words to inspire before you expire

Tag: J. K. Rowling

Off-Topic: Great Women of Literature

Good morning, class.

It’s National Women’s History Month, and as usual, I’m celebrating through literature! Out of the many, I’ve picked my favorite female authors and poets who have changed the game (and just to be clear, it may be a national holiday, but my picks are global).

These are in no order, and I’ve included their most notable works (and links to previous blog posts, if you want to hear more of my ramblings . . . enter at your own risk).


  1. Jane Austen: Pride and PrejudiceSense and SensibilityEmmaPersuasion
  2. J. K. Rowling: The Harry Potter Series
  3. Harper LeeTo Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman
  4. S. E. HintonThe Outsiders
  5. Lois LowryThe Giver and Number the Stars
  6. The Brontë SistersJane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
  7. Alice WalkerThe Color Purple
  8. Emily Dickinson: various poetry
  9. Maya AngelouI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and various poetry
  10. Sylvia PlathThe Bell Jar and various poetry
  11. Claudia RankineCitizen: An American Lyric
  12. Mary ShelleyFrankenstein
  13. Elizabeth Bishop: various poetry
  14. Phillis Wheatley: various poetry
  15. Mary WollstonecraftA Vindication of the Rights of Women
  16. Virginia WoolfMrs. DallowayTo the Lighthouse, and A Room of One’s Own
  17. Aphra BehnOroonoko: or, the Royal Slave

We all know that this is the tip of the iceberg . . . none of these women were stopped by the male-dominated-ness of the world of literature, and neither were millions of others. So, small as it may be, consider this post an act of feminism.

Happy National Women’s History Month!

Prof. Jeffrey

Off-Topic: Novels I’m Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving, class! In theme with the holidays, I have created a list of the novels I am most thankful for. This time, students, it’s personal.

To clarify: I’m not listing the best novels, or even my favorite novels. These are simply novels that have changed my life. If it made me who I am today, it qualifies. I’m also including works that are kind of novels, but I’m excluding anything that clearly is not a novel. Hamlet and The Bible are on the “50-Books” list, but neither of them are novels, so they aren’t here.


Here’s the list, in unbiased alphabetical order:

  • The Boxcar Children Series by Gertrude Chandler Warner

These are the first books I remember reading. Warner’s kid-friendly mysteries involved four siblings, always dealing with personal struggles, but always outsmarting their own situations by working together. The Boxcar Children started me on a path of reading with desperation—to find out how it ends, to solve the mystery, to discover the twist. It was also a series that I started reading with my mom and older sister, so it tends to bring emotional roots to the surface. Eventually, though, I started reading ahead of them. They were going too slow.

  • Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

On the opposite end of the spectrum is a profound and challenging kind-of-novel. Citizen is a lyrical portrayal of the kind of racism the modern American experiences. With hodgepodged prose-poetry and powerful pictures, Rankine describes American citizenship in the context of the racism that still plagues our country. I put it on this list because nothing has helped me understand modern racism and white privilege more completely, as well as the distance we have yet to travel as a society in order to achieve equality.

  • The Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling

Sometimes, I use this series to define me, as well as the generation I’m a part of. The Boxcar Children taught me to read desperately, and the first time I read these books, I missed the subtleties as I flew through each chapter. The Harry Potter movies revealed what I had missed, and then the books showed me what the movies had missed—Harry Potter taught me the value of rereading, so much so that I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read each book. It’s also just plain awesome.

Read my previous post on Harry Potter to learn more!

  • Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

Surprisingly, this book had more meaning as I grew up. As a child, I don’t remember reading it, but I picked it up again for a strange assignment in college (I’ll spare you the gory details). But suddenly, with my career choices ahead of me and my future in question, this book made all kinds of sense. Dr. Seuss’ works have a way of speaking to the soul, bypassing the mental challenge of reading entirely. Though I could have chosen any of his other soul-speaking works, this one gave me the best advice, and I’m particularly grateful for that.

  • A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

This is one of those novels that isn’t really my favorite. I like it, certainly, but it took me two tries to really get into it. My first try reading this novel was a catastrophic nightmare (again, I’ll spare you the gory details), but when I read it again, there was a moment that sticks with me to this day. I was speaking to my dad about parts of the novel that impressed me, and about the characters, and the symbolism, and this cool part over here and that cool part over there…when he stopped me and asked if I had ever considered being a teacher.

That conversation changed my life. On one hand, it gave me the inspiration to discover the passion and empathy I have with children, and the beauty in that incredibly important job. On the other hand, it has caused me more strife, anguish, and panic than I have ever experienced. As odd as it seems, I am thankful for both the good and the bad that came of it.

  • Ulysses by James Joyce

I’ll be saving most of my Ulysses discussion for the blog post dedicated to it, way off somewhere in the future, but it would be a disservice not to mention it. Everything I’ve read since reading Ulysses feels different. My own writing feels different. Ulysses taught me to see differently, to question even the most fundamental truths, and to understand the everyday human experience as an epic journey out into the world and back again. I finished it almost a year ago now, and I still fell a swell of awe and beauty remembering the heroes of Joyce’s Dublin.

