apostrophe abuse

And more on the one I love to hate: apostrophe abuse.

the glass castle: a memoir

How can one not get hooked by a book that starts thusly:

I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster. It was just after dark. A blustery March wind whipped the steam coming out of the manholes, and people hurried along the sidewalks with their collars turned up. I was stuck in traffic two blocks from the party where I was heading.

Mom stood fifteen feet away. She had tied rags around her shoulders to keep out the spring chill and was picking through the trash while her dog, a black-and-white terrier mix, played at her feet.

[ . . . ]

I slid down in my seat and asked the driver to turn around and take me home to Park Avenue.

My sister shared The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls with me. Ms. Walls recounts her childhood with her intelligent, well-informed, and severely negligent parents. At age 3 she was routinely cooking her own hot dogs over a gas flame and firing guns - a pretty good shot even. Her brother slept under a rubber boat to keep the leaks from the roof off his bed.

The family reminds me of one that my Mom befriended in my childhood. The S family would arrive a dinner time: mom, five kids, and a goat. Yes, Mrs. S. carried a goat around in the back seat of her station wagon, atumble with the kids back there.

We would go over to trailer to help them clean, excavating trails in search of long-buried back bedrooms. We once found a dearly-departed kitten preserved in a shoebox. The lack of heat in the home had kept the stench at bay.

When I was a young adult, I knew another family (family M) who lived in a similar manner. The common thread I recognize betwixt the Wells family, and the S. family and the M. family is the value of big plans. In their worlds, big plans more than compensated for lack of ordinary day-to-day competencies. Faith in one another's future triumphs and empathetic rage against the system that thwarted them was evidence of love. Expectations of responsible decision-making was evidence of disloyalty.

This reminds me of another interesting read: Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass by Theodore Dalrymple.

more on my Harry Potter prediction

The other day I predicted that Harry will kill Voldemort and in doing so, lose all his powers. My theory is that Harry's scar is the last horcrux and Harry will destroy it (somehow) to destroy Voldemort.

If you dislike HP, just don't read my blog this week -- I'm re-reading all six books. I did books 1 and 2 yesterday and am in book 3 right now.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Do you have a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets handy? My edition was published in 1990 by Raincoast Books and on page 245 it says this:

You can speak Parseltongue, Harry,' said Dumbledore calmly, 'because Lord Voldemort - who is the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin - . . .

". . . ancestor? "

Could you check your edition? What does yours say? This passage is in the chapter Dobby's Reward about a page before Lucas Malfoy shows up.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Here are a few of my favorite passages from book one, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which I re-read this afternoon. Yes, I know the US title is "Sorcerer's Stone" but in the UK and Canada, it is "Philosopher's Stone" and I am reading the Canadian set.

I think this is quite good advice for us, as we handle our children's questions about their birth families and circumstances.

'The truth.' Dumbledore sighed. 'It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie.'

And this is just plain good advice for everyday life.

'There are all kind of courage,' said Dumbledore, smiling. 'It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.'

Harry Potter prediction

My prediction for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is that Harry will kill Voldemort and in doing so, lose all his powers. Just as Christ became man to save us all, Harry will become muggle to save us all.

Did you know that if you order from Amazon before the 17th you can get guaranteed Saturday the 21st (release day) delivery? It's $23.82 after shipping and you don't have to wait in line. Thought you'd want to know.

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

Dad and Mom and two of my nieces and I went to see Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix tonight. It was my Dad's first fun outing since the accident (the other outings being doctor appointments and a funeral). After the movie we had ice cream and chatted and it felt for a little while like old times.

Comments on the movie:

Professor Umbridge was very well-played as was Luna. All the actors and actresses are looking grown-up; Harry has muscles.

The movie felt very rushed; had one not read the book, many of the scenes would be minimally comprehensible. That being said, it was a really big book to try to squeeze into a movie.

It wasn't the best HP movie, but I did enjoy it. I'm going to try to reread all books 1-6 this week to get warmed up for book 7. It comes out on bluegrass festival day and the next day is a big family get-together, so I won't get to read it until Monday. I'm planning to let the children run amok and just read all day. Just kidding. I'll toss them into the pool and read on the deck. Supervised running amok.