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Conversations with J.K. Rowling

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The name J.K. Rowling is one that is on the lips of millions of readers worldwide, but before 1997 few people knew the brilliant woman behind the phenomenally successful Harry Potter books. And now, four books into the series, few yet know the real story of Ms. Rowling's childhood and career as a writer. This is the first and only true telling of Ms. Rowling's history because it is in her own words, from her birth in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol, England, to the stories about her favorite and least favorite teachers in school growing up, and to the funny misunderstanding in her first fan letter. It is like a visit with a friend, a friend who has brought you to tears with laughter and told the most enchanting stories you've ever been told.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

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Lindsey Fraser

10 books4 followers

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5 stars
2,174 (46%)
4 stars
909 (19%)
3 stars
1,069 (22%)
2 stars
325 (6%)
1 star
175 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
Profile Image for penta.
164 reviews69 followers
Read
May 20, 2023
Wpadła mi ta książka w ręce, więc ją przeczytałam w przerwie podczas sprzątania, skoro sam wywiad to niecałe czterdzieści stron. Ja wiem, że tę rozmowę przeprowadzono ponad 20 lat temu (dokładnie: 23 lata temu), kiedy saga o Potterze się jeszcze rozkręcała, więc nie było nawet za wiele do powiedzenia, ale nie wiem, czy nudniejsze są odpowiedzi Rowling, czy jednak zadawane jej pytania.

Z perspektywy czasu i tego, jak obrzydliwym człowiekiem stała się Rowling w sposób bardzo otwarty, wyjątkowo urokliwe są dwa cytaty:
"Po raz pierwszy spotkałam się z takim typem kobiety. Była feministką, ale mądrą i inteligentną. Miała bardzo rzeczowe, racjonalne podejście do wszystkiego".
"Spodziewałam się tam spotkać wielu podobnych mi ludzi - myślących radykalnie".

Wzmianki o wybuchowym temperamencie oraz udawaniu super pewnej siebie jako metody przykrycia kompleksów również zestarzały się... interesująco. Also rozumiem, że skoro jej nauczycielka-feministka nauczyła Rowling nie lać wody i trzymać się tematu, to wiruje w grobie gdzieś od opisu sprzątania w Zakonie Feniksa, a przy ostatniej wydanej części Cormorana Strike'a to zaczęła się chyba powoli dowiercać do Chin.
Profile Image for Shawna Finnigan.
511 reviews327 followers
Read
July 15, 2022
I’m not going to leave a rating because I read this as a kid before JKR started posting hateful stuff online. Gosh, I used to worship her and she turned out to be such a jerk 😣
Profile Image for PurplyCookie.
942 reviews205 followers
April 26, 2009
If you're a Harry Potter fan who knows a lot about J.K. Rowling, then you won't find much new in this slim, large-type book. But younger kids (and Muggle grownups hoping for some insight into the world of Harry Potter) will learn quite a bit about this phenomenally successful series and its unassuming author.

Divided into roughly three sections, "Conversations with J.K. Rowling" begins with some fairly general questions about the author's early childhood ("Tell us about your grandparents" is where we learn that the driver and conductor of the Knight Bus were the names of her grandfathers), school days ("What did you remember about your time in school?" where one of her bully teachers inspired the character of Prof. Snape), and career ("Can you describe the process of creating the stories?" this one got me excited when she mentioned that she has whole childhood lives mapped out for all her Harry Potter characters, e.g., Sirius Black).

The book then follows with an excerpt-assisted overview of the first four Harry Potter adventures (again, only great for Muggles but just serves as oft-repeated blurbs for HP fanatics), and ends with a smattering of quotes from Rowling's interviews with Larry King, Newsweek, Oprah Winfrey's O magazine, and Entertainment Weekly.

Kids will get a kick out of many of the anecdotes, while older readers should enjoy more sophisticated insights into her books (like how she decided to write full-time when she still had a daughter to support). A very quick read, but fun for what it is.


