Podcasts
Page 6 of 11
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
And now we’re to chapter 24 of Order of the Phoenix. This is not one of my favorite chapters of the book. I’m struck again how much I dislike certain characters, in this case Snape and Sirius. And since I know that this is the last time we’ll… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
On a couple of previous podcasts, I have talked about Ottery St. Catchpole and the Burrow. I’ve discussed why we identify the town with Ottery St. Mary in Devon, near Exeter. I talked about the relationship between the town and the Burrow, located, according to the books,… Read More
Posted
by Eileen Jones
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
At the beginning of Chapter 12 of Chamber of Secrets, entitled “The Polyjuice Potion,” Harry is taken to Dumbledore’s office. While he is waiting for the headmaster he has interactions with the Sorting Hat and Fawkes the Phoenix. I’d like to talk about how these… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Let me just start out by saying that I cry easily. Just ask my wife. I cry at sappy commercials with fathers sending their daughters off into the world while remembering every father-daughter dance and scraped knee. So you’d think that reading the Harry Potter books, especially the first time… Read More
Posted
by Rosie Payne
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Halloween has always had a significance in the Harry Potter series. To start with, it’s the date of James’ and Lily’s deaths and Voldemort’s downfall in 1981. Then, in Philosopher’s Stone Quirrell tries to take the Stone for the first time by letting the troll in;… Read More
Posted
by Abby Koop
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Percival is a suspiciously common name in the Harry Potter universe, and I’m inclined to read way into that. Probably the most well-known of these is Percy Weasley, who is not actually a confirmed “Percival.” As the Lexicon’s entry for Percy notes, “In Arthurian legend, Percival was a chivalrous knight… Read More
Posted
by Eileen Jones
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
First off, I need to use the Sonorus charm to give a shout out to my friend, Kim. She was the one who shared this insight with my reread group and me. She provided the foundation and I built upon it a little bit. But, I did want to… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
While I read these chapters, I always look for something interesting to record a podcast about. When I read chapter 21, no one thing stood out as the topic to discuss, but a couple of tidbits did catch my eye. I’ll run through them for you. First, I hadn’t… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
There are a number of new Harry Potter games coming out. They’re all mobile games, but my favorite Harry Potter game came out quite a few years before there was such a thing as a smartphone to play it on. Way back in 2001, Wizards of the Coast released a… Read More
Posted
by Eileen Jones
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
What little we do know about Argus Filch, we learn perhaps the most personal detail about this man in Chapter 8 of Chamber of Secrets, entitled “The Deathday Party.” Harry just couldn’t squash his curiosity and opened Mr Filch’s mail and found his Kwikspell courses, alerting us to… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
I love this chapter. Rowling is on top of her game here. I talked about her skill at writing conversations in a previous episode, and she’s at it again in this chapter. The nuances of the conversations, first between the Trio and Hagrid and then between Hagrid and Umbridge, are… Read More
Posted
by Eileen Jones
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
There is a game that I like to play that was inspired by a pin I saw on Pinterest. The pin went something like this: There is a locked door Gryffindor: Knocks it down Slytherin: Picks the lock Ravenclaw: Finds the key Hufflepuff: Knocks I liked the idea of using… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Chapter nineteen starts on a high note: Harry felt as though he were carrying some kind of talisman inside his chest over the following two weeks, a glowing secret that supported him through Umbridge’s classes and even made it possible for him to smile… Read More
Posted
by Abby Koop
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
Hermione Granger’s birthday is September 19th. Happy Birthday, Hermione! Hermione is a Virgo, like me, but I think she would deem astrology a “very woolly” subject. When Firenze begins teaching Divination, he calls astrology “human nonsense.” Parvati attempts to explain what Professor Trelawney has taught the… Read More
Posted
by Steve VanderArk
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
I thoroughly enjoyed chapter 18 of Order of the Phoenix, so much so that I had trouble picking out one thing to talk about in this podcast. The text is just so rich with wonderful conversations and characterizations — just read through that marvelous scene with Peeves throwing… Read More
Posted
by Abby Koop
in Harry Potter Lexicon Minute
So, if you’re like me, and I assume you are, you’ve got some questions about wizard plumbing. We know Hogwarts has bathrooms, and that those bathrooms have toilets, and that the halls of Hogwarts are lined with pipes. This is all spelled out for us in Chamber of Secrets,… Read More