Amazon has info/pics of new book

The Tales of Beedle the Bard looks so cool!  I hope someone gets permission to print more copies.

http://www.amazon.com/beedlebard

Thank you!

I just wanted to say thank you to Laura for setting this up. It was great fun and a fantastic idea. I’d never have been organised enough to read them all without it! Thanks Laura!

Commenting

Hi all. Now that we’re done reading all of the Harry Potter books, and it’s been ages since anyone’s posted here, and I just deleted 233 spam messages that have come in in the last couple of weeks, I’m shutting down commenting on this board. Posting will still work. If anyone posts here I’ll turn commenting back on for as long as it seems appropriate.

Thank you all for participating in this read along. It was fun!

Laura

Rowling provides some answers

Someone posted this on my stitching board, and I just copied and pasted it here. Don’t have the original link. Sorry. Due to the nature of it, click the More link to get to the interview, and read the spoilers. Don’t click the link or read the comments if you haven’t finished the books and are avoiding spoilers.

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during a live webchat with Scholastic/Bloomsbury on July 30 J.K. Rowling answer A LOT of questions (over 12 pages worth!). So, here it all is!

some of the questions are cut off but that’s how i found them i didn’t edit them.

Hope this answers some of the questions we all may have had and for those who haven’t finished the book

WOW!

I blew through it and loved every minute, even the ones that made me cry.  I’m going to read it again when my UK edition arrives.  In the meantime, I might just go ahead and go though all of them again – or at least the last 2.

So many questions answered.

JKR is a genius.  She wove so much throughout all the books that was essential.  I have no idea how she kept it all straight.

Now I can go to sleep happy.

Not the end for JK Rowling!

There’s a story on the Leaky Cauldron. JK is going to write Hogwarts: A History! Well, sort of. Not right yet but sometime and it’ll fill in some of the stories she had to chop out and give us a bit more info to add to the epilogue! Yay!

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/24/big-news-name-of-character-given-reprieve-stated-by-jo-says-she-will-write-hogwarts-encyclopedia

And some added info – Arthur Weasley nearly got the chop in book 5. Phew! Glad he got a reprieve!

Are you ready for a discussion yet?

This post contains spoilers, so don’t read further if you haven’t finished the book yet!

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Well, what did you think? What did you like or dislike? What was answered and what questions do you still have?

Me? Well I thought it was great. It got off to a fast start and I was horribly shocked by Hedwig and Moody so early on. (More by Hedwig I’m sorry to say!) I knew there would be deaths but that was only page 69! It left me with a whole sense that anyone could die now any time.

The bit at the Weasleys was a nice change of pace and then we were off again into a fight straight away. It made it a real rollercoaster. Ron leaving was a shock but the coming back was great. A good way to find out more about what was going on elsewhere. I’m glad he got to destroy the horcrux too.

I love the idea of the Deathly Hallows and wizarding fairy tales. Glad Luna had a good role too. Dobby was a real shock and so sad. And I thought the Wormtail bit was excellent. He would have killed Harry I think but that split second was appropriate and just like Voldemort to curse that hand. Brilliant.

The Gringotts bit was maybe too easy but I’ll let that pass. It should have been impossible.

And then the battle. Well that was amazing. I wasn’t sure if Harry would make it or not until the end really. I’m SO pleased Neville had a role and I’m SO pleased there weren’t too many more deaths. The chapter where Harry goes to meet his death was incredibly moving.

I knew Snape was good – hooray! But again appropriate that he dies. It was great to get all that explained and see more about Petunia too.

And I liked the epilogue. I’m glad it was there. If it hadn’t been I’d have been very frustrated.

I still have questions. What was the veil in book 5? What did they do after? Did they go back to school to do their NEWTs? Did Harry become an auror? Did Harry ever tell Neville about the prophecy? Did he ever see the Dursleys again? And I read somewhere that one of the things we knew would happen in book 7 was that someone would do magic for the first time late in life. Did I miss it? Who was it?

I’ll be reading it again and I think it was a great ending to an amazing series of books. Well done JK!

Done!

Yay!  Going to sleep now…while I’m not entirely happy with every single thing JK Rowling made happen in the book, I do think she’s a freaking genius.  Hope you all are enjoying your books!

