Hmmm. What's your favorite *now*?

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182968

SSS wrote:
>
> Well, poor Mike thinks he may have killed the list with his last 
> post.  There's been a stunned silence around here for 24 hours now, 
> anyway. ;)

Carol responds:
Poor Mike! It's not that you killed the list; it's just that some
posts, while entertaining to read, are hard to respond to, and most of
the current threads seem to have run their course. (I can't think of
any new topics at the moment, either, but maybe this one will get us
going again.)

SSS: 
> So I thought I'd break that silence to ask a very mundane sort of 
question of all y'all.

Carol:

"All y'all"? I do believe that's redundantly repetitious. :-p!

SSS: 
> That question is:  Now that we're almost a year out from the release
of DH and the completion of the series, which of the books has become
your favorite?

Carol responds:
Now that Snape is revealed as DD's (or Lily's) man, or, at any rate,
not a "murderin' traitor" any more than SB was, I'll go with HBP.
After all, Snape shares the title with Harry and he's a very important
(and thoroughly misunderstood!) character both as boy and man. Lots of
delicious Snape scenes, from "Spinner's End" to the duel with Harry
(if easily parrying Harry's curses can be called a duel) and glimpses
of Snape the Healer. Besides Snape, we get a Draco on the verge of
repentance or conversion, a Dumbledore who still seems wise and good
(if a bit too full of himself and too sparing in his description of
Snape's role in treating the ring curse), and a Trelawney who actually
seems to be a Seer, even if her spectacles are a bit fogged. (She saw
disaste coming and DD ignored her warnings; I guess he knew that he
would be the victim or that it couldn't be averted.) I may be the only
person on the list who likes "The Other Minister": I thought it
depicted Fudge very sympathetically and I forgave him on the spot for
listening to Umbridge in OoP. There are small moments, too, such as
Harry's two impulses to laugh during Dumbledore's funeral and his
wondering what's the matter with him. I want to reach out to him and
say, "Nothing's the matter, Harry. This is the way Dumbledore would
want you to feel." (I like *that* Dumbledore--calm and brave on the
tower, constantly stating his trust in Snape, warmly humorous and
eccentric in his public appearances: "Nitwit, blubber, oddment,
tweak"). And the cave scene is scary and suspenseful, or was the first
time through. The book ends with Snape's loyalties hanging in the
balance and Harry's quest neatly set out (of course, it wasn't quite
so simple)--very much the penultimate act of a seven-act play waiting
for a resolution. Too bad that resolution wasn't all I hoped it would
be though it had some pleasant as well as unpleasant surprises. 
 
SSS:
> Tangential questions relating to that one might be:  Has your 
favorite changed over time, or since the series has ended?  Can you 
explain WHY this book is your favorite?

Carol:
Well, I've already explained why HBP is my current favorite (though of
course, that didn't happen till I'd read DH. I had to be sure that the
tower scene was distorted by Harry's pov and preconceptions and by the
impossibility of his knowing the truth at that point before I made HBP
my favorite. That is, if Snape had really been what he appears to be
at the end of the book, it would have become my *least* favorite,
along with DH, in short order. In fact, to be frank, I probably would
not still be rereading and discussing the books.

Until HBP came out and was, in effect, waiting in the wings to be the
favorite if DH proved Snape to have killed DD on DD's orders or at his
request, my favorite was GoF. Why? I'm not sure. I liked Cedric
Diggory a lot (his death scene will always be painful for me). I was
thoroughly taken in by Fake!Moody even though I didn't like him at
all, especially demonstrating the Unforgiveable Curses to the fourth
years and torturing that spider in front of Neville). I liked finding
out a bit about the DE's backgrounds, not to mention Snape's in the
Pensieve scenes, and Snape showing his Dark Mark to Fudge, appearing
in the Foe Glass, and going off on a dangerous mission for Dumbledore
seemed to me definitive proof of his loyalties. I couldn't wait for
OoP to come out in paperback. I rushed out and bought it in hardback.
I wanted more of the same and so, I suppose, OoP was a disappointment.
(I did like the Occlumency scenes and the moment when Neville's mother
gave him the gum wrapper in St. Mungo's made me cry, but, still, the
book was a letdown.)

Anyway, GoF remains my second favorite. You just have to ignore the
silly stuff, like wondering how the spectators entertained themselves
while the champions were at the bottom of the lake.

SSS: 
> Then, if you're game, how 'bout these:
> *Which is/has become your least favorite book of the series?  Again,
can you express why?

