Here's a few things JK wants us to know she has on her bookshelves, judging by her picture on the back of Deathly Hallows:

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
The Ladies of Llangollen - Elizabeth Mavor
Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov
The Well of Loneliness - Radclyffe Hall
Adrian Mole the Cappuccino Years - Sue Townsend
Dead Man's Folly - Agatha Christie
Jane Austen's Letters
Dreams and their relation to the unconscious - Sigmund Freud
Biography of Peter Cook
Metropolitan Museum of ??? catalogue

pretty eclectic huh? What I like is that just like my own bookshelves, there's no discernible system here, e.g. Freud is shelved next to Christie ...

Adrian Mole the Cappuccino Years - Sue Townsend


Damn it I hated this book. Sue Townsend should have left it to be after The Growing Pains Of, that was the perfect ending to the series, as it is now it's like something from The Office, dragged out and awkward and embarrassing.

I was trying to have a look at what was on there too. Noticed a fair bit of advanced reading on there, which surprised me as she'd never struck me as a particularly intelligent or highly educated person. I got the feeling those shelves were show shelves....

oh for heaven's sake. you may not like her writing, but she's clearly intelligent. she had to derrive her story from somewhere. i think she must be very well read.

i LOVE the harry potter series. but then, i think children's literature is the best stuff the human race has to offer.

I do like her writing, I'm a big fan of the Harry Potter series. Stylistically I don't think she's a master wordsmith, there are many many better writers out there - children's writers included - but in terms of plot the Potter series is certainly a masterstroke. But my impression of her from interviews is that she's not a highly intellectual person. That's not to say she's stupid by any stretch of the imagination, I just don't think of her as an advanced intellect....

advanced intellect is over rated in my opinion. as eistein said "all things considered, i should have been a watch maker."

Well I'm glad he wasn't, it would have been a waste of talent. Great minds must do great things, and great intellects are under valued in my opinion....

well, his greatest shame was helping create nuclear weapons. that's where that quote comes from, a great passifist.

In that context a fair sentiment, though they would have been developed without Einstein and Szilard urging Roosevelt to pursue nuclear weapons in case the Germans got there first....

moot point. sometimes "wasted talent" is for the best.

I was trying to have a look at what was on there too. Noticed a fair bit of advanced reading on there, which surprised me as she'd never struck me as a particularly intelligent or highly educated person. I got the feeling those shelves were show shelves....She never struck me as being particularly intelligent either. Some of the writing makes me cringe a little. Nice plot for the kids and those who like fantasy though. But id say they were show shelves

she has a degree from exeter in french and classics.

Doesnt prove shes an extremely good writer. I could get a degree in French if i was so inclined, but im not

she has a degree from exeter in french and classics.
Exeter doesn't scream at me from the top of the league tables. Anyone can get a degree these days. People get degrees in hairdressing....

moot point. sometimes "wasted talent" is for the best.
I can rarely ever see how wasting talent can be a good thing. And if you mention the H word, I'll shoot you :tongue:

I can rarely ever see how wasting talent can be a good thing. And if you mention the H word, I'll shoot you :tongue:Haroun?

Heroin... she's actually a junky. Fact.

Exeter doesn't scream at me from the top of the league tables. Anyone can get a degree these days. People get degrees in hairdressing....Yeah but she didn't get a degree "these days" but back in the 1980s, when there was still some quality control.

Here's a few things JK wants us to know she has on her bookshelves, judging by her picture on the back of Deathly Hallows:

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
The Ladies of Llangollen - Elizabeth Mavor
Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov
The Well of Loneliness - Radclyffe Hall
Adrian Mole the Cappuccino Years - Sue Townsend
Dead Man's Folly - Agatha Christie
Jane Austen's Letters
Dreams and their relation to the unconscious - Sigmund Freud
Biography of Peter Cook
Metropolitan Museum of ??? catalogue

pretty eclectic huh? What I like is that just like my own bookshelves, there's no discernible system here, e.g. Freud is shelved next to Christie ...
Freud too, eh? Interesting titles. There are some authors and books I've read and some I haven't even heard of...