[jdm]

How long did it take to read the book? Just curious. I am a slow reader, so I usually don't read anything, expect for articles in Weekly Standard, National Review, listen to talk radio, etc.

How would you rate the book on a scale of 1 to 10?

[grellis]

Altogether, I'd say 8 hours total. I had to read fast. My nearly 8-year old has read all of the books, but I insist on reading them first so I know ahead of time what he'll be exposed to and what we'll be discussing.

It's kind of tough for me to rate the book. Teenagers are portrayed accurately. Teenagers are, for lack of a better word, annoying. A conundrum. I found the use of the pensieve as a bit of a crutch for Rowling. Before each trip into the pensieve, I was reminded of how much I dislike "dream sequences" in literature and in movies or tv shows. They are, IMO, an all-too-convenient shortcut in story progression.

I like the set-up for the final book.

[Grendel9]

Took me the better part of a day and a half. But I had
reason to plow through the book. We had a small (?)
tornado hit our area Wednesday that dropped two huge tree
branches on our roof. It knocked out our a/c compressor
plus the back yard was a mess and the swimming pool filled
with leaves, twigs, small branches. Estimate our home-
owners will be hit for about $5000 once all the estimates
are in adn work completed. A contractor had to take the
tree down to the ground, cut up the huge roof branches,
and discovered their weight and fall had cracked the
house ridge! So, with no electricity in the house, I had little to do but work outside raking up debris OR sit and read the Half-Blood Prince! Guess what I chose to do!

Now...on to the discussion.