Watch the first seven minutes if you want to experience bibliophiliac collector madness without the books.

Really, though, is this supposed to be satire? I certainly experienced it as a hilarious warning against the conjugal conceits of collection and display (says the man who just spent a weekend moving and reorganizing on new shelves his LP library of 7,000 plus albums…).

I wonder how much the re-sale value of this collection has dropped since Harry Potter Fandom, Inc., has collectively cancelled J. K. Rowling. The collector, even if he is a real person rather than an actor as I want to believe, may have felt the need to burn his cache in a bonfire statement of solidarity with those the author has oppressed.

Does anyone out there have the full shelf of Cormoran Strike novels in their various hard and soft cover editions? I wonder how long it will be until Lethal White can be found in Macedonian or Bombyx Mori in Latin… Best to get started now, before Strike Mania captures the world’s imagination and the attention of investor collectors. Please send photos of your collection today for posting here at HogwartsProfessor!

Rowling-Galbraith has given one interview about Troubled Blood in the first month of its publication history, a softball session (Tee-ball?) I complained about the day after its release. “So many more important questions she could have been asked!” et cetera.

I asked my wife to type up a transcript of the interview for ease in reference, and, Serious Striker that she is, it can be found below the jump. Reading through it, I confess my first response to the interview was both understandable in its disappointment — think of the work posted here on the Spenser epigraphs and Tarot card spreads alone, neither of which gets more than a head nod — and lamentable. The interview is much better and more revealing than I thought.

I have numbered the fourteen questions, provided a comment for each, and hope that you will use those numbers and add your own thoughts in the comment thread below. Corrections of the transcript are welcome, of course, as are alternative questions you would have asked The Presence, even if she was only virtually Present. Enjoy! [Read more…]

Chestnut Hill College is hosting its annual Harry Potter Conference online this year due to Pennsylvania’s draconian Covid measures and the nigh on universal conformity to state demands in this regard by university officials everywhere. The Conference begins today, you can register here, and all the talks can be watched at your at-home leisure via Zoom. The Featured Speakers and panels will present ‘live’ and answer questions; the great majority of presentations have been recorded to facilitate surety in broadcasting.

Three quick notes: [Read more…]