One of about 100,000 reasons why the BBC really does need a good kicking

Well, it is before seven here in London and still a couple of hours before my local WHSmith's opens, so I haven't read the book yet. I have read a few f-list members' opinion of it, though - uniformly good, with a couple of people calling it the best ever. And I have rad the opinion of the person who the BBC entrusted with thetask of writing their first review - you know, the authoritative one that will be read online on their site by sixteen skazillion people across the planet. (Or so they hope.) This guy writs in diary style, stopping every hundred pages or so to tell us - nothing about plot, style, or content; but to inform us at length that the book is boring and that the magic has been lost. And then, after giving a display of incompetence that could get any reviewer on any half-decent book page sacked, he goes on to criticize JKR for her "garrulous" style.
For this I am forced to pay more than a hundred and twenty pounds a year?

No, she did not go dressed as Buffy this time.

But there was something else that was surprising - if you are a JKR fan. She was wearing a decorous but figure-hugging brown jacket dress - and JKR once said that she hated yellow and brown (the colours of her old school uniform) and "would not wear them out of principle." (Telling Tales, an interview with J.K.Rowling, by Lindsey Fraser, Mammoth Publishing, London, 2000.)

An enchanted day

This was an exceptional day. From the beginning, the temperature, which had been oppressive in the last few days, had been perfect, warm but not stifling, with a pleasant light breeze. The sky was blue and sunny, and as I headed into town to get my copy, I found it oddly quiet and peaceful. Saturday is market day, and as a rule the centre of Ilford is crowded, noisy and freaking expensive. Today, however, it was peaceful.

The weather has held for the whole day. I just could not improve on it. I read, without disturbance, through an absolute masterpiece of a novel, full of novel insights on characters and situations we knew and loved, with music most of the time in the background. It will be a while before I have another such good day.

A very quick sketch of my favourite couple

Actually, one of the great things JKR has achieved with this novel has been, for the first time, to really make Voldemort a credible and frightful villain. Thus far, he had been purely a mask, but his treatment here - especially the dreadful concept that his attempt at immortality depends directly on the murder of others and the mutilation of his own soul - suddenly creates a concept that is wholly odious and worth fighting. Well done, JKR.

(Incidentally, does anyone else beside myself find JKR attractive?)