"Roonil Wazlib is my nickname, sir."
I finished Harry Potter ATH-BP yesterday, apparently later than most everyone else in the world. Without giving anything away for those even farther behind the times than I, I will say that I found the events that transpired in the last fourth of the book to be terribly sad and terrifically engrossing, but not overwhelmingly surprising. I've been expecting (dreading) one of the end's main events since around the second book, and I must say that although this one was beautifully structured and written, I think Rowling gives up her hand on the end's biggest twist during one of the very first scenes.
I read the last 45% of the book in a waiting room at the Champaign-Urbana Airport after the wedding of Harold Yoon and Elaine Shin (www.haroldandelaine.com). The wedding was lovely, and Harold seemed very happy. There were a few delightfully Haroldic touches; for example, at the reception, when the wedding party was introduced, the newly styled Dr. and Mrs. Yoon emerged to the strains of John Williams' theme for The Empire Strikes Back. There were slideshows showing Harold's and Elaine's family photos; one photo was of a group including Dana, Doug, and Coulter, while another was of Harold in his Thomas Jefferson costume for Mrs. Cassity's 8th grade history class. Coulter gave a Best Man speech that was heavily suffused with Scholar Bowl in-jokes. I found it absolutely hilarious.
It was fun to catch up with Keena, Cary, Jeff and Coulter. We played a few absolutely abysmal games of pool, sang "Sweet Home Alabama" at a karaoke bar (although I was forced to abstain from a good half of the lyrics--Watergate does bother me), and drank some beers. Harold was of course very busy, but we saw him some at the reception (Dana, he remarked that he was sorry you & Pat could not make it, though of course he understood).
I read the last 45% of the book in a waiting room at the Champaign-Urbana Airport after the wedding of Harold Yoon and Elaine Shin (www.haroldandelaine.com). The wedding was lovely, and Harold seemed very happy. There were a few delightfully Haroldic touches; for example, at the reception, when the wedding party was introduced, the newly styled Dr. and Mrs. Yoon emerged to the strains of John Williams' theme for The Empire Strikes Back. There were slideshows showing Harold's and Elaine's family photos; one photo was of a group including Dana, Doug, and Coulter, while another was of Harold in his Thomas Jefferson costume for Mrs. Cassity's 8th grade history class. Coulter gave a Best Man speech that was heavily suffused with Scholar Bowl in-jokes. I found it absolutely hilarious.
It was fun to catch up with Keena, Cary, Jeff and Coulter. We played a few absolutely abysmal games of pool, sang "Sweet Home Alabama" at a karaoke bar (although I was forced to abstain from a good half of the lyrics--Watergate does bother me), and drank some beers. Harold was of course very busy, but we saw him some at the reception (Dana, he remarked that he was sorry you & Pat could not make it, though of course he understood).