Are you ready?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released across the world starting midnight. I’ve heard that spoilers are up all over the Internet, and that (at least for a time) the entire text of the book was available to download. Egads. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to ruin things by finding out how it ends early. I want the story to unfold.

With that in mind, somewhat like our own dear Kim, I’m going to be limiting my time online between now and the time that I finish reading the book. There are certain places I’m not going to go, and threads I will not open. That pretty much includes these pages. Anyone can post whatever they want to here about the story, but I’ll be protecting myself, not ruining my Christmas as it were, so you all need to play nicely. No fighting. Promise?

I finished reading HBP the other day, re-read the last 70 pages about 4 times, and am anxiously awaiting the conclusion. And you?

By the way, I am definitely looking forward to a bit of post-reading discussion about the book here. Consider yourself warned. If you’re a slow reader, or won’t be able to start the book right away, or whatever, if you don’t want to see spoilers here, then I suggest that you absent yourself for a while as well. Then, please, when you’re done reading, come back so we can talk!!! 🙂

Questions Unanswered

Now that we are coming closer to the end and the release of DH, I was wondering about the answers you want from Book 7. What has your rereading of the books made you more curious about? What are the big questions (“Snape: evil or good?”; “Harry: Live or Die?”)? What are the little, less relevant ones (“What does the Giant Squid do at night when no one is looking?”)

Also, I was curious about those of us who have reread the books what we forgot and what we found interesting that may come into play again in Book 7. Any new or forgotten discoveries?

Which character are you?

http://quizfarm.com/run.php/Quiz?quiz_id=898

I’m Remus Lupin, with Hermione, Dumbledore and Ron tied for 2nd (what a mix!).

Book 6! Are you ready?

I can’t believe we’re in the 6th week already. Do you have your book? Are you ready to start the final known installment, and prepare yourself for the final book, coming out next week?

I am so ready. It’s really quite difficult to not just go get the Half-Blood Prince and jump in tonight. I’ll be good, though. I’ll wait.

The suspense is killing me. LOL

Umbridge and other things

Isn’t Umbridge (I hate her so much that’s all I’m calling her) one of the most horrible characters ever? I can’t remember ever hating a written character quite so much. It’s not even that she’s evil – I don’t mind You-Know-Who as much. What is it? She’s…… eeeugh!

And I just got to the bit about finding the Room of Requirement and is anyone else as impressed as I am that there’s a lead up to that in book 4? It’s not even as if it had to have a lead – JK so planned this whole thing out 🙂

A bit of fun…

This story is from our morning paper.  The movie opened here yesterday…

The train station in the photo is our main station in our capital city here in NZ.  Good on them for having a sense of humour – there must be some non-muggles amongst them.

Spoilers are okay here

Sorry about all the shouting a couple posts back. I’m clearly way behind, and it took a member complaining about that post and the one after it before I knew. I’m sorry.

Knowing that most people here have read the books at least once, often a number of times, I never said that spoilers weren’t allowed. Just too hard to do. Besides, all the information in the books is pretty hard to avoid if you read any Harry Potter posts anywhere on the Internet.

Steps have been taken. The source of the angry posts and the yelling has been stopped.

No, this is not a democracy. It’s my board. My rules.

Am I the only one?

OK – I am posting this in response to the last comment posted regarding spoilers…Am I the only one on this RAL who has NOT read the books before now? I do not recall reading anything about this when I signed up – so I guess I am just wondering.  

Spoilers

I would respectfully request that no spoilers be posted to this site!  I have never read the books – only saw the first 4 movies and will be seeing movie 5 this week.  I am about 1/3 of the way into the 5th book for this week and do not know what happens – except for the comments that people have made about Dumbledore – does he die?  I DON’T WANT TO KNOW THAT YET – I WANT TO READ IT! This will be even more important when the last book comes out and some of you are able to read it faster than the rest of us!

Thanks for remembering this before you post.

It’s getting close!

I just started book 5 and it’s getting to close to the release date now. All the local bookshops are going to be open at midnight and there are Harry Potter parties and Hogwarts classes being advertised to try to get people going!

