Harry Potter

So apparently Pottermore has been completely rebooted. They've taken away all the old features which I guess sucks for people who were into it (if there were any), though all I'd miss is the Sorting Hat feature and that's apparently coming back. They've also collected the new writing from JKR into one page which makes it a lot easier to find and browse so IMO it's already an improvement.

https://www.pottermore.com/news/Welcome-to-the-new-Pottermore
https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/

That pretty cool. I never got into Pottermore, but having her additional writing available like that is nice.

I found Pottermore a bit fat letdown. mind you part of me expected to be whisked off to Hogwarts so maybe I wasn't exactly impartial.

Ha! No owls came tapping at the window after you visited it you mean Figgs.

Forest Shepherd wrote:Ha! No owls came tapping at the window after you visited it you mean Figgs.

No. specially as I am a squib.

Like a lot of kids there was a part of me that held out against all hope and reason (including the American school system being different) for the possibility that I would get a letter when I turned 11. Like, I knew it was fiction, but maybe there was a one-in-a-million chance that JKR was secretly a witch writing a tell-all book. It's not like I could disprove it.

Bluebottle wrote:That pretty cool. I never got into Pottermore, but having her additional writing available like that is nice.

Like Mrs Figg I was never that impressed by Pottermore but the new writing is the main attraction. It's probably the closest we'll ever get to the Encyclopedia as JKR seems content to focus on material for the site. Some of it is a little too twee even for the HP fan in me but on the whole I've enjoyed getting to read it.

Anyone else buying the new Illustrated Edition of Philosopher's Stone?

I've been really excited to see the illustrations since it was announced. We already have enough copies of HP in the house that I probably won't buy it, but I will definitely pore over the illustrations on my breaks. Maybe if I really like them I'll buy a copy.

Eldorion wrote:We already have enough copies of HP in the house that I probably won't buy it

My old paperbacks are falling to pieces so I thought it was time they got replaced, I really like the look of the illustrations form the glimpses already released, vaguely gothic and quite stylized (I always felt it was a missed opportunity Terry Gilliam never made a Potter film), certainly very different to the illustrations in some of the US versions, the illustrator doesn't seem to have taken much inspiration from the films (A good thing in my book, I find it rather hard sometimes to picture my version of Hogwarts, Hagrid etc)

I bought a copy of the re-released US version with cover illustrations by Kazu Kibuishi (though it still includes the Mary GrandPre chapter illustrations, which are ... nostalgic, but not really aesthetic favorites of mine) just last year.  I actually haven't seen any of the previews of the new illustrations except for the cover image.  While I read the first couple books before watching the films, I was so young (about six) that I don't clearly remember my first experience with either medium, and so the film's imagery has been largely the same as mine for as far back as I can remember.  Though there are a number of places and characters that appeared only in the later installments that I had a chance to form mental pictures of (that I remember) before those films came out. I'm curious now to see the new illustrations based on your impressions.

I meant to do an update of my summer Harry Potter reading ages ago, but somehow never got around to it. I had actually got quite well going and were around a third into Goblet of Fire around the end of June. But I kind of got the feeling I was rushing through it a bit, and I wasn't enjoying some things as much I had enjoyed more on previous readings. So, I decided to take a break and return to it later.

I do intend to return to it. Because, despite what I said about seemingly enjoying some parts less, i did enjoy rereading the series a whole lot on the whole. I tend to think it's got something special. And even if it didn't it would still have a special place in my heart, just for nostalgic reasons.

I don't know when I'll get around to reading it again, but it's on the to do list.

It helps having a good place to read.

very nice place indeed.

Lovely view blue

I must say, your potter books seem to be in much better condition than mine, I still have the original paperbacks from 2000 lying around somewhere...

My first reaction was "what are you doing to that poor book?! ", but then Malick's post reminded me that half of my old HP paperbacks had the glue melted from them being left in cars and thus have pages perpetually falling out. In addition to the spines being long since broken and the covers torn and bent and the edges of the pages warped and frayed. What can I say, they got a lot of use?

Bluebottle wrote:I don't know when I'll get around to reading it again, but it's on the to do list.

I'm in the same boat as you with the re-read, though not as far along as you are. Your whole post speaks to me in terms of revisiting the series for nostalgia but also finding the experience a challenge at times.

That is a really beautiful place btw, for reading or anything else.

I never used to sit there before, but ever since my father put a real copy reading chair there I've found it a great place for reading. The view can be a bit distracting, but it's nice to have if you feel like having a break. And it's a bit secluded, so people don't tend to disturb you.

Yeah.. on the whole it's pretty great.

Eldorion wrote:My first reaction was "what are you doing to that poor book?! ", but then Malick's post reminded me that half of my old HP paperbacks had the glue melted from them being left in cars and thus have pages perpetually falling out.  In addition to the spines being long since broken and the covers torn and bent and the edges of the pages warped and frayed.  What can I say, they got a lot of use?

Hahaha.. yeah. I guess I've just figured it's no point trying to keep them looking nice.

And those paperbacks tend to fall apart the minute you touch them anyway..

Received my shiny new copy of the illustrated edition by Jim Kay today, I haven't got a chance to read the whole thing yet, but from a quick browse the illustrations are really charming, not too stylized, but they have a sort of low key gothic faery vibe to them, the book isn't entirely illustrated though, there are few instances of unbroken blank pages for three or four pages , and some uneven usage of white space (relatively small issues overall).

Kay doesn't seem to have taken much inspiration from the movies, but I think his style complements the tone of the book really well, perhaps not as visually striking as some fan art or other illustrations, but very skillfully put together.

It's hard to sum up his take on things for me...not exactly grounded in realism, but very complimentary to the text, and in a few instances surprisingly close to the images I've been carrying around in my head for years.

Rowling definitely picked a good choice here i.m.o for a first book, nothing too bold or experimental, but quirky and magical enough to please young and old fans i.m.o.

Kay's stated in interviews he's drawn more to the darker themes and books in the series, and although he didn't do alot of 'action scenes' in this first book (making it hard to judge how his usage of colour and white space would work in the later, more serious books), I think his style is one to watch for the future...

One in illustration in particular stood out, for reasons that should amuse everyone here:



-This was Kay's illustration for Dumbledore's chocolate frog card...the Tolkien Illustrator John Howe was amongst those Kay thanks in his afterword, and when you compare the image above to a photo of Howe, the resemblance is pretty striking i.m.o:



A neat little easter egg, and a nice tribute from one talented illustrator to another

Only a year to wait for the next one...

Glad to hear your thoughts on the illustrated edition, Malick. I've flipped through it a couple times at work but not bought a copy or sat down to look through the whole thing myself. I like a lot of the drawings though I find the whole thing a bit too stylized and faerie-ish. I dunno, maybe it's my own over-familiarity with the Potterverse, but I always felt that it had a more grounded, homey ... I guess English feel to it? Even though Hogwarts is in Scotland. Certainly there are some darker, faerie kinda parts to it, but that's not my vision of the books so much. Though of course I'm young enough that my vision of the early books is very much tied up in the movies.

I'm not trying to complain too much because I do think the illustrations are nice, though I'm not sure how well this style will work for the later books as they get more "adult".

duuuumbledooooooooooooorrrrrrHURRHURRR!!! ten points to me.

Didn't know they had a magazine special coming out so early. I'll flip through a copy when I see one at work.

Several pics here:

http://www.ew.com/gallery/fantastic-beasts-where-to-find-them-jk-rowling-gallery



Figgy's favorite director: