Next

Why was this post named next?  That's a good question.  Can you think of an answer?  No?  Neither can I, really.  I just decided to name it that.  You're also probably wondering where I was and why I haven't posted here in ages.  I'm not allowed to say much, but I can tell you I didn't not post on this blog just because I didn't feel like posting.  But, that's all I really can tell you, and I see no reason for you to wonder more on that subject.

Maybe this post was named next because I'm going to now tell you what is next: the book.  It's the last book in a series, arguably one of my favorite books, it's a book that's nearly 800 pages, and it's a book I just finished reading for the 9th or 10th time.  You may call me insane; you'd be nearly right.  Even I think that reading a book more than, say, 3 times, is insanity and shouldn't really be done.  True, reading a book for a second and maybe third time is good, and you can dig deeper, but is reading the same book more than 3 times good?  Because how much deeper can you really dig, after reading the book 3 times?

I found out you can dig deeper, but it's actually not easy.  Because in the particular book I'm talking of, which happens to be the last book in the well-known Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), by J.K. Rowling.  I've always wondered what the "J" and "K" stood for...but that's not too important.  Nor is the fact that, in the first book, it was mentioned that the year before happened to have been Nicholas Flamel's 665 birthday, which meant that on his birthday that year, he would be turning 666.  And, it's pointless to wonder how Voldemort started to look like a snake, and why his eyes were red instead of green (considering Slytherin's color was green and Gryffindor's was red), and what his Patronus was, and how old Dumbledore was when he died.  All of these things—you don't really wonder about them, but then, after you've finished reading the series, you think about them.  Were they intentional, or coincidence?  Were they things that you were meant to think about, meant to wonder about, and have the chance to guess at things, and make inferences, and maybe even draw conclusions from after trying to fit some facts together?

Once you're done thinking about all of those questions, you can come back here.  So, anyway, you might be wondering what character I chose to follow and study throughout the book.  I could've chosen someone interesting, like Dumbledore (I could find a way to study him, even though SPOILER ALERT FOR THE SIXTH BOOK he's dead) or Snape, or maybe Voldemort or Ron or Hermione, but I chose to study the most boring character of all in the book, Harry Potter.  I studied him, and the decisions he made, and the things he did.  You might say: "Harry's not a boring character".  True, he's not boring as a person, or even as a character, but it's generally boring to study the "Hero" archetype in stories.  Yet, I decided to study him anyway, and thought about what I would do in his case.  For example, when SPOILER ALERT him and Ron and Hermione were talking about the Deathly Hallows, when Ron and Hermione ask him why he would choose the stone, he decided to say: "Well then we could have my parents, Sirius...".  True, it was a tiny decision, but I would have done otherwise.  I would have said something along the lines of: "Because then we could ask Dumbledore things about the Hallows and Horcruxes in person.  I mean, we always are having questions and doubts, right?  So then, we could have him, and we wouldn't have any of our doubts and questions anymore, really."  Another point: when SPOILER ALERT Hermione and Ron were suggesting that Harry should let everyone help with finding the Horcrux (page 583), they say Harry doesn't have to do everything alone.  In Harry's place, I would have pointed out: "You know, I actually don't do anything alone.  I always want to, but you guys always talk me out of it, and I end up never doing anything alone."  It would just be no more or less than the truth.

So, overall, it's interesting to study Harry because you can see what you would do in his place: what he did, or something different?  It's more fun then just writing down random notes and thoughts on post-its, even if they are about characters.  It's almost like a game, where you see what someone did, and write down or say what you would have done the same, similarly, or differently.  Aren't there so many ways to dig deeper into books, no matter how many times you read them?