Book Details:

Title Conversations with J.K. Rowling
Author Lindsey Fraser
Reviewed By Purplycookie
Profile Image for Amy.
911 reviews
February 15, 2010
I love Harry Potter, and since this is the only "official" J.K. Rowling biography, I headed for it first. I learned a few "behind the story" items that were interesting. The middle section is just a summary of the books, so if you've read them, just skip to the last few pages where they highlight media interviews. Since this only encompassed books 1-4, I would like to see something more now that she's finished writing all seven.
Profile Image for Joan.
2,030 reviews
September 7, 2017
Nice book meant for kids, published by Scholastic, capitalizing on the earlier HP craze. However, it had a nice informative interview with Rowling that I enjoyed a great deal. Verdict: Not tossing this book, yet at least! Now, on to find some book I don't want in this house!
Profile Image for ❁Sol❁.
138 reviews
April 6, 2021
Título: J.K. Rowling Vista Por J.K. Rowling
Autor: Lindsey Fraser
Editorial: RBA
Páginas: 79
~
💫Hello lectores💫 La reseña de hoy es algo diferente, ya que vengo a hablarles de una biología, la de #JKRowling
~
2,5/5⭐⭐⚡
🖇️OPINIÓN: Un buen libro, pero no pasa de eso. Me gustó mucho conocer la vida de la autora (a mi me gusta mucho por Harry), su infancia y adolescencia, sus comienzos como escritora, su vida fuera de eso. No soy de leer biografías, porque me aburren a veces pero con esta no me aburrí. Tampoco es que la quería leer a cada momento, pero no se me hizo pesada. La leí muy rápido, en menos de un hora.
Tiene muy buena información, es toda una entrevista con JK Rowling. Me gustó que al final haya un apartado escrito por Lindsey Fraser (la autora de este libro) hablando un poco de los primeros dos tomos, relacionándolos con su escritora. También habla bastante de la historia en si, una especie de reseña.
Me pareció un libro bastante bueno, pero no me sorprendió. Es una bio muy bien hecha, de una autora que me encanta.
La recomiendo para los fans de HP, ya que el libro se centra mucho en los primeros tres tomos de la saga, y cómo la vida de la autora cambia, cómo se siente ella respecto a esos cambios, etc. Creo que está genial como conecta todo, así que si les gustó HP, el libro les podría llegar a gustar, o al menos, no sería una pérdida de tiempo leerlo, ya que se enterarían cosas que no sabían sobre una autora muy talentosa, que probablemente les guste🥰
~
🎀¿Ya leyeron a JK Rowling?🎀¿Fans de Harry?🎀
Profile Image for Book Concierge.
2,817 reviews343 followers
February 2, 2016
This is the ONLY authorized biography of J. K. Rowling. It’s basically divided into three parts. The first half of the book are questions posed to Rowling – the sorts of questions her legions of fans might want to ask. This covers her life from childhood to her unimagined success as a writer. The middle section deals with the books; only the first three had been published when this was written, though book # 4 was ready and is discussed (no spoilers). The last section revisits some of the interviews Rowling’s given with major media outlets – Newsweek or Larry King, for example.

It’s perfectly fine for children, but lacking in the kind of detail adults would like. Since it’s aimed at children I still give it 3 stars.
Profile Image for Kayrene.
276 reviews15 followers
October 16, 2017
This is a sweet little book about J. K. Rowling. If you've read and loved the Harry Potter series, this book gives you a lot of insight and tidbits about how she came up with the story and characters. Really interesting, and thoroughly enjoyed!
Profile Image for Molly Lighthart.
163 reviews5 followers
May 16, 2022
Just an inspiration. This is what I wanted to start 2019 reading, the clean slate and goals. Plus it’s so weird reading it so many years later and in this only books 1-4 were out!
Profile Image for Renn.
878 reviews39 followers
May 3, 2018
I love reading about J.K. Rowling and her life which led me to think that this book was for me. Nope, not really.

