Now, if you haven’t finished the series yet, go away because we might ruin the ending!

A mashup of HP covers

There are two reasons that an author continues a series. One is the fun of writing the characters he’s dreamed into life. The other is money. For JK Rowling, Harry Potter offers her both opportunities, a temptation that we believe will be too hard to resist.

One of the Guardian Book blogs argues the financial point indirectly. They claim that over time the Harry Potter series will generate decreasingly exponential interest, and thus revenue. They hold out for a bright spot, but it’s true that Harry Potter is a series of big bangs and a short “long tail.”

The real indicator is that Harry Potter is still alive at the end of HP7. That last chapter, 19 years in the future, indicates that the world of Muggles and Magic still exists in basically the form it had before Voldemort emerged. The whole point of the Harry Potter series is a fight against evil, and once that evil is vanquished–as it is in HP7 without lasting consequence–the world returns to normal, fertile grounds for a sequel. After all, why introduce us to Harry and Ginny’s spawn unless you plan to develop them in the future?

1. apology – admission of fault in what you think, say, or do; formal defense of what you think, say, or do
2. dust – add fine particles, remove fine particles
3. oversight – error, care
4. pitted – with the pit in, with the pit removed
5. rent – buy use of, sell use of
6. table – propose (in the United Kingdom), set aside (in the United States)

There are doubtlessly many many more out there, so leave tons of comments for us in the hopes of acquiring more of these beautiful words!

Here’s what the interface looks like:

If you want to try it out, the Wordie homepage, my userpage, or my word list feed!

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn’t work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.

Emo Phillips

Here’s another gem:

Blind faith is an ironic gift to return to the Creator of human intelligence.

Unknown

Adapt v. Adopt:

Adapt is from the latin ad + aptare, to fit for yourself. Adopt comes from latin ad optare, to choose for yourself. The common prefix is now understandable, and the difference is in the “apt” or “opt,” both of which now stand on their own.

Accede v. Exceed:

Accede is from the latin ad + cedere, to move on. Exceed is from the latin ex + cedere, to move [go] out. This time, the words differ by prefix rather than suffix, one bringing something in, the other moving out.

Infamous v. Notorious:

Infamous is from the latin word famosus, for fame. Notorious is from classical latin, notoria–a written notice informing a crime. Thus, the two are basically indistinguishable, though have come to have slightly different connotations in modern form.

Virginia Woolf observed, “in or about December, 1910, human character changed.” In her (tongue-in-cheek) statement, the early twentieth century inaugurated a very different understanding of character, and a consequent shift in the emphasis of the novel. The class reads novels by Woolf, E. M. Forster, D. H. Lawrence, Ford Madox Ford, Jean Rhys, and Rebecca West, along with critical and theoretical writings by these novelists. Writing requirements include a weekly post to the class e-list and two ten to twelve page papers.

For the class, we’ll be reading the following books:

Of course, if this isn’t your kind of thing, you can always go with Amazon’s popular gifts in books, and buy your family another Davinci Code

1. Census
2. Bible
3. Mother Goose
4. Divine Comedy
5. Odyssey
6. Iliad
7. Huckleberry Finn
8. Hamlet
9. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
10. Lord of the Rings

I have to say that they’re all excellent resources–and that I’ve read all of them. The first modern work is “Garfield” at #18, followed by “Carmen” at #66, “Peanuts” at #70, and “Doonesbury” at #80. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” sadly lies at #256.

They also have a list of top banned books, of which I will reproduce the top ten modern literary scandals:

1. Bible
2. Huckleberry Finn
3. Don Quixote
4. Koran
5. Arabian Nights
6. Tom Sawyer
7. Gulliver’s Travels
8. Canterbury Tales
9. Scarlet Letter
10. Leaves of Grass

Of course, these are now classics–and Mark Twain gets his name in twice.