 JK Rowling was on the TV last night and she says she howled with tears after writing one chapter. And she also said more than two people die – in fact it’s a ‘bloodbath’. Oh dear – that makes me so, so worried… 

Heavy Reading!

Alrighty! I finished book 3 last night – and took a break today to prepare for the start of the really heavy reading (weight wise anyway!) hahahaha.

This RAL is really fun!  I am enjoying the books more than I thought I would!

Any Clues Yet?

I’ve just finished Prisoner of Azkaban and I must say this is probably my favorite of the first six books. I think it was the most well-written and I always enjoy the storyline.

So…has anyone read or re-read anything that has given them any additional insight into what might happen in book 7? I’m not sure I have really discovered anything new upon my re-reading of the first three books. I keep thinking I will find a clue or two somewhere if I am clever enough to see them.

The Prisoner of Azkaban

It’s 6:45 a.m. here in California, and I’ve read the first chapter already. LOL And you?

Fandom

Here’s a question for you all: Are or have you been involved with the Harry Potter fandom? By which I mean, have you actively participated in fanish activities such as reading fanfiction, writing fanfiction, posting in Harry Potter forums, belonging to a (relation)ship, etc. Or has Harry Potter fandom been an aspect of online life you haven’t really been involved in?

Just curious because I use to be in the fandom, post on boards, read, wrote and betad fanfiction, and being in any fandom can make you question and regard the books differently.

Harry and The Potters band

These guys are coming to our local library so I checked them out….

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=3903567

Then I went to their band website and saw that they played June 1 – NYC, NY – the Knitting Factory.  So I just had to post about it.  LOL

Book 2: starting tomorrow

Are you ready to start the Chamber of Secrets tomorrow?

I’m pysched. I’ll be finishing up my “during the week book” later today. Tonight, if I can manage to make it go that long. Then I’ll be ready to start Chamber first thing Saturday morning. Woot!

“Time is making fools of us again”

ok well of me – i didnt relize this week would fly by so quickly and im still only on page 63 in “Diagon Alley” so I better get my skates on as we start book 2 tomorrow!

can you tell where i got header quote from – its a quote by Albus Dumbledore, but do you know which HP book? 😉

Do you see/hear the actors when you read your books?

I know this may sound silly, but for those of you who read the books before the movies came out, when you are re-reading your books now, are you putting the actors voices and images in your head while you read it?

Since i seen the movies first, whenever i read my HarryPotter books i always imagine the actors and hear their voices as im reading it. I also hear the voice of Richard Harris as Dumbledore as personally I cant stand that other Dumbledore.

val aka abehap

I Finished Listening to HP and TSS…

…on my new computer! It’s been great fun, but a little stressful as well to switch over to a mac. Boy will I enjoy the next Mac and PC commercial I see! I’ll be a little more talkative once I get all the computer issues settled.

Finally finished!

Well – I started the book on Saturday morning but kept getting interrupted throughout my week!  I actually had to stop in the middle of the last chapter yesterday at the lake because there were too many people we knew and they all wanted to talk!  I really enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to the others.  I get the books mixed up so even though I have seen all of the movies so far – I was kept in suspense figure out what was going to happen next!

And to all of you who are feeling so “spunky” and finishing your reading so FAST…take the gift!  I expect that after the first 2 books the finishing time will take a while longer with each book! 🙂

I preordered, but which jacket?!

I went into my local bookstore and my copy is preordered (and paid for as I reckon it’ll be chaos on the Saturday of release!) The store assistant asked me which cover I wanted (the UK has two), and I wondered, which cover are you going for if you have a choice – or which would you go for?

 I picked the children’s one to go with the rest of my set. Here’s the adult one. I actually prefer the adult one this time but I just have to have a matching set!

How did you catch the Potter bug?

Im just curious to know how everyone became HarryPotter lovers. Did you see the movie first or read the books?

I myself was snoozing on the lounge on a hot summers day in 2002 when my then 6 year old son wanted to watch Harry Potter and the philosophers stone movie for the second time.  I thought what on earth is so great about this movie and actually opened my eyes and watched it with him.

Needless to say I loved it and couldnt believe I had totally been ignoring all the Harry Potter hype that had been happening. Talk about a muggle or what!