Book News
Beedle mania.
Just in time for the holidays, J.K. Rowling has given Harry Potter fans a little gift.
No, not a new book about the young wizard — that would be like a birthday combined with Christmas. Instead, she’s written a charming confection of a book from the world of Harry Potter with the sparkle and wit that remind us why she became a publishing sensation in the first place.
The title of the book, “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” should be instantly familiar to all Potter fans. That was the book that Harry’s friend Hermione Granger was bequeathed after the death of Albus Dumbledore.
Following the publication of the last of the Potter books last year, Rowling created seven copies of the Beedle book, writing and illustrating the five stories. She gave six copies to friends and the last one to the Children’s High Level Group, a charity she helped create. The charity auctioned the book, which Amazon bought for $4 million, and has released an edition for the general public to raise more money.
Fans saddened that the series had to end will now have a reason to smile a little. The Associated Press
First Lines
Goldengrove, by Francine Prose
We lived on the shore of Mirror Lake, and for many years our lives were as calm and transparent as its waters. Our old house followed the curve of the bank, in segments, like a train, each room and screened porch added on, one by one, decade by decade.
When I think of that time, I picture the four of us wading in the shallows, admiring our reflections in the glassy, motionless lake. Then something — a pebble, a raindrop — breaks the surface and shatters the mirror. A ripple reaches the distant bank. Our years of bad luck begin.
That was what Margaret would have thought. My sister was the poet.
I was Miss One-Thing-After-the- Next. Which is how I remember what happened.
But that’s not how it happened at all. One thing happened, then everything else, like a domino falling and setting off a collapse that snakes out toward the horizon and spills over into the future.”
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Publishers Weekly
