Christian Controversy/Conversation Continues
July 31, 2009
Last Friday, I did an interview on the ‘that is the Day!’ Moody Bible radio show that I assumed was going to be about How Harry Cast His Spell (that book’s publisher set it up) and the movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I had my notes about the Christian subject matter of that film, particularly Dumbledore as Christ figure and the ‘I am with you’ line that was cut from the film, in anticipation of questions from the host on that subject and others.
Whoop…
Complete Harry Potter $3.99 on Ebay? C’mon.
July 31, 2009
Looking for that perfect something to celebrate Harry’s and Ms. Rowling’s shared birthday today? Buy the seven book Harry Potter series on CD as a pdf file for next to nothing.
I understand that versions of that sort of thing have been available and passed around on the World Wide Web for years. I was sent, for instance, a searchable MS Word file of Deathly Hallows less than a week after the book was published in 2007 (having bought four copies of the book, I wouldn’t have blu…
Harry Potter’s Bookshelf: Excerpt Online
July 30, 2009
Hey, I made the University of Chicago alumni magazine!
They ran a longish excerpt from Harry Potter’s Bookshelf and an scoop about my life as a Potter Pundit and Great Books Exponent. whether either of those subjects interests you, please enjoy Harry Potter and the Ivory Tower: A Potter scholar puts J. K. Rowling’s series on a shelf with Stoker, Chaucer, Austen, and other Great Books authors.
More ‘Harry Potter’s Bookshelf’ Reviews
July 30, 2009
It has been three weeks now since Penguin/Berkley published Harry Potter’s Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures and the reviews have been wonderfully kind and generous. Here are three of the most interesting, from HogPro All Pro Dr. Amy H. Sturgis, from a librarian/teacher named ‘Befus’ at epinions, and from Steve Vander Ark, the Lexicon Guy:
Steve Vander Ark, my roommate at Azkatraz 2009, wrote a ‘compare and contrast’ review at the Harry Pott…
Azkatraz 2009: Blast on the Bay!
July 28, 2009
I’m speaking tonight at the New York Public Library tonight (6:30 pm, 455 Fifth Avenue, across the street from the Lions) on Harry Potter’s Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures. I hope to see you there!
If you cannot come to that, please enjoy the photos below and at Flickr as well as stories about Azkatraz 2009, HPEF’s biggest and best Potter con yet. More tomorrow!
(photo credits — Wendy Bierman on the Red Hen/Hogs Head with Cable Car bac…
‘Harry Potter and the Pint of Liquid Courage’
July 28, 2009
The Health writer at the New York Times that decided that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sends the wrong report about alcohol use to teens. In an scoop titled Harry Potter and the Pint of Liquid Courage she details the dangerous example the terrible trio and friends give the youth of our planet.
As you might expect, said reporter has her head handed to her by a variety of readers in a flood of responses here. Refreshing and bracing, that.
Some of these are great — particularly th…
Reviews of ‘Harry Potter’s Bookshelf’
July 16, 2009
Harry Potter’s Bookshelf has been out for a week now and there are 8 reviews up on its Amazon.com page. They are all five star recommendations and all are very generous in their praise. Here are four, just in case you’re still on the fence about buying a copy:
5.0 out of 5 stars Most accessible, wide-ranging, and convincing trip yet inside Potter
By Stephen Schumacher (REAL NAME)
John Granger was a trailblazer, sniffing out the (not so) hidden Christian and alchemical roots of Ro…