Monday, June 14, 2010

The Writing on the Wall

I was thinking about this blog over the weekend and I wondered if it would be helpful if I wrote a little chapter synopsis for each post? I've been working off the assumption that people who have read these books as many times as I have only need to see the chapter title to know what happens, but then sometimes the chapter titles are a bit oblique (like this one) and you might not realize everything that happens. So, what do you all think? Would you like a quick chapter recap before I get into things? Here's a sample of what I'm thinking:

Lured by Malfoy's oh-so-subtle cry, Filch turns up, takes one look at Mrs. Norris and decides that Harry and his pals have killed the cat. Dumbledore shows up and takes Filch, Mrs. Norris, and the trio to Lockhart's office (at Lockhart's insistance). Snape and McGonagall follow. After a long (and tedious to anyone listening to Lockhart) examination, Dumbledore announces that Mrs. Norris is not dead but petrified and can be cured. Due to lack of evidence and despite the best efforts of Snape and Filch, Harry and pals will not be punished.

The whole school is talking about the Chamber of Secrets and when Hermione can't find a copy of Hogwarts, A History in the school library, she asks Binns about the Chamber. He reluctantly tells the class the "myth" and assures them there is no such thing. It soon becomes evident that many students think Harry is Slytherin's heir, but the trio believe Malfoy the most likely candidate (surprise!) and hatch a plan involving much deceit and trickery to find out if they're correct. All they need is a really dumb teacher...


That one may actually be a bit long, but you get the idea. If people think it's a good idea, I'll probably go back and add synopses to past posts as well. Let me know what you think in the comments.

As for my comments on this chapter, I don't have too much to say. I will say that I find it kind of weird that Binns doesn't believe in the Chamber of Secrets. Surely he was there the last time it was opened? Any other teacher and I would say they were covering, but Binns doesn't really seem the type to care about faculty decisions. Though, I suppose his general apathy for school life could be the reasoning for him not knowing about the Chamber.

Other than that, this chapter is pretty straight forward. I will say that I desperately want Rowling to write Hogwarts, A History, I know I'm not alone in that.

2 comments:

  1. I like the summaries, but with most of your posts so far, I don't know how necessary they are. I guess your comments (and the chapter titles) usually jog my memory enough about what happened. But for people that haven't read the series or haven't read it recently or don't remember a lot of it, it could be a really helpful feature.

    That's a lot of waffling, sorry. What I should say is that I think your blog is awesome and whether you choose to change it up or keep it the same, I'm sure it will continue to exude awesomeness and I'll continue to enjoy it!!

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