UP TO SPEED

I've spent the last 11 days rereading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, thus completing my "Harry Potter Project." That's over 1500 pages of the story; I've seen ads in Barnes & Noble telling us how many pages we've all read and how many more there are to go (somewhere in the 740 page range, I believe). But for now, I want to say a few things about the pages I just read.

The most recent book came out two years ago and the one before that came out four years ago, so I hadn't remembered everything about the story. The big story, sure, especially the death of Dumbledore that occurred at the end of book six. I remembered Umbridge from the fifth book, as well as Dumbledore's Army and all sorts of other things. I also remembered how J.K. Rowling made you like Ginny Weasley quite a bit before Harry himself realizes the same thing (very well done on her part). I had forgotten all about the prophecy and Horcruxes and smaller points as well. But now I feel I'm armed and ready to experience the last book in the way it should be experienced. Guess I'll find that out for sure in three weeks...