914 ratings (4.29 avg)
598 reviews
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Jonathan Terrington

http://www.jonathanterrington.com

https://www.goodreads.com/thewritestuff

Jonathan ’s personal-favourites shelf

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Jonathan ’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (475)
currently-reading‎ (13)
read‎ (1188)
did-not-finish‎ (0)
to-read-fantasy‎ (345)
to-read-classics‎ (285)
to-read-sci-fi‎ (246)
to-read-non-fiction‎ (96)
to-read-graphic-novels‎ (49)
to-read-linguistics‎ (22)
to-read-historical-fiction‎ (17)
to-re-read‎ (4)

classic-literature‎ (241)
personal-favourites‎ (175)
1001-books-to-read-before-you-die‎ (94)
fantasy‎ (379)
favourite-series‎ (251)
favourites‎ (215)
children-s-literature‎ (192)
science-fiction‎ (168)
graphic-novels‎ (116)
own‎ (109)
childhood-book‎ (97)
fantasy-sci-fi-challenge‎ (91)

worldbuilding‎ (90)
humorous‎ (72)
want‎ (70)
quirky‎ (56)
gritty-reads‎ (52)
fractured-fairytales‎ (44)
should-have-a-film‎ (40)
re-read‎ (38)
scifi-fan-challenge-2014‎ (38)
fantasy-challenge‎ (37)
historical‎ (37)
non-fiction‎ (37)

faith‎ (36)
mystery‎ (33)
action‎ (32)
action-challenge-2‎ (31)
classic-challenge-2‎ (31)
university‎ (31)
books-with-films‎ (30)
short-stories‎ (30)
classics-challenge-3‎ (29)
classic-challenge‎ (27)
plays‎ (26)
thriller‎ (26)

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Jonathan is Currently Reading

Jonathan Terrington is currently reading

The Butcher's Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #5)

by Matt Dinniman (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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May 18, 2026 03:40AM

Jonathan Terrington rated a book it was amazing

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)

by J.K. Rowling

bookshelves: fantasy, children-s-literature, favourites, worldbuilding, currently-reading

Reading for the 3rd time

read in February 2015

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Jonathan Terrington said: " This is probably the best entry in the Harry Potter series to this point. In my personal opinion, the novels begin as average stories at best - with Rowling trying to gain a proper control over her writing voice and style. They do show delightful pro This is probably the best entry in the Harry Potter series to this point. In my personal opinion, the novels begin as average stories at best - with Rowling trying to gain a proper control over her writing voice and style. They do show delightful promise with the worldbuilding and some sense of nice-enough characters, but all in all it's clear that marketing played a huge hand in selling the books early on. I'm not cynical enough to say marketing was all that did it, Rowling has a distinctly British charm and humour that shines even through her early books (and the world of Hogwarts provides a fantastic fantasy setting). However, something is missing from the first three books that is more present in this novel.

Perhaps it is the nuanced political commentary - through displaying the failing inner workings of the Ministry of Magic Rowling appears to provide a critique on normal human political systems. The ideas that she displays include that in trying to do 'good' often laws are designed for those in power to keep power and secondly that those in power often fight among each other for power when they should be fighting bigger problems facing the world. This rings true for politics in Australia at the moment in particular where it seems as if the government and opposition government are busier fighting internal party battles than actually passing legislation.

Perhaps it is the increased (and improved) characterisation present in this novel that causes this to be a more improved novel. You have Harry, Hermione and Ron showing more depth to different aspects of their personalities with their various fears and desires as teenagers and heroes being exposed. The fact that Harry houses more raw anger in this novel to go alongside his perfect heroic goodness leads him to become a more three dimensional figure. The same applies to his friends, however I think the most development of side characters is shown through Dumbledore and Snape. Firstly, because Dumbledore has more of an active role in this novel's plot and secondly because we see some of Snape's tragic, misunderstood, childhood.

All I can admit is that this series is growing on me and I can see the unique brilliance and appeal now in how the audience for Harry Potter grew up alongside the characters. It's a nice series, if not particularly groundbreaking, with some charming moments and a clever magical world. I look forward to seeing how the last two books now play out. ...more "

Apr 26, 2026 04:44PM · see review

Jonathan Terrington is currently reading

Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga, #4)

by Pierce Brown (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Nov 18, 2025 03:18PM

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Jonathan ’s Notes & Highlights

Night by Elie Wiesel

13 notes & 14 highlights

CONVINCED THAT THIS PERIOD in history would be judged one day, I knew that I must bear witness.

The rationale behind writing Night.

Joaquin Mejia and 4 other people liked this

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Jonathan ’s Quotes

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan

tags: inspirational, optimism, perception, pessimism

46638 likes

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer

tags: inspirational, talent

8202 likes

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.”
― Jim Henson

26433 likes

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
― Winston S. Churchill

tags: truth

6770 likes

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

tags: inspirational, politics, presidential

8577 likes

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