On her very charming "official" site at www.jkrowling.com, her cluttered bulletin board is shown, and when one clicks on "Extra Stuff," an honorary degree very briefly appears, before it is covered up by something else. It appears to be from the University of Edinburgh, but it seems odd that it says "Honorary Degree," without a degree title, and it looks kind of cheesy. Is it possibly a real one? (I note from a BBC story that "JK Rowling has received an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh, recognising her huge contribution to children's literature.... At the ceremony, the University described why they had awarded her with the honorary degree, calling her a publishing phenomenon. "Receiving this honorary degree is a particular pleasure," said JK.") No mention of what sort of degree. Do UK schools really award an "honorary degree" without saying what sort? --John Bear (who bought three copies of The Half-Blood Prince at Costco this morning)
Here's a two part answer: http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/honorary04.html and http://www.registry.ed.ac.uk/Registry/ProcedGuideforDegrees.htm Jack
And what a fantastic read it was! Best of the series, imho. Enjoy! Cheers, Adrienne (who is now feverishly catching up on all her Ph.D. work she blatantly ignored in favor of reading HBP all at once...)
dam too bad................thought that Dr. Bear had caught another one using a degree she should not...........
Adrienne at 10:29 pm on July 16, DegreeInfo time: "And what a fantastic read it was!" John: As best I can figure it out, that works out to being posted at 8:29 pm on the 16th, UAE time. So if the book went on sale at midnight there, too, and if Adrienne was at the front of the queue, and got home promptly, then she had a night's sleep, did whaever else she does, and completed a 672-page book in about 18 hours. And if the Al Mutanabbi Bookshop opened at the usual time, it would be more like eight hours. Pretty impressive, either way. I am reading it aloud to one wife, one daughter, and two grandchildren, so it will be a pretty slow process.
It appears that she has at least two honorary doctorates... From the University of St. Andrews, February, 2000: "Author of the Year J K Rowling is to receive an honorary degree from the University of St Andrews. Joanne Kathleen Rowling, who is famed for the magical Harry Potter series, will be presented with a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) at one of the University's graduation ceremonies in June." From the University of Edinburgh, July, 2004: "The best-selling children's author, JK Rowling , is among a number of prominent public figures who will receive Honorary Degrees at the University of Edinburgh 's graduation ceremonies this summer. Ms Rowling, who completed the PGCE at Moray House in 1996 – now the Moray House School of Education at the University - will receive the degree of Doctor honoris causa on Thursday, 8 July." I read the first 349 pages of "Half-Blood Prince" yesterday and am looking forward to finishing it tonight (if I can pry it away from my children). Fascinating thus far...
All of her books are amazing, and the movies are great as well. I can't wait until Goblet of Fire comes out. Her work transcends all generations, I am just as excited as my girlfriend's 12 year old daughter (who in my opinion, is the coolest kid on the earth) about seeing the movie :^) If you haven't seen Willy Wonka, go, it's hilarious and Johnny Depp does a superb job, it's back to the old-style Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas), and explains more about Charlie's Childhood (his dad is Christopher Lee!!).
Hmm, not sure how the timer works on the posts here. I show my post as having gone up on the 17th at 10:29am, but I think I posted it on the 17th in the evening (since I was doing school work by that time). In any case, I picked up the book on my lunch break at just shy of 12:00pm on the 16th, read until 1:15, went back to work, snuck in two chapters more at my desk (I know, how horrible is that?!?), got home at 4:30, finished it up at 8:30. My first reading is usually fast, then I go back and read twice more at a much slower rate, with time to ponder and reflect. In any event, I couldn't put it down! Hopefully I can get to my second reading next week, maybe. We're cranking up in high gear here for the next month, as our new hires come in. It'll be a lot of 16 hr days... Cheers, Adrienne
Do you make funny voices for each character and if so can I get in on this too? Of course first thing i have to do is find some footie pj'ies that will fit my fat ass
MichaelR: Do you make funny voices for each character? John: Well I try, but I really need a prompter. Seven-year-old Nikoli, who has inherited the family streak of sarcasm, says things like, "Grandpa, why is Horace Slughorn speaking in Dumbledore's voice?" And, even more sophisticatedly, "You said 'ock-KLOO-men-see' but in the last movie they said 'OCK-loo-men-see." We have spent time together, Michael. I think that to protect the sensibilities of our fellow humans, neither of us should appear publicly in pajamas, not even at the AACRAO Sleepover Camp.
