Harry Potter: The Memories!

Good Morning! Happy Harry Potter 7.2 Day! I'm assuming some of you are sleepy today after braving the midnight showing! If so, I'm a little bit jealous. But, I'm also excited because I'm seeing it this weekend with my husband. This is one of the things that we always do together, so I have to wait for him. And I'm okay with that because it's fun that he actually gets into Harry Potter with me.

Since this is The End *sob*, we thought it would be fun to share our favorite Harry Potter memories. And this includes you all as well! We definitely want to hear yours.

I know I've already shared my favorite here - reading the 7th book on the way to meet my son in Ethiopia. And then holding his tiny, sleeping hand while I finished the book. But, I now have a second favorite Harry Potter memory to go with that! Just in the past two weeks, I have allowed that baby, now 4 years old, to start watching the movies. Just the first two, mind you, but it has been such fun. I got all misty-eyed seeing him engrossed by the magic of Harry Potter. He and his owl Hedwig (yes, I helped him with the owl-naming :) sat and watched the whole thing. And since then, there have been chopsticks turned into wands and bats turned into broomsticks around my house. I cannot wait to share the books with him! Thank you, JK Rowling, for giving us Harry Potter to discover magic ourselves, and again through our children.

This is where I got misty-eyed. He loved it.

I have a confession to make: I'm not upset about this being the last Harry Potter movie. Not because I'm a heartless wench (well, okay, probably a little bit because of that) but because I went through my stages of grief after the last book. The movie is more like reminiscing about how much you loved that crazy uncle who died in the rock climbing incident. It's been long enough that you can enjoy the stories of his life without tearing up.

To increase my heart-of-stone reputation, I have another confession: unlike Stacie, and probably a lot of you, I don't have any specific warm-fuzzy-moments from Harry Potter. This probably has something to do with the fact that as each book would come out I would grab it, ignore everything else, and devour it as quickly as possible. It's hard to pick out particular moments when your day went "feed those responsible for you, read, dress, read, more food, read, say goodnight, stay up and read." That being said, I'm looking forward to seeing the books through my kids eyes. Reading them together will force me to slow down and savor them. But I can't promise special moments. I may not be a special moments kinda girl.

And that, my friends, is why I love Leigh. And why we balance each other out. I'm getting all teary writing this post, and she's all, "Whatever, last movie, what?"

Okay, your turn to share with us! Whether you're a raging sentimentalist like me, or a cold-hearted-bitch like Leigh (she likes it when I call her that), we want to hear your thoughts on The End. Your favorite memories of reading or seeing Harry Potter, or even your favorite moments from the books, we want to hear them!

How High the Cliff?

So, today Stacie and I thought we'd discuss something we've been seeing a lot of lately and get your thoughts on it: the cliffhanger ending.

Many of the books we read are actually series. And that's great! Because it means more of the characters we love! But what we love MORE is feeling the need to read the next book BECAUSE WE LOVE THE CHARACTER, not because we feel tricked into it because of the cliffhanger.


So very true. I like for things to be wrapped up, at least a little bit, while waiting for the next book. It's not like a sitcom where we only have to wait a week - we usually have to wait at least a year!




Exactly. I think the biggest problem with a cliffhanger ending isn't so much the wait as it is that I end up feeling like I paid for half of a book. The story needs to have SOME resolution.




Agreed. I'm all for a little cliffhanger action, so long as the major action in the book I've read has a resolution of some sort.





So, Acceptable Cliffhangers: Will the hot boy kiss her AGAIN? Does the big bad guy come back? Will the OTHER hot boy kiss her at all? Will her parents find out she snuck out to see hot boy? NOT ACCEPTABLE CLIFFHANGERS: MC's destiny will forever be shaped by this ONE EVENT THAT… you don't get to find out about until next book.



Timeless by Alexandra Monir actually did it well because there was resolution and I thought everything was finished, wrapped up with a pretty bow, and then WHAM. Cliffhanger. So, there was SOME resolution, but she set up the next book in a dramatic fashion.




I think Harry Potter did a great job of not leaving giant cliffhangers, and yet there was an incredible draw to always read the next book. I don't feel like the author has to beat me over the head with the drama to get me to read.




HP is an excellent example. Of course, those books followed a formula, so the reader knew there would be resolution. I think formulaic series (is that a term? it is now) are better at avoiding the cliffhanger.

And what do you think about The Hunger Games series? I remember my jaw dropping at the end of the first book - I had no idea I was reading a series. I immediately got up and checked to see when the next book would be coming out. But, I wasn't mad about the way the book was finished, just dying for more.


I actually think each book in The Hunger Games followed it's own arc and so it was okay. The main conflict was the particular set of games and those were resolved, for the most part. The cliffhangers were about the more emotional and political aspects of the books.



I agree. Leaving some things 'undone' is completely understandable and I actually like that, but when EVERYTHING is left to question - that is when I want to throw the book.




Ah, well, I guess we expect SOME cliffhangery-ness. Our beef is with the height of the cliff.





That's perfect! I'm okay with a short cliff, and even still with a medium sized cliff. But looming cliffs that have no view of the ground? That's when I want to throw the book.... off the cliff.

What about you all? How his is too high for your cliffhangery-ness? Do you love them, hate them, want to throw books too? Do tell!

V is for Villain

Image Source: The Great Geek Manual

So ladies, we have files for the boys we love (HBWS!) and the Chicks Who Can Kick Our Asses, but I think we're leaving out a very important filing section - Villains! When I think of YA Lit, my very favorite villain hands-down is Valentine. He's so pretty, but so eeevil and creepy. I love it. I know we have a file folder for him, right?


Ah...Villains starts with the letter V - so I'm all about Vader, Voldermort and Valentine. And apparently, I've been practicing my Letter Sounds with my Kindergartner, too.




Oooh - why do all the Great Villains start with the letter V? Unfortunately, Vader and Voldemort are not pretty. Rather ugly, actually. But they all do make for excellent Love to Hate 'Em characters.




Well, Voldy is not pretty but you know, Vader was Anakin, first. Just misguided. The poor little boo.





Okay, well, I was thinking of the Removal of the Mask scene with Vader. But yeah, I guess you could say Ani went through a pretty phase. But he didn't wear tailored suits like Valentine. And he hid his paternity from his children, while Valentine just pretended to be everyone's father.



You are right. Anakin slaughtered the young paduans in episode 3 while Valentine simply used his kids as genetic experiments. But hey, there was a Sister Kiss in both. Sorry, I'm off on my own Slave-Girl-Leia Style Sidebra.




Why is it that all villainous roads lead back to Darth Vader? He's epic, true, but hardly the first or even most villainous villain I've seen. He's a total Sauron rip-off, with the whole "corrupted by the pursuit of power" thing.

I agree with the observations you guys have made so far. But I think we're missing out on the folder system! I put mine into categories:

Villains Who Might Be Redeemable - Like Vader, some do come around in the end. Even some of our favorite bad boys fit in here. (Spike from Buffy, anyone?)

Villains Who Are Pure Evil - I'm pretty sure we can put Voldemort here. I mean, was the guy EVER good? I think he kicked puppies. And Leck, from Graceling and Fire. I actually really liked that in Fire there was no sob story about why he became evil or excuses for it. Sometimes evil just is. (And he really did kick puppies.)

Villains Who Are Really Cogs In A Villainous Machine: Like President Snow. He was great, and so so evil, but in a very politician-evil kinda way. He wasn't the reason for what was wrong with society. He was more of a product of it. Does it make him any less evil? Of course not. But it DOES make him a symptom of a more pervasive evil, one that doesn't have a face.

Villains Who Are So Hot We Don't Care Either Way - I'm totally not shallow enough to put anyone in this category. Nope. Valentine does NOT appear here. *whistles and walks away*

I love those categories...but hmmm, a Villain So Hot We Don't Care...*puts Thinking Cap on and realizes it's the Sorting Cap*...let me think about this one...





HELLO? ARCHER????? Oh, sorry, I got excited there. But Archer from Hex Hall! He's a POTENTIAL bad guy only - I know this, but he's obviously so hot we don't care!

And Eric Northman. He has his bad-guy moments and really? I care not. I would still take him in if he got hit on the head and had amnesia and needed a safe place to shower. I mean stay.

Ah, see, I think Archer's the Anti-Hero...and so launches that discussion. When is an anti-hero a villain?? LOL. Then you can throw in Oscar from CANDOR. Because, the boy wasn't all good, ya know??

What about a Can't Be Too Sure If They're a Villain category?? I'm thinking of my all time favorite whose cape would swirl at this very label...yes, that's right...Severus Snape!

Oh! You're getting all technical on me. Okay, so Archer might not be a Villain, but he is part of a secret society that aims to hunt prodigum, so he has potential. And Cabe was never going to hurt Jamie - even though he did have a bad boy side.

And yes, Snape! He's the perfect Villain, but is he really a Villain? (And if you don't know the answer to that question - get to reading book 7 please!)

I think Snape counts as a villain. I think sometimes even a villain can do the right thing at times. It doesn't negate all of the past villainy.

Maybe we should put Archer in a "We're Not Sure If He's Really A Villain But Signs Point To Yes And We Really Hope He's Not But Even If He Is He's So Hot We Won't Care" category. I think that works. Ladies?

Yes, that works for me. Absolutely perfect. Do you think that will fit on a file folder label?





If not we'll just have to make his file... bigger. *winks*

SO, did we miss any categories? Who are your favorite villains? Why?

