Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle died today at age 88. I was a big fan of her Wrinkle in Time series, and L'Engle herself seemed like a genuinely admirable person, with a lot of spunk and character.

For example, in her obituary she was quoted as saying that she thought the Harry Potter series was "a nice story, but there's nothing underneath it."

What do you think?

Oh, Fanfic

I didn't realize that the Draco Trilogy was so long! I can't even fully comprehend reading a fanfic that long, let alone the idea of someone's life being devoted to writing it (or is it the other way around?).
The concept of fanfic itself is strange, because its motivation, at least in my opinion, it to fill some void that fans feel is left untouched by the author, to create an alternate universe where the world fans have fallen in love with can be expanded and endure indefinitely. So long as there is fanfic, the characters never have to stay static--there can always be another adventure.
I can't decide whether HP fans have taken that too far, with things like the Draco Trilogy. It is a story that was written before the author herself had revealed what happened to her characters; therefore, the fanficcers were building stories from sketches, not fully realized characters. I feel that after Book 7, a lot of fanfic like The Draco Trilogy can no longer claim to be about the same characters. It's not just about the plot, but the characters authors are using. They've diverged into two different planes, and I don't think that a fan who disregards Book 7 can really say that they've fallen in love with J.K. Rowling's characters so much as the idea of Hogwarts and Co.
That being said, I'm still not entirely sure that it's really wrong, either. I had a discussion with Alyssa about how we didn't like the idea of a Ron/Hermione relationship, because it seemed so out of character for each of them. But if J.K. Rowling says its true, then doesn't it automatically make it in-character? Maybe that's where fanfic comes it--fans can actively protest something they see as wrong in their understanding of a character. And when it gets to the point where fans are appropriating a character as their own, then I think it is fair game. I mean, look at the Batman character (yes, I had to bring Christian Bale into this). The Batman of the new Batman movies is not the Batman of the Val Kilmer generation, nor does he bear resemblance to the original Batman, he of the bright yellow utility belt and gray spandex. The character has evolved through several comic book authors to one who is completely different, but still accepted by fans as canon. Characters like Batman and Nancy Drew (Carolyn Keene, the "author," was a pseudonym for many different writers) have become such cultural institutions that they are now open for reinvention by anyone. Maybe the same has happened with Harry Potter, with the complication that the original author is still alive and vocal about her own vision of what REALLY happens. I'm really curious to see what will happen to the franchise in the future...

On Fanfic

So, after reading HP 7, I encountered a fan who said something like "let's pretend this never happened and take the Draco Trilogy as the last book." Karen helped me find the Draco Trilogy, and I am now about 800 pages through what may be a 2000 page saga in the Harry Potter universe. I say "may be a 2000 page saga" because I have't opened the third pdf file, and the first two are about 1100 pages together. It's long, let's just say that.
Anyway, reading a novel that uses our beloved characters but is not by JK Rowling is a bit of an odd experience. It's comforting to be back with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and to see the Burrow and Hogwarts, etc., again, but it's clearly not the same. This particular story is on the right scale as a Rowling story, especially in the later years, but it introduces concepts that I don't find compatible with the world we've come to know. Demons? Hell? Unlike, say, the Golden Compass books (Karen...write your blog post about it!), the HP world is distinctly a-religious. There just isn't a mention of God or Hell or anything theological. I liked that. Introducing Hell and demons introduces a Judeo-Christian conception of the universe, and it was refreshing to read a children's book in which good and bad were drawn resolutely, but not eternally. Voldemort could be good--it's a choice. I could be okay with the presence of this new theological component, but there's something about the voices that doesn't work for me. This story is self-consciously clever, another trait Rowling would never demonstrate. This is something else I liked abou the books--they took themselves seriously, and the humor was neither casual nor intentional. That is, I never got the sense that an act or quote was intended solely to produce laughter. It was always part of the characters, or of the story. Back to the voices; I can't see the Harry or Hermione I've come to know in this story, which makes me wonder if the Harry and Hermione, etc., are the Harry and Hermione *I* know, or the Harry and Hermione everyone knows. How much are these books personal? How much are the characters personal? I know people understand the romances in the JK Rowling books better than I do, and someone might have an undying appreciation for Professor Sprout, but to what degree can characters change for individual readers?
I guess my real questions here are about reader response theory. Woot Humanities honors seminar. Or even Don Quixote like. What happens to characters when the real author puts down her pen? Are they mine? Are they still hers? Can characters live after the books? I think these questions are ones Karen brought up a few weeks ago, but they're still worth asking again. I just reread HP 3. These characters are not the same characters that are in HP 7, but the evolution is clear. Is HP 7 a better book than the Draco Trilogy, for me, because the evolution JK Rowling has seen them through works better, or is it because characters are really tied to the author? A lot of the series I read as a kid had different authors (eg, Sweet Valley twins, Nancy Drew (I think)). I don't remember the characters changing from book to book, but they were also probably flatter characters. Do any of you write fiction? Do you think you can adopt characters from another world and make them your own?

