BOOK REVIEW #1: Harry Potter and the Order of the Court: The J. K. Rowling Copyright Case and the Question of Fair Use by Robert S. Want

Since I have been reading Steve Vander Ark's "The Lexicon" book and was intrigued by the discussion on the court case from a few archived PotterCast episodes, I thought it would be wise to understand (as completely as possibly) the nature of the case.

This book is a useful tool, in that it briefly summarizes both the plaintiff's (in this case J. K. Rowling with Warner Bros. involvement as her licensees) and the defendant's (RDR Books with Steve Vander Ark) positions as well as some background on the Judge hearing the case (Judge Patterson) and his decision, etc. The book then moved into how the fair use doctrine works and how it has applied to cases in the past. These passeges are also available online at Stanford's Fair Use Project website, as they were written by an author other than Want himself, who had the permission to reproduce them for his book.

Page forty-one on through to the last page contains important court documents (which are public material) including Patterson's decision. This makes up the majority of the book, but to Potter fans they are key as they contain the whole of Rowling's testimony. She is eloquent as ever.

Anyway, an interesting book and another one to be used while studying the history of the Harry Potter phenomenon as well as how Harry Potter has changed an aspect of society, in this case a legal proceeding.

The book is available, to my knowledge, through both Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com, and I'm sure it's available elsewhere online. I wonder how many bookstore stocked this book.

A Successful Harry Potter Easter

So, the Harry Potter Easter bags were a success! I will include pictures in the next post, but the items in the bags included: a Harry Potter Easter card, a phoenix (with a tag explaining the relation of phoenixes to Christianity), the lily and cross w/rose candies (with another tag explaining the relation of these Christian symbols to Harry Potter) and a painted heart magnet that reads "The Weapon We Have is Love" and a citation of "Harry and the Potters", which on the back reads, "Check out: www.thehpalliance.org"

Some also got a card (that was too big to be a card) with some of the words from Dumbledore's scene in HBP which seems to relate to Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, which was rolled up as a scroll in their bags.

Anyway, again, I'll post pictures later, and to all: Happy Easter! He is risen! He is risen, indeed! squee :)

"A Bit of Light Reading"

Hello everybody! How are you all doing today? I've been looking through online book retailers, especially Amazon.com to find more Harry Potter analysis books and I've had a bit of success. For Easter, I think I'll be ordering Muggles, Monsters and Magicians: A Literary Analysis of the Harry Potter Series by Claudia Fenske (this being the priciest book: it's over $50 (but I bet she hasn't sold too many) and get this, it's nearly 500 pages long and published post-Deathly Hallows. That's my kind of cup of tea.

Another book I'm planning on reading is this one: Harry Potter and the Order of the Court: The J. K. Rowling Copyright Case and the Question of Fair Use by Robert S. Want. Now that's around $20 (I generally spend $15-30 for these books; lately as I've read more and more I've been going for the more unusual books or the ones with much less hype so I can gain the knowledge and insights therein, review the books online for the author and generally hope to give them more exposure). Anyway, I've been hearing more and more about the April 2008 court case and it would be nice to see an analysis of those court documents.

There seems to be a series of books written by Graeme Davis called Re-read Harry Potter and the... Today! An Unauthorized Guide. I'm curious as to the quality of the writing here, and the page numbers are short, but since it's under $20 a volume, I am tempted.

I eagerly await a number of books coming out in the coming months. That list includes the following:

Reading Harry Potter Again: New Critical Essays by Giselle Liza Anatol: Hardcover (that makes it pricey), ? pp., publish date 30 May 2009

Mugglenet.com's Unofficial, Unauthorized and Unequaled Harry Potter Debates by Emerson Spartz and Ben Schoen, Paperback, $14.95, 180 pp., publish date 1 June 2009

Re-Reading Harry Potter by Suman Gupta: Hardcover (again, pricey-ness), 240 pp., publish date 7 July 2009

Harry Potter's Bookshelf by John Granger: Paperback, $15, 336 pp., publish date 7 July 2009

The Politics of Harry Potter by Bethany Barratt: Paperback, $24.95, 288 pp., 24 November 2009 (though I saw a May 2009 release date for this on another website - the Nov. date is from Amazon.com)

The two books coming out on July 7 are released on the same day that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows debuts as a paperback novel, so market-wise, that makes a lot of sense. So, it seems to be one book each month. Except April, which is why I'll probably get the books I mentioned above over the Easter Holiday. I'm sure there's books coming out August-December 2009, but I just don't know the information yet about them as Amazon.com probably doesn't have all of their pages up yet. I hope to see something about Hog's Head Conversations edited by Travis Prinzi and Does Hary Potter Tickle Waking Dragons? (Book 2 in the Harry Potter Tickle... Trilogy) by Nancy S. Villaluz, but Prinzi hasn't said anything yet on his website, and the Ramance Press website for Villaluz's book is not yet operational.

