In an old Chinese story, a poet lost his ability of writing poems after his pen had been taken away in a bad dream. It seems that this tragedy has happened to JK Rowling too.
Last weekend, the Harry Potter and Half-blood Prince was greeted with a rousing fanfare worldwide. Millions of people wasted the whole weekend to explore the magic world. Me too.
The book is heavy. Rowling’s ability to write concisely seems not improved. This is not surprising. In fact, female writers in general like to elaborate details. For example, Virginia Woolf also had her thoughts wandering around in her writings with many unnecessary details. The volume of the book about the Bloody Queen Mary written by Margaret George was so formidable that I might never be able to finish it. A recent bestseller—The Historian, written by Elizabeth Kostova—also deterred my attempt to read it. Only Jane Austen avoided boring readers by her witty humors in the Pride and Prejudice. But her books were also full of details. Anyway, by reading the sixth Harry Potter book, most kids probably surpass their summer reading requirement, which is good.