Carol:
Unlike a lot of people, I've never particularly disliked CoS. (I could
live without Dobby even though he redeemed himself so bravely in DH.
Yes, he was trying to help Harry, but with friends like that . . . .)
As I said earlier, I was disappointed in OoP. Maybe it was too much
Umbridge and not enough Snape or maybe Harry didn't seem like Harry. I
could do without Grawp, as well. And DH--well, it was certainly
exciting, but it took me a long time to recover from Dumbledore as he
appeared in "the Prince's Tale." (I didn't mind the friendship with
Grindelwald and the flirtation with Muggle domination nearly as much
as the harsh puppeteer we seemed to see in Snape's Pensieve memories.
I think, though, to get a fair and reasonably complete picture of
either Snape or Dumbledore, we'd have to set all their scenes in a
chronological sequence, and even then, we wouldn't know their
thoughts.) I didn't like the casting of Unforgiveable Curses by good
guys when another curse or hex would suffice, and, of course, I didn't
want Snape to die, especially not at the fangs of Nagini (but that
last bit of magic was very impressive!).

SSS:
> *Is there a character you find yourself especially fond of now that
it's all over?  Any pourquoi to add?

Carol:
Other than Snape, do you mean? He is and always will be my favorite HP
character. But I like poor Cedric and I acquire a real fondness for
Luna. I like Ron despite all his faults--and brave Neville, of course.
Kreacher was a surprise--I like the reformed Kreacher (in small doses)
and Master Regulus, champion of House Elves. And, for most of DH, I
actually liked Harry (except for his desire for revenge on Snape and
that stupid Crucio).

SSS:
> *Which character would you just love to follow from here on out if
you could?  Por que?

Carol:
Well, of course, it's fun to imagine that JKR was wrong about Snape
and to have Hermione or a summoned House Elf rescue him. As for the
future of the characters outside the books, I don't really care who
married whom and what their careers were. I *would* like to know if
Ollivander had an heir or successor--no Ollivander wands after 2300
years or thereabouts seems like a real loss to the WW. I'd also like
to know what happened to the various DEs and, though I don't like him
as a character, to Pius Thicknesse., who, after all, was under the
Imperius Curse and not fully responsible for what he did. And, just
out of curiosity, I'd like to know what became of Sturgis Podmore,
Fudge, Bagman, Mrs. Figg, even Mundungus Fletcher--not to mention how
Stan Shunpike got involved with the DEs and whether he really was
Imperiused. But Neville marrying Hannah Abott and Hagrid never
marrying or even rejoining Madame Maxime? JKR should have left those
things open for readers to imagine as they see fit.

> *Are there chapters or scenes (or whole books) that you skip when
you (if you) re-read?  Warum?

Carol:
"Warum"? "The Sacking of Severus Snape," "The Elder Wand") are still
hard for me to read. I'm rereading DH and I just forced myself to
reread the first of those two chapters. It isn't just McGonagall's
vicious attack on Snape (she does believe him to be a murderer but
those daggers were worthy of Bellatrix) or her calling him coward and
Snape's being forced to jump through the window and fly, batlike,
away. It's Harry's Crucio and McGonagall's Imperius Curse and her
assumption that the Slytherins are likely to join Voldemort. I hate
that chapter. And, of course, I hate what happens to Snape in "The
Elder Wand." Other chapters in other books I'm tempted to skip for
other reasons--for example, Hagrid's account of his adventures with
the giants in OoP and Harry's first detention with Umbridge in the
same book. I'm sure that there are others, but that's all I can think
of at the moment.

SSS:
> *Are there chapters or scenes (or whole books) that you find
yourself turning to again and again?  Perche?

Carol:
"Spinner's End," maybe, or "The Doe Patronus." Parts of "the Prince's
Tale." I don't normally read chapters out of context unless I'm
rereading to write or respond to a chapter discussion or I'm looking
for evidence to support a point in a post, but I find those chapters
either fascinating or comforting. (I don't think I need to specify
which fall under which labels!)

SSS: 
> *Are you surprised at any of your responses?  IOW, is there anything
about how you feel about the series now that you never expected you'd
feel?

Carol:
I certainly never expected a series of children's books to pull me in
this way or to cause such strong emotions in me and in other readers.
I didn't expect to feel so bereaved at the end of the series or so
annoyed by inconsistencies or so disillusioned with JKR herself for a
number of reasons that have no direct relation to this topic. I
suppose I'm like Snape with Lily. I can't just get over the books, set
them asie, move on to something else.

Or maybe it's this group that I can't let go of. Like Snape and Harry
at Hogwarts, I've found a home.

Carol, thanking SSS for her new thread and hoping that she [SSS] finds
herself in a reflective mood more often