I recently recorded a podcast episode of ‘Changed My Mind‘ with Luke T Harrington, talking about how I went from seeing Harry Potter as nothing but trashy fun, to seeing it as a bona fide children’s classic. I’ve been enjoying listening to Luke’s show, so it was great fun to go on it to talk […]
A much-debated question among writers and readers is whether characters in a story have to be “likeable”. Some people can’t enjoy stories where they don’t like the characters. Others enjoy the complexities of flawed, unpleasant characters. But I don’t think likeability is the real issue.
Over the summer, I signed up for early access to Pottermore, the new Harry Potter website, and a few weeks ago I got the email granting me beta access. One of the activities on the site is completing a quiz in order for the Sorting Hat to put you into one of the four houses […]
It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest given the strongly Christian themes of Harry Potter in general and book seven in particular, but I just saw this article in which J K Rowling talks about the part that Christianity plays in her books, and also talks about her faith and doubts: here.
That was the question posed in the Books section of Outpost Gallifrey recently. You might not be surprised to read that my short answer is “No”, but hopefully my further observations might be of some interest… First of all, I really enjoy all three writers and their books. Secondly, in the interests of full disclosure, […]
Contains hints and teases, but no specific spoilers… 10:15am It’s arrived! Hooray! Time to settle down with a good book for the next few hours. “I suppose we won’t be seeing much of you for the rest of the day” says my Dad. Oooh, I open it and there are quotes at the front. I […]
Today is a long-awaited day, the day when the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is published. I’m now back in sleepy old Dolgellau, so no midnight opening for me, just the wait for the postman to arrive bearing the latest volume. Rather than just a plain and ordinary […]
I hear rumours that the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has leaked onto the Internet and that spoilsports are going around the place saying what happens at the end. Now, having sometimes discovered rather more than I’d have liked to have known in advance about some Doctor Who episodes from internet discussions, […]
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows“, eh? Doesn’t give anything away, but sounds suitably ominous! Here are some of my thoughts on what will happen in the last book. Be warned, SPOILERS for the previous books (but anyone who cares will have read them all by now, I’d guess!) I’ve thought that Harry is a […]
