I can't imagine what pumpkin juice tastes like but I would like to try it. As I read the books I imagined butterbeer was the the hard cider version of rootbeer.

As I read the books I imagined butterbeer was the the hard cider version of rootbeer.

That I would drink. But the butterscotch and cream soda stuff sounds too sweet for me. I like my beers bitter (IPA, yum!).

Luna & Neville are my favorites. I would LOVE to read the further adventures of Luna.

The butterbeer they serve at the Harry Potter Universal park in Florida is delicious--somewhere between cream soda and butterscotch, with whipped cream on top

That does sound astonishingly good.

I think that after I finish the novel I'm going to have to read that fan novel the wanky person wrote about Dumbledore's Army. Has anyone read it? Is it actually, you know, good?

Deadline : I finished it shortly after I wrote that. The interesting thing for me with both these books is that nothing much happens...in fact Deadline seems to have a lot less story than Feed. But I really enjoy them nonetheless and can't stop reading once I start.

Embassytown : More story than most Mieville, but kind of a lame one, IMHO. I think the problem there for me is that his world building and language are fantastic, so when he reverts to a plot that only a writer could love I get all eye-rolly.

Well, I finished Deadline. I liked Feed a good deal more. However, I realize that the second book of most trilogies tends to be weaker than the first and third.

The interesting thing for me with both these books is that nothing much happens...in fact Deadline seems to have a lot less story than Feed. But I really enjoy them nonetheless and can't stop reading once I start.

I'm two-thirds of the way through and enjoying it more the second time around, I think. The first time, I did get that "nothing much happens" feeling in comparison to Feed, but I'm appreciating it more this time. Maybe because it's nice to have the refresher since I've been reading Blackout. This book seems to consist of a lot of Talking About Virology, but it's important stuff. I also realized I just like these characters.

Maybe because it's nice to have the refresher since I've been reading Blackout.

Taunty McTauntypants.

Also, I have to say I like Shaun. It's fun to have a not-fully-sane POV character, and his violent streak is right for him.

One weird thing is that up until somewhere near the end of i Deadline, the After the End Times crew all seemed like teens or young-20s to me. I had to keep reminding myself that they were adults and that they'd be played by someone older than 18 in the movie. At the end of the book, they were totally adults in my head.

I'm not sure what changed, but I think it was Mahir. Where Rick's age was in contrast to the Masons, Mahir has always seemed their age, but mature...which in this case dragged my mental image of Shaun and George up to my mental image age for Mahir.

, so when he reverts to a plot that only a writer could love I get all eye-rolly.

Maybe? Still, I kind of loved the second twist (no spoilerfont due to phone typing). And since I'm not to the end yet, I live in fear of an ending like The Scar.

One weird thing is that up until somewhere near the end of i Deadline, the After the End Times crew all seemed like teens or young-20s to me. I had to keep reminding myself that they were adults and that they'd be played by someone older than 18 in the movie.

Really? I got at least mid-twenties. Maaaybe early twenties for some of them.

Mahir has always seemed their age, but mature...which in this case dragged my mental image of Shaun and George up to my mental image age for Mahir.

Yeah, Mahir is awesome, and he definitely "feels" older than the rest of them, even though I don't think he's actually older, but I think he helped age everyone up. Like you said.

Buffy seemed younger, but she may actually have been younger, I don't remember.

Oh, and by the way, the Indian doctor who saved the world? My brother.