The questions were generic, like "Did you watch much television as a child?" or "Do you enjoy the book tours?" It was fun to read some of J.K. Rowling's favorite things when she was younger but other than that, it read like a Wikipedia page minus a good portion of the details. I certainly wouldn't go to this book to find details about Rowling's life. To add insult to injury, this book targeted children, which meant that Rowling wasn't as candid about the rough patches of her life. Her tone was light as she briefly mentioned a time in her life that had been extremely dark from what I understand from her other interviews. Furthermore, from a book titled Conversations With J.K. Rowling I would have liked more than 58 of the 95 pages to be an interview with Rowling.

I think it's time for a new authorized biography of J.K. Rowling.
Profile Image for Adri G.M..
Author 12 books270 followers
August 11, 2019
Short and cute, written for kids, I believe, problem is it only left me wanting more!!!! I want a real authorized biography now!
Profile Image for Meli.
628 reviews408 followers
April 21, 2016
Me compré este libro hoy en la Feria del libro porque 1º era relacionado a Harry Potter, 2º era una baratija y 3º me encanta comprar cosas relacionadas a Harry, sobre todo si son baratijas :P

Lo leí completo mientras volvía a casa, porque vivo asquerosamente lejos de la FIL (y porque el libro es re corto).

Es una entrevista que le hicieron a J.K. en el 2000 entre la salida de El prisionero de Azkaban y El cáliz de fuego y, aunque el libro es todo un curro (consiste en una entrevista muy corta a JKR y una explicación de la entrevistadora sobre el universo HP), me dio mucha ternura. El fenómeno era muy reciente (Harry llevaba a penas tres años en el mercado) y ¡cuántas cosas aún no habían pasado! Es increíble eso, te hace sonreír la ingenuidad de JK sobre su propio futuro y declaraciones como "voy a terminar de escribir la saga, aunque sea solo para mí".

No es un libro que valga la pena comprar si no es en mesa de saldo, pero estuvo entretenido.
Profile Image for Reeny.
337 reviews26 followers
October 1, 2015
The first third of the book was a conversation with JKR. It's interesting to see her thought process/what she says circa 2004/GoF. The middle section of the book was summaries of the first 4 HP books. Why????? Who is going to be interested enough in Harry Potter to pick up the author's biography that hasn't read the books??? The last bit was media sound bytes and quotes.

UPDATE: I legit forgot I had read this and I saw it ion my bookshelf recently and excitedly picked it up for a quick read. I got a sense of deja vu while reading but I figured it was because I've read so much about HP and Queen Jo. Turns out it's because I've read the book before lol.
19 reviews
Want to read
May 20, 2010
I will like to know more of J.K. Rowling and this book will help me do that.
Profile Image for Lorena Talluto.
6 reviews1 follower
January 28, 2018
Ho trovato questa breve lettura parecchio interessante. Un libro minuscolo con sole 94 pagine che mi hanno fatto scoprire tantissime cose di cui ero ancora all’oscuro sia su J. K Rowling sia su come sia nata l’idea della saga che tanto amiamo.
È molto datato devo dire, risale al 2000 infatti erano stati pubblicato solamente i primi 4 libri della saga ancora e a chiusura del libro è stato scritto che la Rowling stava scrivendo il 5 romanzo della saga.
Oltre a contenere un’intervista della scrittrice contiene anche tante altre cose interessanti che riguardano la promozione dei vari romanzi, la stampa sia in italia che nel mondo, diverse recensioni scritte dai giornali italiani e tante altre cose.
Credo che questo libro sia una piccola chicca che a mio parere tutti i fans di Harry Potter dovrebbero possedere nella propria libreria.
Adesso non voglio fate spoiler quindi chiedo solamente: ma voi sapete chi ha ispirato alla Rowling il personaggio di Ron Wisley? Bene! Io l’ho appena scoperto! Questo libro è pieno pieno di aneddoti alquanto interessanti quindi credo che si meriti un posto d’onore accanto agli altri libri della saga.
Si merita tutte le 5 stelline ed io ve lo consiglio vivamente. Inoltre sta scritto che è l’unico libro autorizzato dalla Rowling quindi io credo che non ci sia motivo per non acquistarlo e leggerlo!!
4 reviews2 followers
February 2, 2020
Per dare un giudizio oggettivo su questo libro devo ricordarmi la data in cui è stato pubblicato, quando ancora non era così scontato avere accesso alle interviste (cartacee o audiovisive) di un autore semplicemente digitando il suo nome sul proprio cellulare e avere un libro che ne raggruppasse qualcuna era una comodità da non sottovalutare. Il discorso vale doppio trattandosi di un'autrice straniera, fatto che potrebbe costituire una barriera linguistica per molti fan.
Tuttavia, almeno per quanto riguarda l'edizione italiana, molte pagine che ricapitolano aspetti essenziali dell'ambientazione e della trama sembrano inserite solamente per riempire pagine. Questo libro mi pare con una certa sicurezza indirizzato ad un pubblico che già conosce Harry Potter e non ha bisogno di riassunti.
Se ho dato tre stelle invece che le due che avevo immaginato all'inizio è solo perché la parte finale sulla stampa italiana (che contiene un articolo di Umberto Eco) ha fatto risalire tutto l'insieme, trattandosi di una lettura interessante di cui ancora non avevo sentito parlare.
Profile Image for Yany .
252 reviews2 followers
April 26, 2021

