A year in the Life of J.K. Rowling

[Cloud]

Did anybody see this documentary yesterday? It was interesting.

I can see myself in her--she's very smart, introverted, and yet forceful. She's gone through severe depression and has come out the other side. When she hit rock bottom, she said to herself, well, I have nowhere to go but up. I want to be a writer, so I'm going to write a book!

Why didn't I think of that? u

The information about her family was unknown to me (not being THAT much of a fangirl). Her father was a right bastard, and it's apparent his behavior is the model for the abuse Harry suffered. She lost her beloved mother to multiple sclerosis, and the theme of mother love infuses the books.

She also talked about why she didn't kill Harry off at the end of the books. She said she thought a lot about people coming home from war and rebuilding their lives; how rebuilding your life after a disaster is much harder and takes much more courage. Harry is a survivor, and he came back from the war, and rebuilt his own life, as well as the entire wizard community.

Now, she's concentrating on her own family life, a victory for her. We're going to see more books from her, too. Maybe not HP books, and possibly not as good, either, but more mature, certainly. And just more. When asked, "Why do you write?" she responded, "I love it. And I need it."

[glatt]

Yeah, it was on while I was surfing around. My wife and daughter were watching it. I found myself being drawn into the tv show more than my web surfing. I read 2 Harry Potter books and thought they were OK. Nothing special. I didn't really care about her before. But the documentary on her was pretty good and interesting. I like her.

[Cloud]

the books actually get better, deeper, more complex as they go along. The entire thing is a work of genius, and I don't say that lightly.

[Sheldonrs]

I watched it as well. It inspired me to write.


To write a letter to HER, that is, asking for money; since she said she sometimes answers them and sends money too.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Sheldonrs

I watched it as well. It inspired me to write.


To write a letter to HER, that is, asking for money; since she said she sometimes answers them and sends money too.

yeah. I was amazed that she said that on tv. "I give money to some people who write to me." What a foolish thing to say. I guess she got so used to the cameras she wasn't thinking.

[Cloud]

Honest and forthright to a fault, that's me. Er . .. her.

Probably won't help to write unless you're a struggling single mother. If I had her money, I'd give some of it away, too.

[Pensive Monkey]

I loathe Harry Potter, but my reasons are not good.

I was required to read the first one in an AP English class in high school by a horrid teacher who was a manic Baptist and got all pissy when I wrote a paper about ghosts, but then required us to read a book about wizards...and I just wasn't impressed with the book...and then it became so goddamn popular that I was just mystified and annoyed with it all, and professed my hatred for the series.

I have not, however, read any of the other books. Perhaps I should. I'm about to be a high school English teacher, after all. I recently asked a friend if I should feel compelled to read the series if I wanted to have cred with my students. She said I didn't have to read them, but I should appreciate their ability to get kids to read.

True dat.

[Cloud]

I understand completely about resisting things which are "too popular." I do it, too, and in fact I did it with the HP books for a long time.

If you've only read, or tried to read the first books, you might consider giving them another chance. As a teacher, I think you'd be missing out, not only on something that I consider fairly delightful, but on the cultural knowledge that all your students will know.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

When I noticed my rereadings of Harry Potter were catching up with my rereadings of Lord of the Rings -- easy to do, as HP is a fast read for adults and LotR is slower even for adults -- that caught my attention. Here clearly is a literary event: kiddie lit, but literature nonetheless. Rowling does have a faculty for transparent prose, except for the mildly distracting usage of LOUD PHRASES IN ALL-CAPS when SMALL-CAPS or italics would do more smoothly.

So no loathing here. I read the first book to find out what all the fuss was about. The wife and I ended up swapping the copy we bought back and forth each chapter in our hotel room. It's still the only HP softback we have. We didn't try getting that exclusive lotsa-bucks hardback edition with the JK Rowling pen art in it to replace anything. She draws a good convincing Harry but doesn't do so well with Dudley.

Some of us will be reading the first books aloud to our kids. They're likely to be ready to read the later books for themselves.

[Cloud]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

When I noticed my rereadings of Harry Potter were catching up with my rereadings of Lord of the Rings -- easy to do, as HP is a fast read for adults and LotR is slower even for adults -

Ha! I used to read LOTR at least once a year, for many, many years. I don't think I've read any other book/series as much.

[Cloud]

I saw the movie. awesome! I cried, even though I knew what was going to happen.

Here's an awesome commencement address delivered by Rowling at Harvard. EXTREMELY (sorry UG) worth reading/viewing:

http://harvardmagazine.com/commencem...ation#comments

On an unrelated note, I practically swooned when I saw that boy enter that elevator (the preview for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief). Yes, yes, YES!