Parenting FAIL

I've noticed a trend* in YA lit of absolutely abysmal parenting. I just finished Shiver and (trust me, I'm not giving anything away) Grace has scatterbrained, absentee parents. Bella, in Twilight, had parents who acted more like children than she did. So, what is up with the crappy parenting?
*by "trend" I mean "The Two YA Books That I Can Remember Off the Top of My Head." You know. Totally scientific.

To get to the bottom of this burning question, I didn't just ask Rain but also my friend Cheryl, who is also my beta and a fab YA reader extraordinaire.

Oh Meadow, your musings are total porn for a literature geek like me. :)







Which explains why you're here, hanging out with us on this post. *winks*






The trend you've noticed is a common characteristic of YAL. The absentee parent is also often a part of the formula in YA television shows.

Sadly, there are adolescents in the world who do have the responsibility of parenting their parents (as a former teacher, I could tell you stories that would make your hair curl), but I think this archetype is used less for realism and more as a device to help the Main Character grow.

Other times, the absent parent helps us to suspend our disbelief and drive the plot forward. If Bella had had a parent like you, I'm guessing you wouldn't have let her leave the house in the middle of the night at the end of Twilight, like Charlie had permitted. Since Charlie had been pretty clueless as to what to do with Bella throughout the entire book, it's slightly more plausible to us that he'd let her go. And his action (or lack thereof) moves the plot forward.


Okay, so I guess I can understand WHY it's necessary, in some cases. I suppose a book where a Junior in high school wakes up, has her mom make her Eggos, goes to school, and then comes home and does homework would probably NOT be a bestseller.

It just strikes me that there's not more of a balance in the literature that I've read. Often the absence of a parent seems to become a defining aspect of the teenager. In some cases, like Harry Potter or Mortal Instruments, that's not only understandable but also vital to the plot. In others, like Twilight, it seems superfluous. Wouldn't it be just as interesting (and maybe even more relate-able) to see the teens dealing with growing up while actually breaking away from a traditional loving family environment? I mean, Bella and Edward could have still fallen in love even if her mom was a teacher who made her sandwiches for school.


Pssst - Meadow, Bella's mom was a teacher. Okay, so she didn't make sandwiches, but she was a kindergarten teacher.

And, I have to disagree a little about Charlie's role as absentee parent. Charlie might not "hover," and, sure, he went fishing quite a bit. But he also did things like, in Twilight, when he disabled Bella's truck's battery cables and came into her room check on her when she was going to bed extra early on a Saturday night. Things a parent might actually do. I remember thinking that it was actually refreshing to see a parental figure who did care, and who was present. I liked the fact that Edward and Bella had to be a bit careful, when sneaking around Charlie, even if they did have the added benefit of Edward's mind reading to help.


How did I forget that Renee was a kindergarten teacher? I always just think of her as some sort of bumbling hippie-type. I blame her movie characterization for having hairy armpits. *shudders* ANYWAY, while I agree that Charlie wasn't a total failure as a father, I do think that he qualifies as somewhat absentee. Simply put, while he loved and cared for Bella, he wasn't there while she was growing up. So when she moved in with him he was still very hands-off. Why did he let her leave in Twilight? My father would've jumped in his car and chased me down. Just sayin'.


Okay, fine, I'll give you that. My dad would have chased me down too.

And to add another side to this discussion, one thing that causes me much frustration is when young characters actually do have someone they could turn to in times of need, but they choose not to. It drives me crazy if the storyline is not done well enough to where there is an obvious reason that the teen protagonist is neglecting to tell his/her parent's about some life-threatening.

I felt this way while reading Deadly Little Lies (the second in the Touch series by Laurie Faria Stolarz). In that book the main character, Camelia, is receiving death threats via phone calls and notes, but does not tell her (very present and concerned, albeit distracted) parents. The premise is that her mom is dealing with personal issues, so Camelia chooses not to add to those with her own. But, seriously? I know I'm not 16 anymore, but even then, I would have told my parents if someone was threatening to kill me.


The book Speak always comes to mind. Had Melinda had parents she could talk to, or at least parents who recognized that something was seriously wrong with their daughter, her journey through self-discovery would have been completely different. With absentee parents, she had to be her own agent of change. While this is a drastic example (I wouldn't want my daughter to read the book and think that Melinda's way of handling her situation was okay), reading examples where the adolescent MC is the decision maker is empowering to teen readers.

And quite simply, teens enjoy reading about other teens. It's more exciting - and possibly even more realistic to them (especially if they're in that "nobody understands me" phase) - to see teens solving their own problems with little to no help from adults.


*sigh* So what you're saying is that if I want to read about ADULTS making adult decisions I have to *insert collective gasp here* read adult lit? Dammit, that sounds like a lot of work. *wink*





Oh well, if it's ADULT lit you want Meadow... *hands Meadow Dark Lover, Book 1 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood*






When I said "adult" I didn't mean "porn" Rain!







Yes you did.







You know me so well.