Oh well, there's some happy reading. And there's a few others not on that list that were published pre- and post-Deathly Hallows that I have not resolved to look into yet.

Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon

I just received in the mail yesterday a new Potter analysis book, Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon by Susan Gunelius. I've read about a third of the book at the moment, and I can say that this is a well-edited book and an interesting read from the business-perspective of the marketing strategy of the Potter series. The author can be seen on youtube.com (by searching under her name), speaking about her book; she seems slightly nervous, however, by the end of the video. Gunelius will be speaking off-site as part of the Azkatraz Conference in July of this year.

The book is 194 pages long, but the text itself only runs for 163 pages. The remaining pages are bibliographic entries (always useful in Potter books to find more sources to read) and index. To be honest, though it's worth my reading this book as I have a collection of Potter analysis books and like to keep current with what's out there, I'm not sure if this a book worth the $35 price tag for people who like general books on Potter. I can see this book being used as a text in a marketing course with an emphasis on the Potter phenomenon - it would be great for that, and it's published by palgrave macmillan, which is a publishing company that does a lot of textbooks. In fact, this book probably is intended for or will be used for that purpose. In that light, it's price tag makes sense (if you know about college textbook costs, you know what I mean). At the least, it is a hardcover book.

I would love to see Gunelius condense the information she presents here as an essay in a collection of Potter analysis essays. She repeats herself a lot while she talks about different marketing strategies and tactics. Again, this is good for a college course in marketing, but not too great for a general book on Harry Potter.

The other thing about this book is that I wish that she had had the time to read Melissa Anelli's book, Harry, A History prior to publishing this one. She gets the information right, but Melissa's interviews with Rowling, Bloomsbury exec.'s and Scholastic exec.'s tell the same story in a much better way. It would have been great if she'd had that book to reference, but Gunelius' book was publsihed prior to Anelli's.

I agree with her opening: it's nice to write a book on the things you love and bring them all together as one. Gunelius likes business, marketing and Harry Potter. I like history and Central and Eastern European studies, music and Harry Potter. But it's not like I'm planning on writing a book...

Anyway, good read if you're a dork for all things Potter analysis like myself, to Potter fans this would have been better as a condensed essay - I think she could pack a marketing punch in a 30 page chapter on Potter marketing in a general Potter phenomenon book, and an excellent book for a college-level business course with an emphasis on Potter.

I'll update my blog for a complete review of this book when I'm finished reading the remaining hundred pages or so. Until then, keep safe and keep faith!

A Harry Potter Easter, Part I

Hey, I'm still working on the essays on Harry Potter and its Slavic elements, but in the meantime, I thought I'd update everyone on some of the work I've been doing at home.

I've decided to remind (or introduce) people of (to) the Christian elements in the Potter series by making all of my Easter baskets on a Harry Potter theme. Instead of Peeps or other baby chicks as the bird element, I'm making styrofoam phoenixes, using molds to create candies (lilies and crosses), and creating Harry Potter Easter cards.

I have one phoenix done and a card ready, and a picture below to delight you with:

And here's a close-up of the phoenix. I think I'm going to use it as my avatar on MyLeaky (lol)

I hope to update my blog with pictures of the finished Easter baskets, but if I forget to (which I probably won't), or I don't get to update it sooner, Happy Easter everyone! (And if you don't practice Christianity), happy springtime and April-ness. squee!

Analysis Post #3: Eastern European Elements in Harry Potter: Part I: Introduction

This is the first of a series of posts (which may not appear sequentially) on those elements in the Potter books which, in one's opinion, seem to be directly inspired by the culture and history of Eastern Europe. Before beginning, however, a general definition of Eastern Europe should be given. When one refers to Eastern Europe on this post and on subsequent postings, one is referring to all those inhabited lands which stretch from Germany's eastern border to the Russian Federation, but which ends at the Ural Mountains. All inhabited lands to the east of the Urals, is, to this author, considered to be of Asiatic heritage, although some of it is the sovereign territory of Russia. Eastern Europe is bordered on the north by the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) and in the south by Turkey and Greece. (One does not consider Turkey and Greece part of Eastern Europe). Furthermore, all lands that had once belonged to the former Yugoslavia, though also being a part of Eastern Europe, will frequently be referred to as Southeastern Europe.

