wizarding world with Dumbledore and the next he is day dreaming about Ginny Weasley or listening to Lavender Brown slobber over her "Won-Won".  Golden.

The time Harry gets to spend intimately learning from Dumbledore in this book is priceless.  Of course, any literary fool can tell that Dumbledore is about to follow the same path as Obi Wan Kenobi and the countless other "mentor" characters who have to bite the dust in order for the hero to rise to his call.  I admit it - even though I knew it was coming I totally cried the first time I read it.  

Dumbledore is such a phenomenal character in the book with his omniscient-like understanding, his wry humor and his tenderness towards his students, especially Harry.  I love how he is unfailingly polite, even at the scene of his death, and how he never looses his temper even when Cornelius Fudge is acting like a pompous windbag.  And THAT is one of the biggest reasons I am not a huge fan of the movies.  The man who plays Dumbledore in the first 2 films (before he died in real life) was far too wheezy and frail, while the actor who took over the role completely missed the mark, creating an aura of sternness rather than warmth which destroys the heart of the character.  MAJOR disappointment.

My other big beef with the film version was the completely superfluous scene where Bellatrix Lestrang and the werewolf dude, Grayback, show up at the Weasley's home on Christmas.  There is a ridiculous chase through the cornfields before they fly towards The Burrow, causing it to explode in flames, but it's not even in the book!  Ok, so they add this pointless scene and then there is not a single fight at Hogwarts at the end of the story when the Death Eaters show up.  Nothing about Bill Weasley getting mangled by Grayback, nothing about the DA members helping the Order of Phoenix defend the school.  In the film, Bellatrix just explodes a bunch of windows and they march out of the castle unchallenged.  WHAT?!  If the point of the added cornfield scene was to create more drama/action why on earth would you eliminate the most intense, action-packed scene of the entire book?  L-a-m-e.

Back to the book, there are so many great moments in this book - Ron thinking he took the luck potion and playing Quiditch like never before, Harry taking Luna to Slughorn's Christmas party, all the revealing Voldemort memories, Romilda Vane trying to slip Harry a love potion and getting Ron instead, learning about the Horcrux, etc.  And I know that there was one particular line that hit me so strong...but I can't find it now and I can't remember who said it, so you'll have to do without my philosophizing this time! :)

On to battle with Voldemort - can't wait!