Again, Harry Potter

And, according to J. K. Rowling, The Last Harry Potter.  Which is really a shame, because 100 pages into it . . . and, well, it's shit, isn't it?  

I'm glad that this book brought droves of people into bookstores.  I'm glad that people are buying this book and reading it.  I don't understand why it's getting rave reviews, though.

First off, the play format is a bit off-putting . . . especially when you realize (and it doesn't take long) that it isn't really a play.  For at least two reasons.  First, things are described as happening that can't happen onstage--or can only be done with some very sophisticated and obtrusive technology.  Such as characters drinking potions and transforming into other characters.  Such as characters climbing out of the window of a moving train.  Such as characters being eaten by bookcases.  Second, the scenes are very short.  Many of them . . . I'd say most, but I'm only one-third of the way through at this point (still, if I were a betting man . . . ) . . . two to five pages long.  And the location changes from one scene to the next.  The only way to do that onstage would be to have a bare stage . . . but that's not what's described in the narration.  I'd also add that a play is primarily driven by dialogue, and short scenes do not lend themselves to well-developed dialogue.  Which is definitely the case here, as a lot of what the characters have to say to each other is shit.

I will finish reading this book, and I'll gladly read it to Jacqueline (who has already told me several times, "I'm taking this book to my room!") and Joe, together or separately (probably separately) . . . and who knows, maybe I will have a huge turnaround and be sorry that I knee-jerked this thing 1/3rd of the way through.  But right now I'm just kind of pissed off and sad.  Pissed off because I don't see any reason for this book to exist other than as a money grab.  And J. K. and company have all the money they will ever need.  Sad because I loved Harry Potter . . . and I don't like to see him fucked over.

Sigh.

ADDENDUM:  I finished reading this morning (Wednesday, 8/13/16) and my opinion of the book hasn't changed.  In fact, I think even less of the thing now for several reasons.  A small one (but it still counts in my book) is that there were several typos in the book.  Which always means sloppiness.  Second, there's a phrase which is repeated quite a few times in the book, and it really irritated the living shit out of me.  It is also a phrase which tries (and fails) to be clever.  Third, in the credit lists after the play there are listings for such things as magical effects, flying effects, and SFX.   And when I saw that and thought back on the play, I realized that if they could do even a portion of the things that were described in the action--I'm pretty sure that they couldn't do everything, no matter how many special effects they brought onto the stage area . . . I mean, going underwater into a lake?--that there would be some pretty spectacular moments in the play.  And spectacular visual, auditory, and (at least as a by-product) olfactory moments in a stupid, lifeless story equals . . . everything that is wrong with Hollywood, really.

But enough.  It's just a shame that J. K. Rowling allowed this to happen.  If I could get my hands on a Time-Turner, I'd go back a day and a half and chose not to read this book.  I'd still read it to Jacqueline and / or Joe if they wanted me to do so, but at least then I'd be reading for the first time with at least one of them, and I wouldn't already know that it was going to suck.

Old Testament Coincidence . . . or Something Else?

Jacqueline and I started reading the Orthodox Study Bible some time ago . . . a year or more . . . maybe even two years ago . . . and we've been reading one page per night every night she's with me, which is four nights per week.

We read from other books, too.  We've been reading Les Miserables

for a couple of years . . . three or four pages a night when she's with me . . . and we're currently on page 830 or so.

But just recently she wanted me to start reading from a third book, so we've been reading two or three pages from the Great Illustrated Classics Bible for the past month or so.  

We always read the books in the same order:  Orthodox Bible, Great Illustrated Classics Bible, and then Les Miserables.   

So tonight in the Orthodox Bible we read about Solomon asking God to give him wisdom.  And then when I opened the Great Illustrated Classics Bible we read . . . about Solomon asking God to give him wisdom.

Now think about the odds on that coincidence.  So many random elements had to come together for that to happen.

Yep.

Autistic Humor