And, in other news, I'm having a really hard time getting into books this summer (besides HP). Any suggestions?

Warning! Gone with the Wind spoiler! Oh wait, everyone else already knows what happens...

So I just finished Gone with the Wind, having never read it before nor ever seen the movie. Not only did I sob during the last ten pages of the book, but I have been depressed all evening since finishing it.

I grew up reading books obsessively and have often cried before at a sad ending, but my reaction this time has been unlike any I've had before. Normally I feel sad, or even cry if the event is tragic enough to merit tears (e.g. Dumbledore's death in book 6), but then the emotions related to the book end as soon as I'm done reading. But I've been feeling depressed all evening after finishing Gone with the Wind. I even watched and episode of Sex and the City to feel better and ended up crying various times during the show. For some reason, this book is affecting me personally.

Though I had expected, and probably hoped for, a happy ending because most books have them, I hated Scarlett more and more as the book went on so I wouldn't think I would be so upset by her ultimate defeat. But even as I hated her, I became more consumed by the book and it's story the longer I read and for the past week I have been reading during all of my free time. So I guess part of my reaction can be explained by how involved I felt with the characters and their lives. But I also think I may have come to identify with Scarlett a little bit, as much as I dislike her and wonder why Rhett ever liked her. Unconsciously I assumed that things would somehow work out in the end, and that she and Rhett would finally be open with each other and she would admit her love for him. The ending would not have been so bad if it had been dramatic and violent, but instead it was just utterly defeating. The words "I don't give a damn, Scarlett" hurt far more than anger from him would have. I still can't believe the book actually ended that way, not that I blame Rhett since I never thought he should have liked her to begin with.

Ok, enough rambling. I guess I'm just wondering whether my strong reaction is simply a credit to Ms. Mitchell's talent, or whether I identify more with Scarlett than I'd like to think. I hear there's a sequel, but I don't think I have the energy to continue, and since it's by a different author I don't think I would see it as the same story anyways. So, in any case, send me a joke or funny story if you want to cheer me up, though I think a good night's sleep will do the trick for "tomorrow is another day."

Sorry, that was terrible.

Mad Harry (no spoilers)

I've just gotten back from Kepler's big Harry Potter launch party. Hi Alyssa! Hopefully you aren't too exhausted! I got my fortune read by a very soused Professor Trelawney, and apparently I am rational in many things, but not in love. Sad. I guess I will have to stop criticizing others for their stupid love mistakes. Oh wait...that would be me who's making the silly decisions. Boo.


I went to Kepler's with the fond memory of my last Harry Potter party, for book 5 at the Barnes & Noble in Irvine. I mean, I got a snitch and a pair of round, black Harry glasses.

But Kepler's was insane. There were SO many people there. And perhaps I wasn't with the right people, or my buzz was wearing off (I went out with my sister and her bf earlier), but I was sort of put off by the whole thing. I mean, the nasty, critical side of me just came roaring to life, and I was annoyed by the high school girls using the night as an excuse to wear slutty school uniforms, the overbearing parents, the mobs of middle schoolers, the group of high school asshats staging a Support Voldemort rally...honestly, it was a bit much. The cultural phenomenon felt like it had overpowered the simple story of good and evil. In the wake of the hoopla, I feel like I'd lost the crux of the whole thing--the books themselves. So now I have it, and it's sitting next to me on my desk, and I don't really have any desire to open it. I just want to sleep.

Another contributing factor to my placidity about the fate of Harry is that, well, I can always imagine an alternative ending. The Harry Potter phenomenon has spawned an entire world of alternatives based on people's imaginative spins on the characters--the world of fanfiction. I don't know how many of you are familiar with it, but fanfiction is basically taking characters from a book (or what you believe the characters to be) and using them in your own stories. There are similar communities for other cult phenomenon, like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. My friend from high school was a huge celebrity in the Star Wars fanfic community--she told me that when she decided to retire, they held an online candlelight vigil to try to coax her back. It's the ultimate metaworld.

There are entire novel-length stories out there about the continuing adventures of Harry, Hermione, and the lot. Some carry the stories where J.K. Rowling vows never to go, into the adult world of careers and marriage and children. Many of them focus on aspects that Rowling neglects, or does poorly, such as romance. Alyssa and I were giggling the other day over the idea of a Harry and Draco romance, but there are legions of "shippers" out there who swear about the plausibility. What will happen to this construction when people read the final book and find out the REAL ending? Will it even matter? What happens when a fan community appropriates the characters from books and form canon around those characters? Part of me thinks it isn't necessarily all that bad, because it's all about inspiring that belief in another world, but the other part of me says--well, it's just cheating. It's not canon unless it's in the book. But sometimes it's fun to choose a different ending...