  • Wicked by Gregory MaGuire

My last selection is a complicated choice, but I ultimately chose it for the same reason Harry Potter impacted me. Harry Potter grew up, and the series grew up with him, and I grew up with the series. Wicked did something similar—it took a story I knew and made it more adult (by that, of course I mean it was more chaotic, more complicated, and less censored than the original). Excluding classroom literature assignments, I think this is the first truly “adult” book I ever read. It entered me into a world I didn’t really like, but couldn’t look away from either, and it’s deliberate non-structure, harsh political themes, and challenging ideas about evil strained my previously held notions.


You knew this question was coming—what books are you thankful for? Let me know in the comments.

I won’t be able to post next week—class is officially cancelled (and I LOVE that I have the power to do that). For the month of November, I have been participating in NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. If you’ve heard of it or tried it, you’ll know the immense joy and suffering I am experiencing during the month of November. It just so happens that the last day of the month is on a Wednesday, when I would usually have my blog post ready to go. I will instead dedicate the last week of November to my own fantasy fiction.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving and your November!

Prof. Jeffrey

“Slowly, very slowly, he sat up, and as he did so he felt more alive and more aware of his own living body than ever before.  Why had he never appreciated what a miracle he was, brain and nerve and bounding heart?  It would all be gone…or at least, he would be gone from it.  His breath came slow and deep, and his mouth and throat were completely dry, but so were his eyes.”

–from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

–Dumbledore, on the Mirror of Erised:

“‘It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts…However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth.  Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.

‘The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again.  If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared.  It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.'”

–from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

The Harry Potter Series

Good morning, class.

I’m still powering through The Lord of the Rings.  I’m about halfway finished, and I am hoping I’ll be done before our next class.  Await my forthcoming epic lecture.

Instead, I’m dedicating class today to the Harry Potter series. Why, the bolder of you may ask?  There are a handful of reasons.  Firstly, I’m not rereading Harry Potter–I’m only writing about it here.  I’ve read each book at least three times, so I feel I’ve earned the right to call myself an expert on the series (and no, you can’t call yourself an expert if you’ve ONLY seen the movies…there’s no call for that kind of nonsense in my classroom).

Secondly, I was inspired once I realized that Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings are basically the same story: an unlikely protagonist becomes a key fighter in a vast magical war, accompanied by close friends who, together, face death, betrayal, and dark magic in a fantastically epic world (created by the genius mind of a British author known by strikingly vague initials rather than a first name).

And thirdly, I’m interested in harkening back to a time before Harry Potter was LITERALLY THE COOLEST THING EVER.  This series may have one of the strongest fandoms in the world, but like any fandom, it earned its popularity.  Did you know that there are people who are not a part of the Harry Potter fan community?  I assume they are simply overwhelmed by the ridiculous in-your-face-ness of said fan community’s enthusiasm.  Let’s face it–we’re a crazy group.

But someone needs to save the pour souls that seem to avoid this fantastic Wizarding World like the plague.  Someone needs to let them know that in the beginning, Harry Potter was simply about an orphan trapped under the stairs.

Enter Professor Jeffrey (cue John Williams music).

When readers meet Harry, he is a child bullied by his aunt, uncle, and obnoxiously spoiled cousin.  I imagine J.K. Rowling writing to a very specific reader–a child in a scary, uninviting world.  Then arrives his letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and an adventure begins.

I, personally, have waited for my Hogwarts acceptance letter for about 15 years.  But it’s okay, because my dreams of going to Hogwarts came alive through seven novels and eight movie adaptations following Harry on his journey.  The Harry Potter books are one of the defining moments in my childhood, and this is the case for many other readers as well.  This series was our hope of escaping a world we were afraid of.

Once the series springs from this foundation, it soars into one of the most innovative fantasy worlds ever created.  Magical spells next to beautifully written characters; wizarding politics and wizarding sports; a boarding-school castle with more secrets than a child could dream of; a brooding and dynamic villain in a complex wizarding war; and through it all, a mostly unbiased boy-wizard hero with a courageous heart and a sometimes-simple head.  It’s the adventure of a lifetime.

Don’t get me wrong–if Harry Potter isn’t your taste, don’t waste your time.  There are tons of books to read.  Don’t limit yourself to what’s most popular.  But I would be letting you down as my students if I didn’t educate you on why it is so important.  Besides everything listed above, here is the gist: it’s important because it meaningfully discusses and challenges topics like ethics, death, friendship, education, love, coming-of-age, hope, and magic, all in a kid-friendly, not-condescending way.  Not a lot of authors can do that with as much gusto as Rowling put forth.

I’ll definitely be including quotes from the novels in the coming week.  Some of you may have noticed that I’ve included a few quotes on my blog–extra credit is reserved for those who come in on Mondays and Fridays, not just Wednesdays.  You’re not required to come to class on those days, but if you do, you’ll be letting me know how much fun my class is.  And I know some of you are having fun!

As an added assignment (NOT extra credit…this is the regular credit), I’d like to hear from you.  Harry Potter means a lot to me, and I’m sure it means a lot to you and your classmates.  Leave a comment about what Harry Potter means to you, or has meant to you in the past.  If the importance of the Harry Potter series is partly found in the meaningfulness it has in the lives of its fans, then it would be a disservice to leave out your own story.

Enjoy your week, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Prof. Jeffrey