I became a member of The Leaky Cauldron website about 2 and 1/2 years ago. I'd been reading the site for news and info on the Harry Potter books, but their message boards were filled with kids. I finally joined to see if the owners of the site would let me start a thread for adult fans. They did, but didn't think it would get much use. Honestly. Welp 2 and 1/2 years later I have "ol' f a r t" Potter-fan friends from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England, Scotland, and Denmark. Our little thread hasn't dropped below number 6 in one of the busiest message board sections on Leaky. Even the older Moderators post with us. Anyway, I've enjoyed Leaky for about 4 years.
Thus, when it's webmistress, Melissa Anelli, decided to write a book on her perceptions of the phenomenon surrounding The Boy Who Lived, I bought it out of sheer appreciation for the years of excellent news coverage, fun, and friendships. I did not expect a particularly riveting read, but by golly I got one.
Harry, a History, is the story of Melissa's fascinating journey through the Potterverse. Her story begins when a friend of hers plopped a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone atop her stack of college textbooks and told her she'd need something "light" and ends with her last interview with JK Rowling. It's the story of how the Harry Potter books, through sheer luck and pluck, were published. How they survived and blossomed not through mass marketing, but rather by the booksellers who loved reading them, the kids who loved reading them, and the parents who loved reading them.
Harry, A History is about those people who came to love Harry, or hate him, and the many ways that diverse fandom showed their affection, or disdain. We meet the first "Wizard Rock" artists and see how that genre of music moved from an audience of 12 in the backyard to an audience of 30,000 the night the final book was released.
We learn about the Harry Potter fan fiction writers who loved the books so much that they were inspired to write. We meet the "shippers" ("ship" refers to "relationship"), those fans obsessed with which character was going to fall in love and live out their lives with what other character. We learn of the "shipping wars" where fans would just lose their minds if someone suggested that Harry would not end up with Hermione (he did not and most of us knew he wouldn't). We also learn what we already suspected about Laura Mallory, the woman from Georgia who was determined that Harry Potter be banned from schools because witchcraft went against her religious beliefs. Nevermind that there is no real witchcraft in the books. Whether we appreciate Wizard Rock, fan fiction, Laura Mallory and her brethren, the shipping wars or not, we certainly gain a good basic knowledge of them thanks to Melissa's insights.
Harry, A History is also the story of an author who believed in a boy wizard, who has fought for what that boy stands for, and who was dumbfounded by the heights of popularity Harry would attain, when she was at first simply gleeful that she would be able to pay her rent. Now that she has completed the series she's just a wealthier more confident version of the person she was when Harry first came into her life.
This book is also the story of how Melissa Anelli survived, blossomed, found friends, gained experience in her field, grew confident and became a successful author herself, all thanks to Harry Potter, the boy who didn't know he was a wizard, didn't know he was special.
Harry, a History, is indeed riveting. I hated when I was forced to put the book down to sleep or take care of the animals. Within the first couple of pages I was living in it and could be heard emitting howls of laughter, yelling "YES!", "ME TOO!" and "I KNOW!", or seen sniffling, wiping my eyes, and running for the kleenex.
The girl did good!
-- Edited by Farm Goddess at 11:26, 2008-11-26
-- Edited by Farm Goddess at 17:13, 2008-11-26
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Some people are like slinkies. They don't have a purpose But they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs
You probably know about this book. It's available at Cemetary Dance. Here's the description. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Wizarding classic, first came to Muggle readers attention in the book known as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now, thanks to Hermione Grangers new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore. Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales: The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, The Warlocks Hairy Heart, Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump, and of course, The Tale of the Three Brothers. But not only are they the equal of fairy tales we now know and love, reading them gives new insight into the world of Harry Potter.
The stories are accompanied by delightful pen-and-ink illustrations by Ms. Rowling herself, featuring a still-life frontispiece for each one. Professor Dumbledores commentaryapparently written some eighteen months before his deathreveals not just his vast knowledge of Wizarding lore, but also more of his personal qualities: his sense of humor, his courage, his pride in his abilities, and his hard-won wisdom. Names familiar from the Harry Potter novels sprinkle the pages, including Aberforth Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy and his forebears, and Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (or Nearly Headless Nick), as well as other professors at Hogwarts and the past owners of the Elder Wand. Dumbledore tells us of incidents unique to the Wizarding world, like hilariously troubled theatrical productions at Hogwarts or the dangers of having a hairy heart. But he also reveals aspects of the Wizarding world that his Muggle readers might find all too familiar, like censorship, intolerance, and questions about the deepest mysteries in life.
hehehe oh yes. I know Beedle well. Kap ordered the collectors edition for me so it should be winging it's way to my house after it's release in early December. When Amazon.com won the original copy that was auctioned at Sotheby's for charity, they copied the pages and put them on their website so everyone could read them. They are funny, meaningful tales much like grandmothers (mine included) used to tell their grandchildren.
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Some people are like slinkies. They don't have a purpose But they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs
We know she's working on her encyclopedia of the magical world, but there's been no discussion regarding how far along that is. It's also being done for charity. There's no publication deadline or even rumors as to when she might be finished.
There have been sightings of her writing in cafes again, but no news about what she's writing.
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Some people are like slinkies. They don't have a purpose But they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs
