Tag: Pets

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The Bookish Owl – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban owl

Enjoy Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling!

This is another Harry Potter book, which means Artemis the owl is not happy.

It might have something to do with me once considering naming him ‘Pigwidgeon’…

Once again, rereading these books as an adult has turned out to be both awesome and infuriating. Awesome because they’re still great and entertaining books, infuriating because I’m sounding more and more like Mrs Weasley for every book. These kids are totally irresponsible, but even worse: what kind of headmaster urges thirteen year old kids to go back in time, dodge a rabid werewolf, steal a hippogrif out from under the noses of law enforcement, just so they can fly around to save a convicted murderer from soul-eating monsters?!

Why don’t you do it yourself, you crazy old bat?!

I have some unresolved Dumbledore issues, yes.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by J. K. Rowling

When the Knight Bus crashes through the darkness and screeches to a halt in front of him, it’s the start of another far from ordinary year at Hogwarts for Harry Potter. Sirius Black, escaped mass-murderer and follower of Lord Voldemort, is on the run – and they say he is coming after Harry. In his first ever Divination class, Professor Trelawney sees an omen of death in Harry’s tea leaves . But perhaps most terrifying of all are the Dementors patrolling the school grounds, with their soul-sucking kiss.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban owl

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The Bookish Owl – Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Here we go with Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett.

This was another Discworld reread (surprise, surprise). This one is about witches, wizards, gender roles, and of course, horrible monsters from another dimension.

It also has Granny Weatherwax, who, in the eyes of the wizards of Unseen University, might very well be both a witch and a horrible monster from another dimension.

I want to be Granny Weatherwax when I grow up.

Equal Rites
by Terry Pratchett

On Discworld, a dying wizard tries to pass on his powers to an eighth son of an eighth son, who is just at that moment being born. The fact that the son is actually a daughter is discovered just a little too late. The town witch insists on turning the baby into a perfectly normal witch, thus mending the magical damage of the wizard’s mistake. But now the young girl will be forced to penetrate the inner sanctum of the Unseen University–and attempt to save the world with one well-placed kick in some enchanted shins!

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

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The Bookish Owl – The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

We’re delving into horror this time with The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

I know my last post very specifically didn’t feature Artemis, but I do have a lot of book owl photos I need to do something with, so you will still have to put up with these posts. I promise I will try to write more non-owl posts, but honestly, I’m not all that interesting. My idea of a wild night out is when a Dungeons & Dragons session gets a little intense…

On to the book stuff: I wanted to read ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ after watching the Netflix show loosely based on it (and absolutely loving it), even though I knew the book would be a lot different. It has now been a while since I finished the book and I’m honestly still not sure how I feel about it. I think I missed some more actual horror – it’s fine to have the book be mostly about the psychological effect the events have on the characters, but without more focus on the things that happens to cause said effect, it’s hard to truly relate.

I also think the book suffers from the same minimalism writing as many other old classics – I don’t need everything spelled out for me, but I would like it if most of the story wasn’t told between the lines.

But all in all I didn’t hate this book.

The Haunting of Hill House
by Shirley Jackson

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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The Bookish Owl – Eric by Terry Pratchett

Eric by Terry Pratchett

I bring you… Eric by Terry Pratchett.

That’s the title. Just Eric. Surprisingly, it’s a book about a boy named Eric. Eric tries to summon demons. Eric ends up summoning Rincewind, because this is Discworld, and obviously a cowardly wizard is going to be accidentally summoned by a weird 12-year old.

This is the part of the book that makes the most sense, but then again, I’m rather used to Rincewind books just being one endless line of crazy. We got time travel, lost civilizations, and Hell being run by a bureaucrat.

Good times.

Anyway, look how cute and bright-eyed Artemis looks in this photo! I bet he’s afraid Eric will summon him if he finds out he’s really a demon in owl disguise…

Eric
by Terry Pratchett

Discworld’s only demonology hacker, Eric,is about to make life very difficult for the rest of Ankh-Morpork’s denizens. This would-be Faust is very bad . . . at his work, that is. All he wants is to fulfill three little wishes: to live forever, to be master of the universe, and to have a stylin’ hot babe.

But Eric isn’t even good at getting his own way. Instead of a powerful demon, he conjures, well, Rincewind, a wizard whose incompetence is matched only by Eric’s. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, that lovable travel accessory the Luggage has arrived, too. Accompanied by his new best friends, there’s only one thing Eric wishes now—that he’d never been born!

Eric by Terry Pratchett

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The Bookish Owl – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Time for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling!

I hope you’re enjoying the Monday – I’m mostly just running around, trying to prevent my patio furniture from flying away. There’s really no other sensible thing to do in this weather than to burrow underneath a blanket with a book and not come out unless absolutely necessary.

Obviously you all know this specific book – if you don’t, I can only assume you’ve been locked in a cupboard for the past twenty years.

If so, that’s okay. No judgment here.

It is of course the sequel to this one, which I only link to because it is by far my favorite owl photo.

It’s nice to revisit these books, but I had blissfully forgotten exactly how awful Gilderoy Lockhart is… I have a feeling I might turn homicidal once I get to Umbridge.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
by J. K. Rowling

The Dursleys were so mean that hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he’s packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls’ bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley’s younger sister, Ginny.

But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone–or something–starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects…Harry Potter himself?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets