We’re big on J. K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike novels here at HogwartsProfessor.com. If you doubt that, check out the boatload of Cormoran Strike HogwartsProfessor Posts on everything from their mythological background and the novels’ structure to what will be happening next.
But we’re not the only show in town and there are great resources available on the internet for serious readers of Robert Galbraith that do things that are never going to be offered here.
Take maps, for instance. I don’t know the Borders from Cornwall or which side of the Thames means you’re slumming and which the social climber’s stratosphere. The town names and geographical references almost all pass over my head (Edinburgh and London I can find on a map…).
When I’m re-reading the Strike novels, consequently, I keep my laptop open to Cormoran Strike’s Britain, a Google Maps page on which each book’s locations are tagged and described for the American fan and all others geographically clueless.
If those tags and descriptions seem a little heartless, check out the pictures and commentary at StrikeFans.com on their map pages. StrikeFans also has the best synopses of the published novels, character details (Strike’s preferred snack candy? Twix), and, get this, timelines. That’s right, the actual calendar date of events in each book built from the real-world events alluded to in the stories. There’s even a Bulletin Board Chat Room for discussion (I confess I find that very difficult to navigate, but there seems to be a lot of activity).
Do you just want a wikipedia like survey without having to figure out where the information might be listed on the world’s interactive online encyclopedia? Then head over to the JKR Adult Fiction Wiki.
No, I don’t care for the “adult fiction” title. One, it sounds like pornography. Two, it asserts as a given that the Harry Potter novels are “childrens literature,” perhaps the single most pervasive and destructive meme about the Hogwarts Saga, as prevalent a thinking error, in my experience, among Potter Punditry as it is with the Beach Readers and Film Goers. Title aside, though, the wiki is more than okay.
Check these sites out and let me know what you think! I’m grateful, too, to anyone who shares Strike sites for serious re-readers. Tell us all about ’em in the comment boxes below.
I was already familiar with Strikefans.com long before this post.
To be honest, I wouldn’t mind if they became the Strike equivalent of Steve Vander Ark’s Harry Potter Lexicon.
I didn’t about the other JRK wiki though. That’s interesting.