Pottering around
Department of "Reading list decisions destined to interfere with each other":
1. I decided to catch up on my reading of all the Harry Potter books (I stopped after volume 2, fell out of sync with everyone else on the planet, and am now thinking that I want to catch up, but not to read them out of sequence).
2. I also decided to work on my Italian reading comprehension by reading something a bit less daunting than Calvino in the original. (Though Invisible Cities isn’t that hard to read, if only because I’ve read the English translation so many times.) So I recently ordered the Italian translation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and am learning boatloads of new vocabulary already. Can’t wait to see how they translate the quasi-Latin of the spells once Harry gets to Hogwarts.
Given 1) and 2), I’m not sure whether I’ll end up trying to read the entire series in Italian, or pick up where I left off in English while eventually circling back to Harry Potter e la Camera dei Segreti, Harry Potter e il Prigionero di Azkaban, eccetera. (The latter, I think.) It should be interesting, either way.
And speaking of things Rowling-related, wolf angel and I have the same Meyers-Briggs profile, and like her, I’m perplexed by the character that the quiz-makers at Pirate Monkeys chose to exemplify us INTPs:
Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.
I may be reclusive at times, but I’m no Dark Lord!
I am convinced they just randomly took types and characters and dumped them together, then wrote another random description for each pair.
Tee hee. The difference between Prof. Lupin and Voldemort is the difference between a “T” and an “F.” That’s what logic’ll do for ya!
I’m thinking about picking up an HP, too, despite my bellyaching. (I’ve only read HP and the Sorcerer’s Stone.) My buddies tell me that II isn’t worth the time, and that I should start with III, especially since I dig Lupin. I loved the movie of III. So I may do that. (Not in Italian, though!)
So you’re doing it! Cool. I’m on Harry Potter y el Caliz de Fuego, now. Just started.
Isn’t it neat? Two phrases from the first chapter that I’ll probably never use, but am happy to have learned all the same: ghiacciolo al limone (lemon drop — or, more literally, lemon lollipop) and occhiali a mezzaluna (half-moon spectacles).