Este pequeño librito contiene una entrevista que le hizo Lindsay a J. K. Rowling. Es algo que se lee en un abrir y cerrar de ojos, no sólo por el hecho de que es corto, si no también porque es más bien de una carácter infantil/juvenil.

Para un fanático de Harry Potter este librito no aporta nada nuevo, ni antes lo hizo ni ahora. Quizás si está bueno para los peques que arrancaron con HP, les dan un vistazo a lo que es la autora. Al ser destinado para un público joven se omiten y disfrazan varios aspectos oscuros en la historia de la escritora.

Otra cosa que cabe mencionar es que si no han leído los libros de Harry Potter y planean hacerlo, no deberían leer este librito hasta no haber leído los 3 primeros ya que contiene varios spoilers de los mismos.

Lo repito, de un carácter infantil, explora la historia de Rowling con algunas anécdotas de su niñez, de su vida adolescente y como adulta. De sus estudios, y lo más obvio sus libros, inspiraciones y procesos.

En fin no hay mucho más que agregar.
Profile Image for McKenzie Richardson.
Author 65 books59 followers
December 29, 2017
For more reviews, check out my blog Craft-Cycle

Good book, quick read.

Growing up, I was obsessed with Harry Potter (let's be real, I still am). I am sure I read this book a few times growing up, but I didn't remember much from it, so when I came across my old copy of it, I figured it was time for a re-read.

Good book overall. I especially enjoyed the interview section in which Rowling talks about her life. From there, the book is just a lot of summary of the first four books. It is interesting reading this now that the last three books are out as well as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (book, film, and screenplay), and Quidditch Through the Ages. You can tell even then that Rowling had no idea how big this phenomenon would get.

Written in a way that is simple to understand, this is a good non-fiction book for young HP fans, although it 's a bit dated now.
Profile Image for Estíbaliz Montero Iniesta.
Author 38 books1,019 followers
February 5, 2019
El libro contiene una primera parte en forma de entrevista a J. K. ROWLING que resulta interesante para conocer algunos detalles de la vida y la experiencia como escritora de la autora de Harry Potter.
La segunda parte es una especie de resumen de los 3 primeros libros de la saga del joven mago, puesto que no se habían publicado más cuando este librito salió. No aporta demasiada información nueva y especula minimamente sobre lo que pasará en los siguientes 4 libros. De hecho, viéndolo con la perpectiva de los años, yo diría que algunas de las afirmaciones del libro se han quedado obsoletas.

