Neville is one of my favorite characters, too. I love the way he progresses from a bumbler with a sad story to a student with a flair for potions to one of the leaders of his class.

Luna and Neville are two of my favorites, too.

We finally saw the first part of Deathly Hollows a week ago, and I was startled when Neville appeared. Talk about growing up. He's hardly the little kid he was when they started filming the movies.

He's hardly the little kid he was when they started filming the movies.

I'm toying with the idea of rewatching the movies before the final one comes out, although that's actually harder to fit into my schedule. I can listen to audiobooks on the bus, while walking the dog, at the gym, or whatever, but watching the movies means sitting in front of the tv or computer for 15+ hours in the next five weeks.

... maybe I can recruit my nieces, make it a joint project...

... maybe I can recruit my nieces, make it a joint project...

This is a plan! Make popcorn and try to make butter beer.

Ooh, how is it? It sounds intriguing.

It is, very. Some have said it's slow, and it is. I don't mind that. Mieville completely blew my mind at one point, and I'm still trying to pick through my thoughts about the idea behind what blew my mind. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's considering reading it though.

Ah cool - thanks for the Kowal review! Reading now.

There is a Twitter contest to win a copy of A Dance with Dragons.

You can find out about the contest here - there is a spoiler for one of the earlier books at the link; but I've got to say that if you're at the point of reading ADWD then you probably aren't going to be spoiled by earlier books and if you haven't read them you probably won't bother trying the contest which is to tweet with the hashtag #adwdcontest your answer to the question, "What is the most unexpected plot development in George R.R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons?"

The funniest 10 entries win a copy of the book and the most funny also wins a boxed set of the first four. You need to tweet your entry no later than Friday, June 17th and they're going to post the winning entries on their blog. Random House will send the prizes out on or before the book's release day which is July 12th.

This is a plan! Make popcorn and try to make butter beer.

Well, I've already sold one niece on it--before the 6th movie came out, she and her housemates apparently watched the first five movies in one day.

But I have no interest in butterbeer: it sounds kind of disgusting, as does pumpkin juice.

In my head it's the same thing as cream soda.

Cream soda with 3% alcohol? Huh. That sounds less revolting, although I always preferred root beer to cream soda.

Like butterscotch but milder, somehow.