Harry, A History, Melissa's new book is here! |
 Feb 20 2009, 11:21 PM
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#151
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Perusing the Magical Menagerie  Posts: 82 Joined: 10:24pm January 20, 2008 Location: Chilling with Sue in the Hufflepuff commonroom.  |
ok, I just finished chapter 9, Banned and Burned. I admit at first I showed sympathy towards Laura Mallory because I too am a Christian and see where she was coming from. Then, I got to the part where she claimed that "HP and other similar items" caused the Columbine shootings. I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT: you are definitely nuts lady! I loved how it was talking about the magazine started by Billy Grahm (probly mispelled) and what they said about the series. Being a Christian, I have had times where I doubted whether HP was ok and if God wanted me to be reading them. Now, I am 100% positive that it IS ok to read them. Melissa you are amazing for writing this book. I LOVE IT!
GRYFFINPUFF!!  
-------------------- Hufflepuff RocksHufflpuff RocksHufflepuff Rocks
Books I'm currently reading: - Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - Huck Finn by Mark Twain |
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Feb 22 2009, 04:26 AM
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#152
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 2 Joined: 2:41am January 31, 2009 |
I really liked it!
It was very interesting and insightful; I hadn't realised just how much I didn't know about the fandom! I particularly enjoyed the Laura Mallory chapter- it shook things up a bit and fitted well. My only criticism would have to be how the book jumped around a lot, which got confusing some of the time. But overall, I very much enjoyed it. Onto my third read! |
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Feb 24 2009, 08:15 PM
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#153
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Perusing the Magical Menagerie Posts: 82 Joined: 10:24pm January 20, 2008 Location: Chilling with Sue in the Hufflepuff commonroom. |
hey guys, just a quick note. I'm in honors english and our final book report of the year had to be a biography or autobiography. since I was almost all the way through the book, i decided to ask my teacher if i could use it as my report. I showed it to her and told her that it wasn't really a biography or autobiography of a person but sort of one for a fandom, she agreed and let me use it! i just thought that was cool.
Gryffinpuff
-------------------- Hufflepuff RocksHufflpuff RocksHufflepuff Rocks
Books I'm currently reading: - Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - Huck Finn by Mark Twain |
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Mar 8 2009, 08:47 PM
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#154
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Professional Diagon Alley Window Shopper Posts: 68 Joined: 8:53pm May 30, 2007 Location: Flourish and Blotts |
QUOTE(hpfanaticfan2011 @ Feb 24 2009, 07:15 PM)  hey guys, just a quick note. I'm in honors english and our final book report of the year had to be a biography or autobiography. since I was almost all the way through the book, i decided to ask my teacher if i could use it as my report. I showed it to her and told her that it wasn't really a biography or autobiography of a person but sort of one for a fandom, she agreed and let me use it! i just thought that was cool. That is cool. I wish I could do a report on anything to do with HP. I just finished reading this book a few days ago. I really enjoyed it! I was a fan from the beginning, but I was never involved in the fandom until one or two years ago really, so it was so nice to read about all this stuff I never would have known about. It was done so well! Melissa's a very talented writer. This can't have been the easiest book to write and she did a fantastic job! --------------------  "An ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness." |
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Mar 11 2009, 08:52 AM
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#155
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Cauldron Bottom Measurer Posts: 122 Joined: 3:40am April 23, 2006 |
Well, the was fun.
I learned a few things on the fandom. And melissa's reaction the fist time she met rowling. 
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Mar 17 2009, 01:46 PM
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#156
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Galleries Workaholic  Posts: 3,305 Joined: 12:17pm October 6, 2005 Location: yeah, like I would tell...    |
Just saw that a German version is gonna be available on May 15th. Woot!
--------------------   Signature Icons by sporkyadrasteia Avatar by vickibot |
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Mar 18 2009, 10:04 AM
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#157
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 2 Joined: 8:31am March 18, 2009 |
The book was a really fun read! I'd pretty much missed the whole wizard rock genre until recently, but really enjoyed reading the section about how Harry Potter truly inspired fan creativity in everything from art, writing fanfiction, and roleplay, to music.
The chapter on spoilers reminded me so much of things that had gone on in the fandom around the time of the last book releases. I'd missed it for Order of the Phoenix, but still vividly remember being on HPANA two days before Half Blood Prince came out (after some copies of the books had inadvertently been sold early) and evil people were signing up for the forums just to post spoilers, sometimes using deceptive thread titles to conceal the fact that spoilers were inside. And they did post everything: chapter titles, the identity of the Half Blood prince, and the page describing the death in the book and identifying the culprit! And I remembered the experience Melissa recounted of how several fanfictions falsely reported to be early copies of Deathly Hallows were circulating, as well as scans of large portions of the actual book, in advance of the release. -------------------- |
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Jun 3 2009, 01:28 PM
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#158
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 5 Joined: 2:42am May 24, 2009 |
I can't express how much I loved this book. I read it in two sittings only because I started it late in the afternoon. It felt as if I were reading the story of my life so far, only with extras. A story of what I wish my life could have been, and in a way, already was.
I cannot think of anyone who would have made a more worthy reporter of what happened for so many years. Melissa, you are the most excellent spokesperson and I was proud of you for standing by so many of the reasons why Harry Potter means so much to me. It is such a privilege to be able to understand all the references, and Melissa explains them so well. My favourite parts had to do with the release of Deathly Hallows, because it affected all of us in this eerie way - when you know something will never be the same and yet sense this accomplishment, this ultimate reward. I remember this specific passage when Jo talks about looking at her own reflection in the Mirror of Erised created for the movie when she visited the set: she saw herself surrounded with her books, Britain's most successful author. In the mirror she saw not a better version of her life but her life. Reading Harry, a History, it felt like looking in the Mirror and see a different version of myself, so close because we'd all experienced the same things, but so far because Melissa had experienced them to the full and made each one count. I already knew Harry Potter was a part of me and would be forever - the books influenced my life from the way I vote to the way I laugh. What I didn't know is that there could be ways to be influenced by these books even more, and Melissa proved that. I felt humbled by and jealous of what she got to see, to hear, to read, to meet. I think, though, that she more than proved she was worthy of the dream life of any Potter fan - ultimately, I was simply happy someone in the world who could appreciate it entirely got to have this life. "I graduated in Potter studies" should be on her biography. I'm so proud of this fandom and proud to be a part of it. I was left with a few questions while closing the books: would we ever see those confessional tapes recorded during the Order of the Phoenix reading? Why had Melissa chosen not to relate the debacle following Steve's decision to publish his encylopedia? (Looking back, I thought it was best to end on a high note, this crushed the fandom like nothing else, more than the shipping wars, I think, and I think a majority of the fandom felt it was a betrayal). I would have liked to learn more about Pottercast, about the top secret project Finding Hogwarts. I hear Melissa's already writing a second book, but she didn't say what it was about. To me, it means it's not over. I said that this book was the story of my life so far, only with extras. I'm happy, grateful and relieved to know that there are still some changes to record and stories to tell. This post has been edited by SibylleVance: Jun 3 2009, 01:35 PM --------------------  |
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