Sometimes I like to read a popular book, a book that everyone is reading—so that I can know what everybody is talking about and, maybe, join in the conversation. So a couple weeks ago I read The Fault in Our Stars—the latest young adult novel from author John Green. The book—about two teenagers who meet at a cancer support group—is instantly gripping, and continues on to tell–in quick-witted, excellently crafted prose—a heart-wrenching, beautiful, soul-searching story...
I am one of those people who love to discuss books in the process of reading them. I just can’t help it. In English class, I’ve made my friends discuss the reading from the night before with me—which usually entailed predicting the rest of the book, discussing favorite (and least favorite) characters, and reciting favorite parts—every morning, before class, on queue. This being the case, I have a tendency to ask new people I meet...
Last week was the first Conference engaging with the Harry Potter series at a high academic level. We know, hard to believe huh?! Well, yours truly from The Two Cities, John Anthony Dunne and Nathaniel Warne, were among the lucky few selected to give papers at this landmark event. The topics covered at the conference were wonderfully diverse. There were fascinating papers on: Food and British national identity in the series, Hermoine in the HP...
This Thursday and Friday (May 17 and 18) the School of English at the University of St Andrews will be hosting an international conference on Harry Potter called, “A Brand of Fictional Magic: Reading Harry Potter as Literature.” Today I am leaving Las Vegas to return to Scotland for this event. I’ve been excited for this conference since before I was even accepted to study at St Andrews. Initially I just thought I’d attend, but...
In light of Nathaniel Warne’s recent post on Harry Potter, I thought I’d supplement his excellent post with additional issues related to Harry Potter’s much needed vindication among conservative Christians. Growing up everyone told me that Harry Potter was evil so I never read the books. Although to be honest, even if people had told me that they were amazing I probably wouldn’t have read them either since I didn’t care for reading until my...
Recent Comments