h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is everyone ok to start discussing Harry Potter w.c 27th September?

Sorry for not getting back to you, Hamrag (), I'm not joining the group as of yet, but I'd still like to pop in and see what develops.

It will be good to see what people thought of, HP sauce, I couldn't get into the books myself.

Cheers,
Tom

Okey dokey my lickle hobbit.

How's the course going?


Graham

Just about to start up again. Not sure what to expect from this year, I've picked my modules carefully, but only time will tell...

You okay, nice summer?

Tom

Yes, I've had a pretty good summer - canoed around Land's End with my mate Malcolm. Did you know that Land's End is properly called Doctor Syntax's Head. We got the tide wrong and ended up paddling against it. I'm a bit old for that sort of thing but, as Malcolm says: "Any canoe trip that you you live to talk about afterwards is a good one."

GT

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Starting at the beginning of the novel a couple of points:

In the first chapter "The Boy Who Lived", the following characters are either introduced or mentioned:

Mr and Mrs Dursley
Dudley Dursley
Harry Potter
Mr and Mrs Potter
Albus Dumbledore
Professor McGonegall
Dedalus Diggle
Voldemort
Hagrid
Sirius Black
(eleven page chapter)

Compare this with chapter two -"The Vanishing Glass"

Aunt Marge
Mrs Figg
Piers Polkiss
(nine pages)

Why does she do this in the first chapter and does she need to?

The following characters are mentioned or introduced in the rest of the book:

Cornelius Fudge
Professor Quirrell
Madam Malkin
Mr Ollivander
The Weasley Family, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Percy, Charlie and Bill, Mrs Weasley.
Neville Longbottom
Lee Jordan
Scabbers
Hermione Grangr
Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle
Professor Snape
Peeves
Filch and mrs Norris
Professor Bins
Professor Flitwick
Madam Pomfrey
Ronan and Bane (centaurs)
The Troll
numerous Hogwarts' pupils

All in a 223 page novel!

When I analysed it in this way it reminds me a little of Dickens with the strange names, numbers of characters and the imagery of a rich historial London.

What particularly struck anyone else?

Just subscribing....

p175

Stick at it Graham, nearly at the fence now.

What did you think of the first chapter though?

I'm still trying to hunt down my copy - I know it's around somewhere...

But, the thing I remember most is the first line. Something like 'The Dursleys were quite happy to say that they were normal thank you very much.' This is partly because I saw a programme about JK Rowling ages ago where they talked to the girl who pulled her manuscript from the slush pile because of that line. One of the agents in the company she worked for had originally discarded the piece with the words 'we don't deal with children's literature' written on the front. If the girl hadn't spotted that line and pulled it out for a second look, the world may never have heard of JK Rowling or Harry Potter.

I hope I've got this right or I am going to look foolish - or more than I do normally anyway.

JKR has a great web site at:

http://www.jkrowling.com/en/thankyou.cfm

g

Thanks Graham we've been on the site and little one is impressd that she went on a HP message board (must have been anonymous poster) and ended up chatting about Spongebob Squarepants. The kids weren't interested in her hints about the new book apparently. lol.

Star, That's interesting, haven't heard that before. Just goes to show though. Now if we can all just think of a great first line... One thing I always wanted to know was if she had written and published before, do you know that? I didn't see the programme.

I don't like websites with moving bits 'n pieces. Maybe I'll persevere later.

I think the way that JKR has Harry knowing nothing about the wizarding world is a clever device. That way, the reader can learn about it through Harry's eyes. Clever idea.
I also think that the invention of new words appeals to kids; you'd be hard pushed to find one who doesn't know what a muggle is.

F.

I love the way JK Rowling plays with words. Is it in 'Philosopher's stone that she has the 'Mirror of Erised'?

In Eoin Coiffer's books he gives a code at the bottom of the book to be deciphered. I think kids love these kind of puzzles.

I hadn't noticed that one. Wasted on me....

I shall re-read more slowly and look for other clues I missed first time.

F.

Mirror of Erised (desire) yes Star it's in the Philosopher's stone. There's another book that details her games, like Diagon Alley (diagonally) there are lots so have fun Fidjit! I wouldn't have known about them either if I hadn't read this other book.

The text doesn't just comprise of paragraphs of prose and dialogue. She also keeps her readers' interest with:

newspaper articles
lists
letters
addresses
poem
book extracts

There are many words in capital letters. They appear on pp:
24,26,32,38,39,41,42,44,48,53,90,91,111,119,137,144 then no more until one other on p202.

And there are many exclamation marks and question marks.

Do you think this is her writing style or are they intentional devices to keep children interested in the story?

Hi,

Finished it. That was a struggle. Not because it's a bad book.

I'll let the digestive juices work on it for a while before getting stuck in to this discussion. The area in this book, and others that I am interested in is "intrigue"; the ability to make the reader want to turn the pages.

Theexwhinger
Reg Nih-Wxeeht

Hello All! Off sick from work today and bored out of my wits so I'm getting caught up on my writing and reading!
I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get through The Philosopher's Stone. The first time I read the book I raced through it thoroughly enjoying the story but since then I've reread it on occassions like this to refresh my memory and for some reason it becomes more of a chore each time.
To be fair the main problem I have with JK Rowling isn't really an issue in the first book. I think the Philosopher's Stone has all the ingredients necessary for a first class children's story. I do like her making the mundane into the miraculous...Platform 9 3/4 for example, or the moving trading cards...her descriptions of food are always particularly good. However, I do think that her story is helped immeasurably by the familiarity we have with her world. I'm not talking about the Harry Potter mania we get everytime there's a book or a film release, but I do feel that she has taken elements out of every school story written in the 1950s, given them a lick of paint and stitched them together to form something that should be absolutely new rather than a patchwork of familiar castoffs......Apologies for the ranting nature of this but as I said I'm at home sick and my brain is very wooly!
Finally to go off the point a little and rather unfairly skip ahead to the later books in the series, the one thing that really stops me from rereading the other books is the way she keeps levering in the story so far as if she's pitching the books at an audience of amnesiacs!
Sorry rant over - again! I'll persevere with my rereading (and my spelling!) and come back with some more specific comments.

Sesheta

Hope you feel better soon.

Well there's nothing new under the sun, so they say and I've heard this said before. What old stories are you reminded of in particular, or is it a general sense?

Yes, all that back story can be irritating but is so necessary if you are reading a particular book as a stand alone fiction (which admittedly few do).

Here have a few hot toddies and get to bed.

I always get the feeling that her editors have said to her 'you must say what has happened previously here' and she's somehow had to shoehorn it in. The bits in later books that explain earlier happenings do interupt the flow and I can't imagine the author thinking to stop just to explain it all again. (Sorry, felt honour bound to defend JKR).

When I read them the first time, I never thought they were startlingly different from other witch/wizard/boarding school type children's books, but she has modernised them and she's made them funny. I loved the Wizard of Earthsea books when I was young, but they did take themselves so seriously. (I still like books that do that though). Harry Potter is fun, with laugh aloud jokes.

I'd forgotten all the little gadget-like things - like the chocolate frogs and the photocards where the characters 'can't hang around all day can they'.