Both of the prior analysis posts on this blog have mentioned some of the Eastern European elements which need not be repeated here. The first analysis essay on Ravenclaw's Diadem focused on Helena Ravenclaw's flight to Albania (Southeastern Europe) and the second analysis essay disucssed the possibilities of Fyodor Dostoevsky's influence on J. K. Rowling through two of her characters: Dolores Umbridge and Hepzibah Smith.

The Eastern European elements of the Potter series that one would like to tackle in subsequent essays include but are not limited to:

1. Viktor Krum and the Bulgarians (with a side note on "Veela")
2. Igor Karkaroff
3. Slytherins and Scythians
4. Gregorovitch and the Elder Wand
5. Ruling through Fear: Voldemort as Stalinist
6. Grindelwald in Nurmengard: German History in Harry Potter
7. Ideas about Durmstrang and the School's Ship (Germans, Vikings (Varingians), etc.)

The last two ideas on the list are related to Germany, which may be on a technical level considered Central Europe, but Central and Eastern Europe are so culturally and historically interrelated that these essays should be presented in the context of the others.

Pennsylvania Loves Harry Potter

This is perhaps old news, but I love the fact that the town in which I live is in the top ten of Amazon.com's "Harry-est" towns in America. Amazon apparently used the data from the U.S. census (town population) versus the number of pre-orders of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows per capita (per person). The 2007 population estimate at the website of the U.S. Census Bureau for Doylestown, PA is 8,149. In 2000, the U.S. census revealed the population in Doylestown to be only slightly higher (~8,200), of which nearly 14% were those under 18 years of age.

Now, the "Harry-est" town in America was Falls Church, VA, which in 2000 had a population of 10,377 people (according the U.S. census), and which steadily rose through the year 2007 (the U.S. Census Bureau reports this info as a 10,948 population estimate). The second "Harry-est" town was Gig Harbor, WA, and this is impressive - they only had as their population estimate in 2007 by the Census Bureau, 6, 621. So Falls Church was the "Harry-est", but had over 3,000 more people living there than the second "Harry-est" town, and over 2,000 more people than my hometown, which was the 9th "Harry-est" town. Are you confused yet? The point is this. There were less people in Gig Harbor and in Doylestown, which means that there were probably more Potter books in Gig Harbor per square mile than in Falls Church, VA, and you can be sure that there were many Potter books in households per square mile in Doylestown, PA. Of course, this doesn't account for all the books sold by the local bookstores and the chain bookstores (Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.). I had reserved my book at the local Doylestown Bookshop, and picked it up at midnight on July 21st. I luckily got about fifth place in line - the line itself went around the block outside and I heard that the cashiers were in place until after 2 AM.

At any rate, why do I find this so fascinating? People sometimes smile awkwardly when I talk about Harry Potter analysis in Doylestown, acting as if this is a foreign subject, but let's get some things straight. We were the 9th "Harry-est" town in America for that last book, and while some of the people here might be closet Harry readers, the books certainly aren't gathering any dust.

As a side note, the "Top 100 Harry-est Towns" list includes some other towns in Pennsylvania. I will bold the towns that I've visited in the past.

6. Media (this is west of Doylestown; dang, they beat us on the list)
14. West Chester (I went to college here)
20. Downingtown (15 mins. from West Chester)
24. Mechanicsburg
35. Collegeville (between Doylestown and West Chester)
51. Kennett Square (15 mins. from West Chester)
82. Ambler (on the way to Philly from Doylestown, about 40 mins. away)
89. Lewisburg
97. Stroudsburg (WCU marching band was better than East Stroudsburg's, sorry East Stroudsburg, the truth hurts)

The majority of these locations are Philadelphia suburbs, and Mechanicsburg and Lewisburg are closer to the center of the state, but not quite the center. Mechanicsburg is in the south of Pennsylvania and Lewisburg is further north. So, Pennsylvania did have nine towns out of a hundred as the "Harry-est" in the nation according to Amazon.com. Whew! Alas, Pennsylvania was the 23rd "Harry-est" state in the nation according to Amazon.com's ranking of the states. But I guess we Pennsylvanians can content ourselves with the fact that one of the two epithets in Deathly Hallows that Rowling selected was by William Penn, after whom Pennsylvania is named. So, take that, capital of the nation, Washington, D.C. (who is the "Harry-est" state - which is not a state). Or take that, Vermont, who is actually a state and is the "Harr-est" after D.C. HAH!

Oh, and don't forget that Amazon.com's list doesn't include the free-loaders at the library. lol.