To all of you who celebrate the feasts of the Christian faith according to the calendar of the Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Councils, I wish you a merry first day of Christmas! The Grangers are just home from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church there , where we celebrated the Feast of the Nativity, and now we can begin our end of year review in preparation for civil New Year’s resolutions come January (fyi, the liturgical New Year is 1 September and the traditional New Year for the UK and her former colonies is Lady Day or Annunciation).
Our Christmas tree is up and lit, which mystifies the neighbors I’m sure, and I have scrolled through all the posts that the staff here and guest lecturers have put up in the last twelve months to find the real ‘keepers.’ Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Casual Vacancy, Divergent, Twilight, you name it — it’s quite the wide ranging collection. After the jump, you’ll find this Greatest Hits list organized by category and author. Please let me know your favorites, especially if it’s not listed, and what you’d like to discuss in 2013!
Harry Potter
Psychological Types in Harry Potter, Hunger Games
Good Friday Mailbag: A Trip to King’s Cross with Harry
Daring (?) Fan Fiction: ‘In Defence of the Dark Arts’
J. K. Rowling: ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ BBC4
The Defining Center of Harry Potter: November 22nd?
Divergent Trilogy
The Divergent Trilogy: Harry Potter Meets Beatrice Prior
The Divergent Trilogy: Twilight, MarySue, and Tris Prior
The Divergent Trilogy: Katniss Everdeen, Meet Tris Prior!
Meeting Veronica Roth: An Ascendio 2012 Highlight
Louise Freeman on Divergent
A Dip in the OCEAN: Divergent Factions and the Big Five Personality Factors.
A Dip in the OCEAN II: Double Dipping Dauntless: Can the neurotic be brave?
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall: How mirror neurons are reflected in Tris.
Casual Vacancy
New Rowling Novel to be Published by Little, Brown
Little, Brown: Title, Pub Date, Synopsis of New JKR Novel
Casual Vacancy: A Month Until ‘The New Rowling’
Casual Vacancy Foreplay: The Pre-Publication Interviews
Vacancy First Reviews: “From Potter to Potty-Mouth”
Vacancy Day of Publication: Rowling Newsletter, YouTube
J. K. Rowling on Casual Vacancy with ABC, Guardian
J. K. Rowling on Casual Vacancy at Southbank Centre
The HogPro Casual Vacancy posts —
2. MuggleMarch or A Modern Moonacre Manor
3. Potter to Potty-Mouth: The Profanity by the Numbers
4. Literary Narcissism or The Art of the Psychic Realm
5. Barry Fairbrother and the Political Parable
6. Literary Alchemy: The Conjunction of Sex and Death
7. The Seven Part Ring Composition
8. Andrew and Gaia: Fallen Man and the Natural World?
9. Andrew and Stuart: Doppelganger, Ouroboros, or Diptych?
11. Religion: Christian Hypocrites and Sympathetic Sikhs
12. Authenticity and Hypocrisy:’Penetration,’ Suffering, and the Birth of Consciousness
Post First Week Round-up:
13. Christianity Today: ‘Profoundly Biblical Worldview’
14. Notable Reviews, High and Low
15. Guest Post: A Telling Re-Take of ‘The Good Samaritan’?
J. K. Rowling as Ungrateful Liberal Wretch: The Anti-PC View
Casual Vacancy 16: Chaya Golan on “What is Real?”
Hunger Games
The 2010 Lev Grossman ‘Mockingjay’ Interview that Wasn’t
Katniss Everdeen Actress: “The Outfit That Saved My Life”
Another ‘Hunger Games’ Media Contact: 14 Questions For You
Literary Alchemy and The Hunger Games: Three Podcasts
Another Multi-Question Hunger Games Interview: Join Me!
Letter from a Friend: What Does Suzanne Collins Believe?
LA Times: Is Jennifer Lawrence A Real Life Katniss Everdeen?
Gamesmakers Hijack Story: Capitol Wins Hunger Games Again
Katniss vs. Anti-Culture: ‘Why the Hunger Games Resonates’
Holy Friday and Death of Rue: Beflowered Shroud of Christ
Hunger Games: Is A Capitol-Districts Economy Possible?
N. D. Wilson: Why Hunger Games Is Flawed To Its Core
Twilight
Oxford Entrance Question: What do you think of ‘Twilight’?
Twilight as Literature: Is Alice a Mary Sue; Meyer and Keats?
Guest Post: Twilight, Chastity, and Kristen Stewart
Talks I’ve given, Conferences we’ve attended:
2012 Potter Conferences: An Unprecedented Menu of Options
Hunger Games Talk Tonight at Full Circle Books
‘Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Book 1, Sorcerer’s Stone’
St Andrews
St. Andrews: The Conference at Scotland’s Oldest University
St. Andrews Conference: The Literary Legitimacy Controversy
Ascendio 2012
HPEF’s Ascendio 2012: The Glorious End of the Beginning
LeakyCon
Leaky Con 2012 Spectacular: Potter Fandom Not Dead Yet!
Elizabeth Baird Hardy’s Posts:
Breaking Down the New Breaking Dawn 2 Trailer
The Hunger Games–Some Folks still just don’t get it
The Break Down on Breaking Dawn Part 2: Best of Series
Guest Posts
Theophany Sermon: Stags As Serpent Killers
Guest Post: You Know You’re Really an Adult Harry Potter Fan
“Who Saved Draco’s Soul?” Co-Inherence in Harry Potter
Guest Post: A Passover Reading of Catching Fire’s Quell
Guest Post: Your ‘Catching Fire’ Director’s Cut, Please!
Guest Post: ‘The Avengers’ Movie — What Did You See?
Letter from a Reader: ‘How Harry Potter Changed My Life’
Guest Post:The Power of Words and Story on a Young Mind
Guest Post: Harry Potter and C. S. Lewis’ Four Loves
Catching Fire: A Speculative Screenplay
Guest Post: ‘A New Map of Panem’ by Mark Windsor
Guest Post: ‘Treasure Island’ as Ring Composition?
MuggleNet Academia Interviews
Second MuggleNet Academia Show Features Our Headmaster and Edmund Kern
MuggleNet Academia: ‘The Law and Harry Potter’
MuggleNet Academia: Whodunit? Harry Potter — In the Great Hall — With a Wand!
MuggleNet Academia: Folktale Structure and Potter Mania
MuggleNet Academia: Amy H. Sturgis and John Mark Reynolds
MuggleNet Academia 11: Psychology and Harry Potter
MuggleNet Academia 12: House-Elves — and House-Wives!
MuggleNet Academia 13: Political Science & the Hogwarts Saga!
MuggleNet Academia 14: Harry Potter For Nerds!
MuggleNet Academia 15: Harry Potter and Philosophy
MuggleNet Academia 16: Lev Grossman Talks Harry Potter
‘Ten Question’ Interviews
10 Questions for Gary Gregg, Author of the Remnant Chronicles
HogPro Interview with T. M. Doran, Author of ‘Terrapin’
Literary Criticism
‘The Mother Who Lived’: Reflections on Reader Response
Letter to a Friend: Coleridge Through Newman to Tolkien?
Are ‘The Hunger Games’ Books ‘Young Adult’ Literature?
The Cross in Chiasmus and Ring Composition: Some Notes
Alchemy & Literature, Alchemy of Literature, Literary Alchemy
Ray Bradbury: Requiescat In Pace (Live Forever!)
Malcolm Guite: C. S. Lewis and the Imagination
Rings in the Dock: C. S. Lewis and the ‘Meaning in the Middle’
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