Comments | dr_c: More HP Stuff (including another quiz)

dr_c

More HP Stuff (including another quiz)

Feb 18, 2007 21:32

(1) Concerning Book 7:

...(a) JKR's comments on the release date: ( Read more... )

Comments 12

peachespig February 19 2007, 07:58:13 UTC

Okay, I'll have a go...

lomjafeqgkdphbcin

I still think they would have avoided 7/7/07 because of the terror attack anniversary if nothing else.

And let me gently push you towards the abbreviation "DH", which I'm seeing more people using and which has the advantage that it keeps you from having to retroactively change the way you write the other books to "HPHBP", "HPOotP", "HPPS/HPSS" etc. ;)

dr_c February 19 2007, 08:38:52 UTC

Almost got it; just one transposition.

(Re. the notation: Yeah, I might change over eventually. Am not active enough in fandom to be up on what other people are doing. Cross-book consistency isn't that big a deal to me, though.)

tartanboxers February 19 2007, 14:38:47 UTC

even though HBP says that after Fawkes' lament for Dumbledore, Harry "knew... that the phoenix had gone, had left Hogwarts for good"

We also know from COS that Fawkes can be summoned by an act of ultimate loyalty to Dumbledore. I bet this will come into play somehow.

Here's my stab at the quiz ( ... )

dr_c February 19 2007, 17:54:38 UTC

Full marks!

And yes, I agree about a CoS-type summoning of Fawkes by loyalty to Dumbledore (had meant to put that in the essay, actually, but it slipped my mind in the long typing session).

alphielj February 19 2007, 15:37:53 UTC

You got me on this one. No titles is pretty difficult! I tried to fill in as many titles as I could remember, but it's been a while since I've read the first book and so I'm coming up short! SO here is my guess, complete with as many titles as I could think of. I KNOW this is wrong, but the first book is probably my least favorite after OotP. Sigh ( ... )

alphielj February 19 2007, 15:42:39 UTC

Ok - I just looked at the book and my titles are ALL messed up! Still, I didn't think that was too bad to come up with those without looking at the book. LOL! Oh well... better luck next time!

dr_c February 19 2007, 18:06:03 UTC

Nice job on the ordering, anyway! :-)

"Least favorite after OotP"? Yeah, mine too. (I'd put them PoA, HBP, CoS, GoF, PS/SS, OotP, with HBP and CoS trading second and third places every now and then.)

What I've noticed is interesting about PS/SS, though, is that it's the one book in the series where the excitement (and, I might also say, the most effective writing) is concentrated at the beginning of the book. At the very beginning it tells us that the Dursleys "didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters"; and from there on out, we receive various clues about the Potters' world-- but we don't actually find out what the Potters are until the middle of Chapter Four, when Hagrid says, "Harry-- yer a wizard."

The second mystery-plot-- the one culminating in "It was Quirrell"-- seems (to me, at least) almost anticlimactic by comparison.

alphielj February 19 2007, 19:51:47 UTC

Isn't that the truth! That's why this is at the bottom of my list as far as favorite books is concerned. (My list is very similar to yours actually with HBP firmly in the second place spot.) The first book is a necessity with all the exibition, but as far as plot goes, it's pretty anticlimactic. The real "plot" of the first book is Harry's introduction to the wizard world. That's why I didn't consider myself hooked on these books until I read CoS and was thrust full force into a mystery right from the start. Don't get me wrong, book one is filled with amazing moments. I love Harry's first conversation with Ron on the train and the line about never having anything to share let alone anyone to share it with. Such a deep comment on his life up until now. And I think everyone in the fandom has a soft spot for Harry's glance into the Mirror of Erised. But the book just doesn't have much of a plot! OotP was the same way for me. Several really great moments, but as a complete book and plot it fell short.

lilac_bearry February 19 2007, 17:00:25 UTC

Okay, here goes:
lomjafeqgkcdphbin

I did just re-read this, but I'm sure I've mucked it up!

dr_c February 19 2007, 17:58:04 UTC

Only one error ("c" is out of place by four spots). Nice job!

hallie2985 February 19 2007, 23:18:20 UTC

I have a suggestion as to why JKR didn't go for a 7/7/07 release date - it will be the two year anniversary of the London Bombings, and I think that releasing a book as huge as HP on that day would be somewhat crass - sort of like releasing it on 9/11. Releasing it on 21 July is better from that perspective.