“Of course we still want to know you!” Harry said, staring at Hagrid. “You don’t think anything that Skeeter cow — sorry, Professor,” he added quickly, looking at Dumbledore.
“I have gone temporarily deaf and haven’t any idea what you said, Harry,” said Dumbledore, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
Hermione stood nervously between them, looking from one to the other. Ron opened his mouth uncertainly. Harry knew Ron was about to apologize and suddenly he found he didn’t need to hear it.
“It’s ok,” he said, before Ron could get the words out. “Forget it.”
“No,” said Ron, “I shouldn’t’ve–”
“Forget it,” Harry said.
Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back.
Hermione burst into tears.
“There’s nothing to cry about!” Harry told her, bewildered.
“You two are so stupid!” she shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her front. Then, before either of them could stop her, she had given both of them a hug and dashed away, now positively howling.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
“Ron,” said Hermione, in an I-don’t-think-you’re-being-very-sensitive sort of voice, “Harry doesn’t want to play Quidditch right now. . . . He’s worried, and he’s tired. . . . We all need to go to bed. . . .”
“Yeah, I want to play Quidditch,” said Harry suddenly. “Hang on, I’ll get my Firebolt.”
Hermione left the room, muttering something that sounded very much like “Boys.”
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 3 – “The Invitation”
[From Ron’s note] If they say yes, send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we’ll come and get you at five o’clock on Sunday. If they say no, send Pig back pronto and we’ll come and get you at five o’clock on Sunday anyway.
The Casual Vacancy – J.K. Rowling
There was nothing, as far as Howard could see, to stop the Fielders growing fresh vegetables; nothing to stop them cleaning them disciplining their sinister, hooded, spray-painting offspring; nothing to stop them pulling themselves together as a community and tackling the dirt and the shabbiness; nothing to stop them cleaning themselves up and taking jobs; nothing at all. So Howard was forced to draw the conclusion that they were choosing, of their own free will, to live the way they lived, and that the estate’s air of slightly threatening degradation was nothing more than a physical manifestation of ignorance and indolence.
[Love Pirate’s note: Howard is the head of the town council and main “villain” of the book.]
There was a bit of a stir when the warmly received The Cuckoo’s Calling was discovered not to be Robert Galbraith’s debut novel, but that he was in fact a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling. The reasons behind the pseudonym seem pretty obvious considering the critical and public reaction to Rowling’s previous novel, The Casual Vacancy. Using a different name allowed Rowling anonymity, where her book could be taken on the value of its content alone, without the hype, expectations and preconceptions that would have come from releasing “J.K. Rowling’s new novel”. And, tellingly, Galbraith got some very good reviews before the secret slipped, with several reviewers finding it hard to believe that The Cuckoo’s Calling could be a debut novel.
The Cuckoo’s Calling is a pretty straight-forward detective story, but is relentlessly entertaining and filled with memorable characters. It tells the story of the death of Lula Landry, a supermodel whose fall from her penthouse apartment was ruled a suicide by the police. Continue reading
The Casual Vacancy – J.K. Rowling
“Stone dead,” said Howard, as though there were degrees of deadness and the kind that Barry Fairbrother had contracted was particularly sordid.
The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling’s follow up to the Harry Potter series is a bit difficult to review, or even to classify. It’s one part political drama, one part small town comedy, while also being largely an ethical fable about our attitudes toward others, the interconnectedness of our lives and the consequences of our actions. It’s a seedy, foul-mouthed take on a host of issues that can feel both exaggerated and painfully realistic and believable at the same moment. And while on the surface The Casual Vacancy has little in common with Harry Potter, both stories begin in the same fashion, with death.
The opening of The Casual Vacancy is a far cry from the double murder that began Rowling’s other series, starting instead with the rather pedestrian death of Barry Fairbrother as he collapses in the parking lot of the local golf club on his anniversary due to an aneurism. Continue reading
Today’s Friday Favorite is a bit different. I wasn’t going to do one at all, because I’m still on vacation and have trouble getting the formatting correct on my phone, but I thought I’d make an attempt. Instead of picking a favorite scene or moment or character or something else from a movie an TV show, I’m instead going to offer a few thoughts about this week’s big news about J.K. Rowling.
It was announced today (at least I think it was today, but I lose track of time when I’m on vacation) that Rowling has reached a new deal with Warner Bros., the studio behind the wildly successful adaptations of her Harry Potter books. Continue reading
The Love Pirate 