Which books do you re-read?

I know when I find a book that completely captures my imagination and my heart I will end up reading it over and over. Some of my favorite re-reads are .

AP: Harry Potter most re-read book in Britain: survey---

LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters Life!) - Nearly 80 percent of Britons have re-read a book, with the Harry Potter series the most likely to be picked up again, a survey revealed on Friday.

Some of the books that are re-read for pleasure are classics such as Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre."

Others in the top 10 include JRR Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" as well as Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code."

People said they returned to the same books because they are fantastic stories of which they never tire, they find something new in each reading, it is comforting, they can relate to the characters and it cheers them up.

I couldn't agree more!

And the list:

1. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

4. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

6. 1984 by George Orwell

7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

8. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

9. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

10. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

I've read all but 7 & 10. I have re-read 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, & 9 so many times. I love books!

So, which books do you re-read?

And while you are here, don't forget to enter my The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen Contest!

Guess Who!

Over at J.K. Rowling's website, the Wizard of the Month is none other than dear Harry Potter!

Have a look!

Slughorn is Cast

Don't know what that means? Then you need to read the Harry Potter books!

According to IMDB.com (and numerous HP sites),

Broadbent Lands Potter Role

Oscar winner Jim Broadbent is set to become Harry Potter's latest teacher after signing on to play Horace Slughorn in Harry Potter And The Half-blood Prince. In the Potter books, Slughorn is Hogwarts' potion master and the brains behind the fictitious magic school's Slug Club. The British actor tells DarkHorizons.com, "Slughorn is drawn back out of retirement because he's got some secrets Harry and (headmaster) Dumbledore need in the battle against the Death Eaters. He's quite star-struck as a teacher, and he's drawn back into the fold because he likes to notch up celebrity students."

He'll be perfect!

A Cool HP Prize!

Win Signed Harry Potter book

Any Harry Potter readers out there? Well, if you review Deathly Hallows, you could win a signed first edition of Sorcerer’s Stone, some Harry Potter movie tickets, or… wait for it… a broomstick. You know you’re reading it, so you might as well win some stuff and share it with me.

The review with the most votes wins, so please vote for me (if you haven't written your own review, of course!):

Absolutely Brilliant

I am completely blown away. It was more wonderful, terrible, superb, horrible, brilliant than I ever imagined it could be. I don't even know what to write yet.

All I can say at this moment is, if you haven't read the Harry Potter books, go get Book 1 now and get started. If you haven't bought Deathly Hallows yet, go do it!

And read. These books are absolutely brilliant.

The Book

I won't be back until late Sunday or Monday, at the latest.

Goodbye and Happy Reading!

Rowling Says Goodbye To Harry

Very nice article about JK Rowling and her thoughts on finishing, as well as background on the rise of the series.

AP: Rowling bids her boy wizard goodbye

JK Rowling's Plea

To all Harry Potter fans:

From her website:

JULY 18th

We are almost there! As launch night looms, let's all, please, ignore the misinformation popping up on the web and in the press on the plot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'd like to ask everyone who calls themselves a Potter fan to help preserve the secrecy of the plot for all those who are looking forward to reading the book at the same time on publication day. In a very short time you will know EVERYTHING!

Please, keep the plot a secret! Don't spoil it for others who have been waiting years for answers.

For HP fans, this month's "Wizard of the Month" is Godric Gryffindor!

Want to Play Quidditch?

This sounds like fun!

Reuters: U.S. college students seek the magic of Quidditch---

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Stephen Dewey knows he lacks the magic to play Quidditch quite like they do in the Harry Potter novels but he does all he can to create an authentic experience for fans of the teenage wizard.

Dewey, a student at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, organizes the campus Quidditch club of about 40 Potter devotees imitating the aerial game of the book series.

Although Bucknell has not played its first official game -- that is expected in September -- Dewey's club has received $150 from the college to buy supplies, including hula hoops and a volleyball that stands in for the fictional "quaffle."

Also on the equipment list are the brooms on which J.K. Rowling's Quidditch players fly around during games and which Bucknell players are required to hold between their legs.

