New Harry Potter Book Cover Unveiled

[Tony]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3074257

http://images.chron.com/content/news/photos/05/03/08/potter.jpg

Cool.

[TragicMonkey]

"Pay attention, Potter. This is how a real wizard microwaves a burrito."

[athon]

"Ah, I see the problem, Potter. Hagrid's been shaving again...a hairball this big is bound cause problems with the plumbing."

[Luciana]

oh, how lame. So commonplace. I'm disappointed.

[TragicMonkey]

Originally posted by Luciana Nery
oh, how lame. So commonplace. I'm disappointed.

Well, at least it shows that Dumbledore doesn't die over summer vacation. Didn't Rowling admit that there would be at least one more character killed? I'm hoping it's Dumbledore, because having him around makes everything too easy. It'd be like LOTR if Gandalf was around the whole time. Sooner or later, Potter and Co are going to have to figure things out for themselves.

[H3LL]

"So this is how you reach Hermione's dorm cam without a credit card or password!"

[H3LL]

Googling about (I couldn't remember how to spell Hermiominimin's name) I stumbled across this:


Which Harry Potter Character Are You Like (http://selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=hpcharacter)

Some of the questions where there is an option of Not Sure made me laugh.

Do you have a pet?.....Erm? Not sure???
Are you currently employed?....Erm? Not sure???

and the best one:

Do you wear glasses? :D

I got:

<center>
<Li> My #1 result for the SelectSmart.com selector, Which Harry Potter Character are you like? (http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=hpcharacter), is Remus Lupin


</center>

but wasn't paying much attention to my answers.

Saddest part is I know who it is.

[Hutch]

Interesting site, H3ll, I predicted I would be Ron Weasley, the site said I was Dumbledore.....

[TragicMonkey]

Sheesh. I came out as Snape!

[Chaos]

I´m most like Hermione Granger...Albus Dumbledore is second, Ginny Weasley is third.
Two girls and an old codger... I wonder what that is supposed to say about me...?

But at least, I am least like Snape, Draco Malfoy and Voldemort. That´s really reassuring.

[Darat]

Is this series still on going? I'd have thought people would have realised by now what a mediocre writer of derivative fiction she is.

What about “Harry Potter & The Da Vinci Code� for the next one?

[TragicMonkey]

Originally posted by Darat
Is this series still on going? I'd have thought people would have realised by now what a mediocre writer of derivative fiction she is.

What about “Harry Potter & The Da Vinci Code� for the next one?

The writing may not be Great Art, but that doesn't mean it's not any good at all. Some of the characters are interesting, and people want to know how it all turns out.

[pgwenthold]

Originally posted by TragicMonkey
The writing may not be Great Art, but that doesn't mean it's not any good at all. Some of the characters are interesting, and people want to know how it all turns out.

Which seems to me to be challenge #1 in great writing.

I guessed I would be Bill Weasley, but came up Dumbledore. However, Bill Weasley ended up #2, which I think is pretty good.

[Darat]

Originally posted by TragicMonkey
The writing may not be Great Art, but that doesn't mean it's not any good at all. Some of the characters are interesting, and people want to know how it all turns out.

Has she included any monkeys?

[Piscivore]

Originally posted by Darat
Is this series still on going? I'd have thought people would have realised by now what a mediocre writer of derivative fiction she is.

What about “Harry Potter & The Da Vinci Code� for the next one?

She's not that bad. At least her writing is engaging. And you do realise that it is a children's series, right? :)

All fiction is derivative in some way. Alice in Wonderland is more derivative than Potter. Some are worse than others, naturally, but Rowling is far from the worst. Some of the drech I've read lately has been truly awful. I just picked up this one where ten pages in the author just dumped in out-of-context all his character notes for the protaganist. And those ten pages were enought to realise the only well this guy was drawing from was old '80s action movies.

[TragicMonkey]

Originally posted by Darat
Has she included any monkeys?

Sometimes when I read books, I picture all the characters as monkeys dressed up in costumes. It really adds some color to certain works.

It made Goethe endurable, if a bit odd. My English professor never understood why I thought Faust was a comedy.

Sometimes it's up to the reader to make the writing Great Art.

[Darat]

Originally posted by Piscivore
She's not that bad. At least her writing is engaging. And you do realise that it is a children's series, right? :)

...snip...


Yep and if you want non-derivative, non-patronising well writt'en stuff for the little ‘uns I suggest parents read the first 3 books in the "Wizard of Earthsea" series to their children. (And it’s got the advantage that it is a book adults can read without being embarrassed and ashamed of themselves!)

[Darat]

Originally posted by TragicMonkey
Sometimes when I read books, I picture all the characters as monkeys dressed up in costumes. It really adds some color to certain works.

It made Goethe endurable, if a bit odd. My English professor never understood why I thought Faust was a comedy.

