By J.K. Rowling
Re-read for 4th time (I think). 02/2025
“Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can’t believe I’m meeting you at last.” “So proud, Mr. Potter, I’m just so proud.” “Always wanted to shake your hand — I’m all of a flutter.” “Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can’t tell you, Diggle’s the name, Dedalus Diggle.” “I’ve seen you before!” said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle’s top hat fell off in his excitement. “You bowed to me once in a shop.” “He remembers!” cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. “Did you hear that? He remembers me!” Harry shook hands again and again — Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.
What can I say that hasn’t already been said about this book? And by far smarter and more insightful people than me.
All I can say is I enjoyed it very much and was very entertained by Rowling’s playful sense of humor. I am amazed at the funny names she gave her characters. The humor is geared for children in this book, but there is much for adults to enjoy as well. She seems like she was having a heck of a good time writing it and sometimes I imagined that she was just cracking herself up. And I appreciated that reading the book instead of listening to it or watching the movies gave me the opportunity to pause and reflect. Knowing the series backwards and forwards, I enjoyed the foreshadowing of things yet to be and happen. Or was it foreshadowing? How far down the road did she plan out the story and details? It is said she spent 5 years planning out the series before she started writing Sorcerer’s Stone. I wonder what she would have changed if she knew then what she knew by the time she wrote the words “All was Well”? She mapped out everything before she even knew this first in the series would be written, or if written, if it would ever find a publisher. Amazing. A truly amazing woman and writer.
The only quibble I have ever had with this book was the way Gryffindor won the House Cup at the end. As a fair-minded Hufflepuff, it really bothers me. If I was a Slytherin, I can’t even imagine my reaction.
Drew loved the Harry Potter books so much and would make his mom go to Barnes and Noble at midnight to buy the latest one whenever it came out. He would then stay up all night to read because that’s what teenagers can do.
Teresa is so lucky she has a son who likes to read and was able to experience the Harry Potter phenomenon first hand. I came to the series late, having no interest in them, until encouraged by my daughter-in-law. And the rest was history.
Drew has always loved to read – and now we’re hoping our granddaughters will be as intrigued with the written word.
They don’t stand a chance not to😉
I haven’t read any of the books and only watched a smattering of the movies but I am fascinated by how JK Rowling managed to do what she did. If you haven’t seen these, these are the best things I’ve seen. The first is the earliest interview before it got crazy…..she was thrilled that the first book had sold 30,000 copies in the UK. 🙂 How precious is that?? The next is the best documentary hands down and the third is the most excellent Harvard Commencement Speech 2008. It’s brilliant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmZLl6EeJMg
What I really want to know is after the first movie came out, and I think at that time the 4th book was published, now that she “knows” what the characters look like, and are like, what sort of effect that might have had on the remaining books.
I’ve probably seen them, but I’ll check them out to be sure. I don’t think the movies had much of an influence on her, except that she has said that Evanna Lynch’s portrayal as Luna did inform her character in the book.
I’m thinking for years in her mind she knew what the kids looked like and now here are the “real deals” and I can imagine how it might influence some of the following books. I know she said that Emma Watson was too good looking for Hermione. So we know what was in her mind the first few books and now I can imagine her having to moderate her treatment to a degree. I’m sure I sent you this also?
[https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVP.RdmC-j59c9mVSFIoVgUtoQHgFo&pid=Api]
How JK Rowling flummoxed Stephen Fry
http://www.youtube.com
She had final say on the casting of the kids. They tried to fit Emma Watson with buck teeth, but they didn’t work out. She couldn’t talk right with them. In the 4th book, she gets her teeth fixed. And when she makes an effort, she can be attractive and pretty. she was pretty enough to attract Cormac and Viktor Krum. I find it hard to believe that her transformation was the result of pretty 10 year old Emma Watson.
I don’t know that much about it but I can’t imagine that putting the characters visually in place wouldn’t have had some effect on what JKR was writing. My point is that she had lived for years with her personal conception of her characters’ and suddenly here they are on the big screen not looking like what she had had in mind for all those years. I think that’s an interesting point.