"I wanted to emulate the magical nature you find in Harry Potter books," said Dewey, 20, a student of music and education. But he admits he has to make concessions to reality. "A lot of that you can't really replicate exactly because we are not witches and wizards."

They use the Quaffle, Bludgers, even the Snitch, and, sometimes, costumes. Sounds like fabulous fun!

Dewey said he's received "some puzzled looks" when recruiting but that even the skeptics want to know more. He suspects they are secretly Harry Potter fans.

"They are usually curious to know how I could make this into a playing game," he said. "Running around on brooms does appeal to a surprising number of college students."

Warning: Harry Potter Spoilers Online!

Apparently, someone has posted scans of every page of the final chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so be very careful when you read any Harry Potter posts this week! You might accidentally see something you don't want to! I will not be posting spoilers or anything on here until after next week, so this site is safe. :) (More here---completely safe, just a warning about this).

In fact, I think I will hardly be online this week. I am actually quite afraid of someone spoiling it for me!

Save Harry!

There is a possiblity that Harry Potter dies in the 7th book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is due out at midnight, 20 July 2007. I hope he doesn't . . . and so do many others.

Reuters: Potter fans beg Rowling to "Save Harry!"---

LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of Harry Potter fans have signed a petition urging J.K. Rowling to keep writing novels about the boy wizard after she admitted she could "never say never" to more books.

The "Save Harry!" petition calls on Rowling to reverse her decision to end the bestselling series with the seventh and final installment, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

"Millions, perhaps billions of us, love reading his adventures and we never want them to end," says the online petition, launched on Monday at www.saveharrypotter.co.uk.

But what does Rowling think?

"I think that Harry's story comes to quite a clear end in book seven," she told the BBC at the weekend. "But I have always said that I wouldn't say never.

"I can't say I will never write another book about that world, just because I think: 'What do I know, in 10 years' time I might want to return to it'. But I think it is unlikely."

A glimmer of hope!


As promised:

Rowling said some characters will die in the last book, but wouldn't say if the boy wizard is among them: "It's not a bloodbath, but it's more than two," she said.

I am sure that I will cry when I read next weekend (can you believe it?). Rowling "broke down in tears during the completion of her final book" in the series.

You can sign the petition to "Save Harry!" here.

One thing I am worried about---terrified even---is some absolute idiot driving past the bookstore as we all leave that night and shouting spoilers. After Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out and I finished reading it, I found a horrid little video online. Some dreadful guy got the book, looked at who died, and drove past a line outside a bookstore shouting the information while videotaping it. People started shrieking. I think I will if that happens. :) Seriously, though.

And I am glad to know I am not the only one worried about this.

Now, as the July 21 release of the seventh and final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," approaches, fans who have waited the better part of a decade to find out the ultimate fate of Harry, his friends and his nemeses are taking no chances.

But how far do they have to go? Must they close their eyes, cover their ears and scream, "LALALALALALALA?"

Pretty much.

In fact, if you want to get in touch with a rabid Harry Potter fan on the weekend of July 21-22, you might be out of luck. Readers are planning media blackouts — no computers, no cell phones, no TV, no radio. And if that's not enough, they're threatening to get physical.

"I'll beat the crap out of the person who spoils it for me," Pritthish Chakraborty wrote in an e-mail. Chakraborty, 17, who runs a fan Web site, Harry Potter Beyond, in his native Bangladesh, was spoiled two years ago when a "friend" sent a picture message to his cell phone of the page describing Dumbledore's death.

Many fans don't want to give up the excitement and camaraderie of a midnight release party, but they know they're putting themselves at risk.

"We advise people — I know this is terrible — to bring headphones to the book release and put them on as they leave the store so they're not subject to the idiot across the street screaming the end to them," said Melissa Anelli, webmaster of The Leaky Cauldron, a prominent Harry Potter fan site.

Some excellent advice. I won't be on the internet around that time, until I finish reading it.

When do you plan to get Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?

Are you worried about people spoiling it for you?