Sometimes it's up to the reader to make the writing Great Art.

You do realise that if you think of Harry Potter as a monkey Rowling will sue you? Either that or you'll have to pay her a licence fee?

[Piscivore]

Originally posted by TragicMonkey
Sometimes when I read books, I picture all the characters as monkeys dressed up in costumes. It really adds some color to certain works.

It made Goethe endurable, if a bit odd. My English professor never understood why I thought Faust was a comedy.

Sometimes it's up to the reader to make the writing Great Art.

We chould do that with the bible. Re-write the whole thing with monkeys.

"Blessed are the poo-flingers..."

[TragicMonkey]

Originally posted by Darat
Yep and if you want non-derivative, non-patronising well writt'en stuff for the little ‘uns I suggest parents read the first 3 books in the "Wizard of Earthsea" series to their children. (And it’s got the advantage that it is a book adults can read without being embarrassed and ashamed of themselves!)

I'm not embarrassed to read kids' books. I still reread my old John Bellairs, Gordon Korman, and Lloyd Alexander books.

Why "patronizing"? I thought she did a pretty good job, aging the voice a little bit more each book. The first one reflected the perceptions of a ten (eleven?) year old, while the last one is quite a bit more grown up. I guess if you don't identify with the protagonist enough, it would seem to be talking down. (Let's face it, Harry's a bit slow, anyway.)

[Piscivore]

Originally posted by Darat
Yep and if you want non-derivative, non-patronising well writt'en stuff for the little ‘uns I suggest parents read the first 3 books in the "Wizard of Earthsea" series to their children. (And it’s got the advantage that it is a book adults can read without being embarrassed and ashamed of themselves!)

Done. Well, mine are past the "read to" stage, but they have them. As well as ASOUE and Coraline and the Time Trilogy and Narnia and "His Dark Materials", etc...

Of what specifically do you find Potter derivative?

ETA: Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me monkeyman, my son loves Lloyd Alexander.

[H3LL]

Anything that gets any child to pick up and read any book today is a winner in my mind.


"Well, you know, it was pressure from my mates. They said it was really cool and expanded your mind. The priest warned us to 'just say no' but my mates were having such a good time. I started with a few pages, but before I knew, I'd read the whole book and wanted more.

JK kept us addicted but low on supply, so me and my mates started looking for harder stuff...It was the slippery slope from there. We were shunned by the jocks and prom queens and found quite corners with our mates to discuss general characterization of the European philosophical tradition.

I tried some rehab.... Reality TV, Springer, Married With Children, Fox News....None of it worked.

Those that resisted are having a great time. Moving rapidly from job to job gaining valuable skills manufacturing in the fast food industry, vehicle alignment services and environmental cleansing and beautification, with the bright dream of becoming a famous sport star to drive them on.

Me, I'm stuck with climbing a career ladder.

All because of Harry (Rule 8) Potter."

[pgwenthold]

Originally posted by Piscivore
She's not that bad. At least her writing is engaging. And you do realise that it is a children's series, right? :)

All fiction is derivative in some way. Alice in Wonderland is more derivative than Potter.

If you think Alice in Wonderland is derivative, I guess I don't know what derivative means. Carroll was pretty much the first, and then everyone else pretty much followed the same model. Baum was one of the first to follow with the WoO, but the LoTR, Star Wars, and Harry Potter are all pretty much the same story that Lewis Carroll used.

[Piscivore]

Originally posted by pgwenthold
If you think Alice in Wonderland is derivative, I guess I don't know what derivative means. Carroll was pretty much the first, and then everyone else pretty much followed the same model. Baum was one of the first to follow with the WoO, but the LoTR, Star Wars, and Harry Potter are all pretty much the same story that Lewis Carroll used.

Alice follows the basic "coming of age-seeking power" myths with elements common to most "descent into the underworld" stories thrown in. There are elements of Orpheus and Persephone particularly. Not to mention all the bits that were cribbed from popular British culture- brilliantly pointed out in Martin Gardner's excellent Annotated Alice.

ETA: And LotR is Homer reinterpreted via Northern European folklore- how does that stem from Alice?

[TragicMonkey]

Originally posted by Piscivore
And LotR is Homer reinterpreted via Northern European folklore- how does that stem from Alice?

It's a little-known fact, but Tolkien actually got hold of the original draft of Through the Looking Glass, which contained the following lines subsequently removed from the final version:

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe,
and Alice sought the Ring of Doom
and plunged them all into darkness and reigned over all the world as a terrible Dark Lord.
all mimsy were the borogoves,
and the hobbits got eaten by orcs.

CS Lewis also stole from Carroll, but was persuaded to later remove the scene where Aslan confronts Humpty Dumpty, finds him wanting in virtue, and condemns him to Hell.

[Piscivore]

:D