En conclusión, es una lectura rápida y sencilla que lo que hace es ayudar a rememorar con cierta nostalgia detalles de los inicios de la saga. Yo diría que no es un libro imprescindible, pero sí un buen complemento para aquellos que crecimos con la saga y, ahora, después de tanto tiempo, buscamos cualquier mínima excusa para rememorar cualquiera de sus detalles, por nimios que parezcan.
Profile Image for Sarah.
72 reviews1 follower
December 30, 2019
Being an avid Harry Potter reader I of course love knowing more about the author! This book was published just after the 4th book came out so it's definitely outdated (my copy came from the school book fair where I bought it for my sister as a gift if that gives you an idea of how old!) but it's so nice reading a candid conversation about J.K.'s life and interests. J.K. Rowling was a single mother who taught English classes and dreamed of being an author. The whole time she's giving the interview she reinforces the fact that the whole experience was a wonderfully, unexpected whirlwind of success. I can't help but love the person who created this wonderfully, spectacular world that I've grown up dreaming of so learning more about her life is intriguing! Reading this book just reinforces the awe inspiring respect I have for J.K. Rowling and her talents. This is a short read (it took me about an hour) that is well worth it for any Harry Potter fan!
Profile Image for Maru .
435 reviews3 followers
April 30, 2021
Libro: J. K. Rowling visto por J. K Rowling autora de Harry Potter por Lindsey Fraser
Autora: Lindsey Fraser
Páginas: 80

Reseña

El libro habla sobre la vida de J. K. contado por ella, sobre su infancia, familia, amistades, es un poco aburrido, a pesar de tener pocas páginas, no terminaba más de leerlo.

A la vez me gustó saber sobre ella, como pudo imaginar un mundo tan increíble como lo es, el de Harry Potter en un viaje en tren, (tendría que dejar de dormir cuando viajo).

Es tan controversial la autora, con sus mensajes en las redes sociales, provoca que varios le hagan boicot a sus libros.

Amo la saga de Harry Potter, más por las películas qué por los libros, porque todavía no llegue a leer todos, soy de la casa Ravenclaw y conocí a un grupo maravilloso de personas increíbles participando en el juego de la copa, todo gracias a una persona que viajando en tren creo a Harry Potter, un niño muy especial que vive en el mundo muggle al morir sus padres.
Profile Image for Italy.
16 reviews11 followers
October 2, 2019
“Conversations With Jk Rowling” by Lindsey Fraser and JK Rowling herself, is a biography. I read this book because I finished all 7 books in the Harry Potter series, and I wanted to learn more about the author, JK Rowling. This book was separated in categories like childhood,school life, career, and more! I would recommend reading this book after reading some of the books because, this book does reference to the books a lot and you can get a clearer understanding of the book. I would recommend this book to people who love reading biographies and/or who know about J.K. Rowling and her work.
Profile Image for abthebooknerd.
294 reviews145 followers
September 25, 2019
Very inspiring, short, and sweet book about J.K. Rowling's life, as well as her writing. I've been in a slump lately, and this was a nice little treat to pull me out of it. Now, I want nothing more to go and write to my heart's content.
932 reviews4 followers
January 19, 2020
Though written in 2000, when J K Rowling was only half-way through writing her stunning series, this little book is still a great insight into Rowling's passion, inspiration and life. Written in a question-answer format, it should interest all Harry Potter fans.
Profile Image for Wilmer.
38 reviews4 followers
July 24, 2017
2.5 . Hubiese sido un 3, pero la edición en español parece sacada de Google Traductor. Se pueden leer cosas como “La Hogwarts” y “Dobby, el geniecillo de la casa” WTF?? :S
Profile Image for Vicky Collar.
Author 1 book26 followers
January 5, 2019
Entrevista breve a la autora. Está desactualizado porque se hizo justo antes de que saliera la primera película pero hay datos curiosos sobre la vida de la autora.
Profile Image for Quincy Richardson.
1 review2 followers
February 17, 2019
Interesting read. Great little interview based biography with fun facts. Perfect for younger readers that want to know more about the master mind behind the wonderful world of Harry Potter.
Profile Image for Autumn.
144 reviews
November 28, 2019
This would be a nice book for elementary students to read if they are fans of Harry Potter. It doesn't have an overwhelming amount of information, just snippets.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews

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