The end was in sight

As I sat watching the epic final battle between Harry and Voldemort inside a cold, dark theater, a single thought kept repeating in my head.

Please don't disintegrate, Voldemort.

He disintegrated. Typical Hollywood bullpoop.

Prior to the movie's release, fans of the franchise were getting all teary-eyed and sentimental. They said that it was finally all over.

For me, it was all over in 2007 with the release of the final book. The movies mean nothing to me. I did watch all the movies of course. More in hope than expectation.

Like me, those who bothered to read all the books would say that the Harry Potter series was something unique. I was first introduced to the books by a cousin of mine, and read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone when I was eleven. I loved it, as not only was Harry eleven years old throughout the book, but he had so many traits that were similar to mine. He was short for his age, bespectacled, knobbly-kneed and rather quite. Not to mention he had a tendency of looking at everything with awe and wonder.

In a sense, the books were a part of me growing up. I remember when the rest of the world began to get caught up with the series. There were those midnight releases, where thousands of fans queued up to get their hands on the latest book. Of course, I had to wait till the next morning to get my copy. But as soon as I did, I would read for hours on end, until an eyestrain-induced headache would force me to stop. I would take meticulous care in making sure that I read every detail and looked down at the "speed readers" who would read the book in one go just so that they could brag about it.

So as you may have guessed by now, I loved the books. But I never had the same affection for the movies. You can say that that's because I've always been a bit of a bookworm. Ever since I learned how to read, it remained my hobby.

Which reminds me of something a lecturer of mine told us recently.

"People get so caught up with all the technology that they've forgotten the importance of reading. No one bothers to read anything these days. It's all about skimming and scanning."

And I wholeheartedly agree with him. In an age where speed and efficiently counts for everything, we've been reduced to one-line-spouting machines. Where we once used to pour our emotions into handwritten letters, we now Tweet. We could easily look at the Harry Potter franchise for proof.

The books had everything. It portrayed the emotions of the characters in a most marvelous fashion and described the environment perfectly. In short, you really felt as though you were part of the world described in the books. They tested your imagination in ways you would never think were possible.

However, you don't need to use your imagination while watching the movies. Everything was provided on a silver platter. Or perhaps everything is the wrong word.

Harry Potter was portrayed as a Gary Stu. His best friend Ron merely came off as a less intelligent sidekick who occasionally spouted comic relief moments. Hermione's actress had the annoying knack of using her eyebrows to do all the acting. Many of the major characters were reduced to 30 second roles. There were uncountable out-of-character moments and major scenes in the books were omitted with the excuse that they would "make the movie too long", which fails explain why numerous scenes which were not in the books, and completely irrelevant to the movies plot made it. Basically, it was yell, crash, burn, lots of bright colours and special effects and- huh? The movie's over already?

For me, I'll always remember the literature. The movies, their actors, actresses, produces and directors can go stuff themselves, without sounding too rude.

Books you wouldn't expect to read anytime soon

I just finished reading Airman, yet another classic by Eoin Colfer, and I'm not being dramatic by saying that that was probably the best piece of fiction I've ever read. So understandably, I'm feeling somewhat book-ish. So without further ado:

How to Give Awe Inspiring Speeches in Public by Mohamed Nasheed "Anni"

Frugal Living by Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom

An In-Depth Look Into the Quantum Phenomena by Ali Seezan

A Man For All Islands: Umar Naseer, a biography by Royston Ellis

Your Guide To Beating Narcissism by Cristiano Ronaldo

Laugh Out Loud Jokes by Ayatollah Khomeini

How to Sustain An Active Lifestyle During Your Latter Years by Ariel Sharon

A Guide to English Vocabulary by George W Bush

Grab Votes; 101 Ways to Become Popular Amongst the Public by Ibrahim Ismail

Silence is Golden: The Virtues of Keeping Your Trap Shut by Mohamed Nasheed (former Information Minister)

The Many Different Contraceptive Methods by the Pope

Good Career Moves I've Made So Far and How You Can Learn From Them by Ali Ashfaq

An honorable mention:
This one is actually real believe it or not..

Feel free to add your suggestions. I'm looking forward to them.

Artemis Fowl

Of all the books I've read in my life, this one is just unique. Its actually the first book of a unique series. Written by Irish author Eoin Colfer, its about a 12 year old boy who also happens to be a genius & criminal mastermind. This is the first ever book I've read that blends fairies with technology. Now, I'm aware that this might sound somewhat childish to anyone who haven't read it, coz I was a little skeptical too when a cousin of mine offered it to me. But once I started reading, I just couldn't put it down.

Anyway, the story starts with Artemis Fowl tryin to track down fairies. These fairies, also know as The People, aint the sort we know about, you know, those glittery things with wings. In this, fairies are classified into families. Among them are elves, dwarfs, gnomes, sprites, trolls, demons, centaurs...

These fairies were actually driven underground about 10,000 years ago after The Battle of Taillte, a war in which humans emerged victorious. The People now live underground (with the exception of demons, which will be found out in the 5th book of the series). You'll be surprised by how technologically advanced these fairies are. I really don't know where the hell Colfer gets his ideas from...

10 books the nation cannot live without

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the World Book Day, a survey was conducted in UK to find the ten books the nation cannot live without. Here're the results:

1) Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen 20%
2) Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien 17%
3) Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte 14%
4) Harry Potter books – J K Rowling 12%
5) To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee 9.5%
6) The Bible 9%
7) Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte 8.5%
8) 1984 – George Orwell 6%
9) His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 6%
10) Great Expectations – Charles Dickens 0.55%

Interesting to see the bible down at sixth eh? Ah well, keepin that aside, how many of those books have you read? I've read the Harry Potter books & His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. Both of them are absolute crackers I tell ya, & I'll post about them sometime later. Who else finds the lack of a William Shakespear novel surprising? I certainly am, not that I'm a big fan of those in all honesty, but no one can deny that the bloke's got class! Anyway, I'd like some feedback from you all, let me know about some of the above books if you've read them.

Angela's Ashes - a must read ppl

This book is basically a memoir of the childhood of Frank McCourt, an Irish-American teacher & author (now retired)

The following extract from the first chapter of this book beautifully sums up what is expected of it:

"When I look back at my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable chidhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.

People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying schoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years."

What makes this book so intruiging is the way McCourt has written it the way he saw things during his childhood. Everythin is seen through his eyes, from the woes to the unexpected truimphs. The frequent usage of poetry, black humour & Irish slang had me absolutely hooked