On that note, happy reading to all! And remember, there's always fanfiction!

a plea....

hi guys! sorry for being a little slow on the uptake in terms of posting...but this is just going to be a short entry. i'll try to write a longer spiel later.

ok, i know i'm being really anal, but can i just make a quick request that people not post about book 7 without proper warning? like, a massive "THIS IS ABOUT HARRY POTTER BOOK 7! DO NOT EVEN GLANCE AT THIS POST IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET!" sort of thing. i just don't know when everyone's going to read it, and it makes me so sad to think about spoiling even one bit of the story. on the way back from the bookstore tonight, my dad was looking at his copy and pretending to read it aloud, and i basically almost went berserk. it's kind of scary how invested i am in this one book.

anyway, on that kind of intense note, happy reading! hopefully we can have some good posts about the final installment when we've all read it. and thanks for indulging my obsessions. i'm off to read book 6 in preparation...

Slowly Going Mad

An aside before I begin my proper post: Google has whole texts of books online! I may be very late to the game on this.

My Proper Post:
I saw Karen today, so she already knows this, but my happiness and emotional well-being is currently completely wrapped up in the fate of Harry Potter. This is not a healthy state to be in. I read an article that explains how Harry Potter will die, and the world goes dark. I read another article that explains how he will live, and all is well again. A huge part of me does not want to read the seventh book. In my world, Harry and Hermione and Ron are alive and surviving, if not thriving, and Voldemort is not exactly an immediate threat, although he looms on the edges. If Harry is going to die, especially, I just don't want to, don't need to, know. Of course, I'm going to read the book, because how can I not?
I was skeptical of Harry from the beginning. I didn't start reading until after Book 4, and even then it was only because I ran out of reading material and needed something for a plane ride. I read HP1 and HP2, twice, within three days. The world is so engrossing (much like His Dark Materials, Karen), and the characters so real and relevant that it was hard not to get hooked. So, of course, I did. This time it matters more, though, what happens. Because it's the last, yes, and because it is a cultural phenomenon. I think a lot of the hype is overdrawn and the whole "it's our generation" thing is a bit ridiculous, but when kids come into Kepler's to buy the book, there's real passion and enthusiasm. We don't see that much, at a bookstore.
I think this is what really gets me about these books. Harry, et al, are characters that kids have always been able to relate to. That's why Book 5 was so annoying--because we knew, we were, those kids with bad tempers and hormones. And when it comes down to it, killing Harry would betray that familiarity. Because, really, we don't know kids who die, especially not if we're actually the generation that grew up with Harry. 18 year olds, who started reading these books 10 years ago, are not in a world that is dangerous. So, yes, Harry Potter's world is now the world that we all live in, with threats of terrorism, and it is a fantasy novel, in which terrible awful things happen, but it's still a world that we should be able to recognize for the potential for good. If Harry dies, what does that tell kids about their role in life? Martyrdom is not a viable life plan, and it's exactly that sort of idea that's gotten us into a lot of trouble in the Middle East. This is heavy stuff for a blog, so I'll stop here, but maybe I've just convinced myself that Harry can't die, because JK Rowling's not stupid enough to make a whole generation of children believe they can't do good without death coming along for the ride. Even if I believe this now, though, someone will convince me that, actually, Harry's been a ghost the whole time, and that he has to finally move onto the next world--behind the veil, a la HP5--for peace to reign. Or something like that. Hopefully, at the very least, I can stop having dreams about Harry Potter. Hopefully.

Meet my Daemon!

The Golden Compass

I'm doing it.

Is it horribly shallow that I was partially inspired to read it by the fact that I was coasting along apple trailers and saw the movie preview?

Now I just have to find a copy of the book, since boo-hiss the library's copies are all checked out, though Cubberley has a first addition that I can drool at, but not read.

On another note, does anyone else find the phrase "read voraciously" oddly delicious? It gives me a bit of a thrill.

Harry Potter and the Hormones

I'm supposed to be working right now. Oh well. I'm glad we started this again! I'm not reading nearly enough this summer. So, Harry Potter. I am SO excited for the seventh book. I just reread the fifth and sixth books, and enjoyed them far more than I thought I was going to. HP5 in particular, I was more impressed with than expected. Harry is not *that* annoying, and the hormones aren't *that* in your face. As we come to the seventh, though, the big question of course is whether he'll live. Mostly I say "he has to". But every once in a while I think about Don Quixote, and how the easiest way to ensure there will be no unauthorized sequels is to kill off your main character. Which leads me to the thought of black market book sharing. I had lunch with Ashni today, and we were talking about the Chinese black market. You can read such delightful books, there, as...I can't find any right now, but they have really strange fake books. What kind of career is inventing books that don't exist? Is there a skill in authoring a fake book? To whom do we attribute authorship (does it matter?) for books like the Sweet Valley twin series, that aren't actually written by a single author. Sorry this is so rambling. My brain is incredibly fuzzy at the moment. Someone with more intellectual power than I should post. Yay books!

It's that time again!

Hi all,
The blog has been on hiatus for some time, but it's summer again, so we should start reading and writing and posting!

Do you all want to start off reading the same book and posting on it?
My suggestion: any of the Harry Potters/the series

Karen