an increasing sense that all reason had dropped out of the conversation

Today, I bounced around the room to Jason Donovan singing "Any Dream Will Do."

Yeah, I probably fail at life.

Um. I am up north. Nothing to worry about, have not had breakdown or anything, but it seemed like a good idea. (I note with interest that this time last year, I engaged in the now infamous meltdown that featured an economics textbook being thrown down four flights of stairs. The Social Science Library never did know what happened to it, and my Micro tutor at the time spoke to me in hushed tones for two months afterwards.) Shubhra came too, but she disappeared off to see friends and I stayed at home reading for my philosophy and moping on my parents a bit. Not sure why I'm having an attack of the blues, but probably it's still tiredness - last week wasn't fun - and I'm a little freaked about going back to Oxford in the rain. Anyway, I read a significant chunk about causal-action-explanation (no, I'm not sure what it is either), and then did something I perhaps have been subconsciously dreaming about, and spent two hours in the bath, topping it up occasionally and reading Half-Blood Prince.

You know, I bloody love that book. There's one bit of it I don't like - no prizes for guessing which bit, even down to the page number - and perhaps the overall plot is not the thing that appeals, but it's not that bad, and hey. It's got a coherent structure, unlike OotP. Harry does not shriek ALL IN CAPS. And as for the rest, it's charming, interesting and very very funny. It's actually one of the few books I laugh out loud at, because how can you help it? I was just reading the utterly delightful set-piece where Ron eats some chocolates by accident and ends up embarrassingly subject to the love-potion meant for Harry. And, even when she's not trying to be all-out hilarious there are all these lovely funny touches, like Peeves refusing to let anyone through a door unless they set their own pants on fire and Arthur wanting to know how aeroplanes stay up and Fred and George discussing buttocks. Such fun.

Oh, and I love Remus. There's a bit where he just sounds so bitter, so lost, and I want very much to squish him, because he isn't in this enough. Although, there is new film footage and it has him in and I am squeeing oh yes. I want to know why Thewlis suddenly looks like him when he didn't before. Actually, the bit I am really excited about for this movie is, naturally, the Pensieve scene. Obviously, the moment there are pics, the whole fandom will explode, and I shall be right there squeeing with them. Marauders! Are LOVE!

(Still want to do a Terribly Skientific Poll on who would win a practical-joke war - the Marauders or Theta Sigma, Ushas and Koschei. My money is on the former, but just barely, and I reckon Theta and Remus would get on.)

YES. Marauders are love. And back to HBP for a minute, the other thing I like about it is fairly surprising. I remember hildabeast once asked a room full of people who their favourite HP character is. We went round this huge room, and people said Hermione, Tonks, Ron, Sirius, Dumbledore, they got to me and I said, wistfully, "Remus Lupin, and that means he's going to die", the next person said Fred and George, so on and so forth. We'd finished off when someone came in late, and was asked who her favourite was.

"Harry!" she said. And everyone laughed sheepishly at this so far unprecedented answer. And I think I sort of get why no one else had said him. But in HBP, Harry is fab. He's smart and a bit clueless, he cares about his friends, he's grieving for Sirius in this quiet, understated way, he's just a lovely character to stick with for six hundred pages. I think I shall have to read the entire thing before morning, and no-one's allowed to harsh my squee. I am fresh from a hellish week and a nice hot bath.

Speaking of which, a handful of recs. No idea if I've recced any of these before, but what the hell.

With Hindsight, by kabeyk.
Remus/James, sort of. Features people being fanatical about, surprisingly enough, hot baths.

Gypsy Soul, by ignipes.
Sirius/Remus. Sad, understated, beautiful piece of post-Azkaban fic.

Sirius Black, Super Genius by mistful.
James/Lily romcom. Oh yes. Oh, yes, oh, yes.

Straight, No Chaser by romanticalgirl.
Pairings abound, so I merely offer the following: "Three people, you might notice, who are still your friends and would remain so even if they found out you were shagging stray cats in the alleys of London. Admittedly, we’d worry you’d happen upon McGonagall, but we’d still be your friends.”

Just Desserts, by anniesj.
Sirius/Remus. Ish. You guys have met me, right? You know what my bulletproof kink is.

Twenty Things James Potter Never Told Anyone About Sirius Black, by guns_and_butter.
Gen. And it kills.

Easy, by penknife.
Remus/Tonks. Perfect.

You know, this wasn't meant to be a recs post, this was meant to be a me-not-having-a-breakdown post. Anyway. Two months until the last book! I need a moment to express my woe.

Wooooooe.

And, in the interests of Skience:

Ecology For Beginners, by calapine.
Theta Sigma, Koschei and Ushas, Up To No Good. I utterly heart this story.