JKR "excluded" from Jubilee reading list

ResisterRex · 2022-04-17T19:05:59+00:00

Story originally in the Sunday Times but also picked up by the Telegraph. Sunday Times: ^The Big Jubilee Read — 70 books fit for Queen and country^ "However, the most conspicuous absentee is JK Rowling — arguably the most successful British novelist of the past two decades. “There was a big discussion about JK Rowling,” said Susheila Nasta, emeritus professor of modern literature at Queen Mary and Westfield University. “She was on the long-list with ^Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone^. A space was cleared for someone equally as good but whose work was not as well known. There were some very tricky decisions.”" https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/344f3d9e-bdbd-11ec-b03a-035ba70491ca?shareToken=4bcae05ee43c246590f27c816ac9420c Telegraph: ^JK Rowling excluded from Platinum Jubilee list of great reads in wake of transgender row^ "Palace aides declined to comment." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/17/jk-rowling-excluded-platinum-jubilee-list-great-reads-wake-transgender/

tabbycatstripy · 17/04/2022 20:08

Bet she’s on the next one, though.

KittenKong · 17/04/2022 20:10

So who was in the list? 70 unknown authors then?

Coyoacan · 17/04/2022 20:11

Reminds me of James Joyce being banned in Catholic Ireland.

Lavenderlid · 17/04/2022 20:16

The article mentions others - Pullman, Orwell, Tolkien - all not on the list either.

Theeyeballsinthefuckingsky · 17/04/2022 20:18

No kitten lots of very well known authors are on it - just not JKR (or Philip Pullman either so it’s not all bad lol)

Why do I think the “vigorous debate” about jkr was a lot about whether it would be ‘problematic’ to include her and only a little about her books?

Original poster

ResisterRex · 17/04/2022 20:26

Way back when, she might have been included...

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/22311494

OP posts:

JustSpeculation · 17/04/2022 20:30

It's a list of books read by people who make lists of books. And it's meant to celebrate the Commonwealth, not UK. The ones I've read on the list are good. But it's an eye opener to realise that the only writer this millennium that I have read on the list is Adichie....I should consider that.

JustSpeculation · 17/04/2022 20:32

@Lavenderlid

The article mentions others - Pullman, Orwell, Tolkien - all not on the list either.

Orwell died before the starting date of the list.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 17/04/2022 20:42

I've just had a look at the list. I'm v grateful for JKR's courage in recent years, and I quite like the odd bit of HP (9yo DC is quite into it), but in truth I think HP would sit quite oddly alongside most of this stuff. I didn't spot other children's books in there. I think there's an element of the press stirring...

Duracellbunnywannabe · 17/04/2022 20:45

@NellWilsonsWhiteHair

I've just had a look at the list. I'm v grateful for JKR's courage in recent years, and I quite like the odd bit of HP (9yo DC is quite into it), but in truth I think HP would sit quite oddly alongside most of this stuff. I didn't spot other children's books in there. I think there's an element of the press stirring...

JKR has written numerous books for adults.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 17/04/2022 20:50

JKR has written numerous books for adults.

Yes, but in a list which chooses 70 books over a period of 70 years, I really can't see that it's a slight that none are included here.

The cultural impact of HP specifically is much bigger, and if she was overlooked in a list of 70 children's books over the same timeframe, I'd be much more inclined to suspect political discomfort. As it is, I think it's a stretch to describe her absence as "conspicuous".

EdithStourton · 17/04/2022 21:01

Nah, looking at that list they're after literary fiction, which isn't really what JKR writes.

(Though amongst the 15-20 books on that list that I have read or tried to read, there are a couple that are resoundingly crap.)

I was getting ready to roll up my sleeves, but having looked at the list, I don't find a need to furiously email Susheila Nasta, who to her credit wrote the excellent 'Asian Britain: A Photographic History'.

LeftFootForward · 17/04/2022 21:04

@NellWilsonsWhiteHair

I've just had a look at the list. I'm v grateful for JKR's courage in recent years, and I quite like the odd bit of HP (9yo DC is quite into it), but in truth I think HP would sit quite oddly alongside most of this stuff. I didn't spot other children's books in there. I think there's an element of the press stirring...

The press stirring it for cheap clicks, surely not ? 😉

Original poster

ResisterRex · 17/04/2022 21:45

If her work doesn't make it due to the parameters then why even include her on the long list? Just apply the parameters properly.

OP posts:

Rightsraptor · 17/04/2022 22:19

It's a list of books published in the present queen's reign, if I understand it right. So starting in 1952. But the reporter states that 'Black Beauty' isn't on the list. 'Black Beauty' was first published in 1877. FFS.

Nice little reading project for me, I think I'll work my way through those I've not yet read. I wonder how many platinum jubilee book groups will be formed?

Ides · 17/04/2022 22:31

Dear lord, JK Rowling isn't a great author. I'm sorry, but she just isn't. She's just been lucky enough to hit on a theme that wowed film-makers. She just made the mistake of getting herself embroiled in the GC/trans rights debate, rapidly found herself out of her depth, but had no choice but to continue. I get that she's a darling of that weird alliance of right wing women and full-on misandrist radical feminists ... but she really, really isn't much good as an author.

She's great at applying make up (full marks for the lip-gloss, especially), and she's made lots of money as a result of her books chiming superbly with what the film industry wanted at a particular time. But that's it. She's not a great author and even less of a thinker. Time to get over it and move on. Most of all: stop quoting her in relation to the GC/trans-rights debate. It's embarrassing.

jay55 · 17/04/2022 22:32

It's quite an inaccessible list I think. Not one that would actually get the country reading.

I'm sure the Queen would rather pick up a Dick Francis over most of what is on it.

LetitiaLeghorn · 17/04/2022 22:38

I guess they think that kids will be reading or will have read Harry Potter anyway and they're trying to intriduce readers to new authors that they wouldn't know about it. Not everything in the world is about trans issues.

DonnaHaywood · 17/04/2022 22:42

@Ides wtf does her makeup have to do with anything

VivienneDelacroix · 17/04/2022 22:53

I can see why. Her books are not well written and are hugely derivative and unoriginal.

LittleWhingingWoman · 17/04/2022 22:56

@Ides

Dear lord, JK Rowling isn't a great author. I'm sorry, but she just isn't. She's just been lucky enough to hit on a theme that wowed film-makers. She just made the mistake of getting herself embroiled in the GC/trans rights debate, rapidly found herself out of her depth, but had no choice but to continue. I get that she's a darling of that weird alliance of right wing women and full-on misandrist radical feminists ... but she really, really isn't much good as an author.

She's great at applying make up (full marks for the lip-gloss, especially), and she's made lots of money as a result of her books chiming superbly with what the film industry wanted at a particular time. But that's it. She's not a great author and even less of a thinker. Time to get over it and move on. Most of all: stop quoting her in relation to the GC/trans-rights debate. It's embarrassing.

Phillip Pullman, is that you?

zanahoria · 17/04/2022 23:09

Who even cares about this list?

Had anyone even heard about it before?

LetitiaLeghorn · 17/04/2022 23:14

I don't really care whether she's a good writer or not, nor what her views on trans issues are, what is fantastic is that she has got children reading and interested in books. And that will have improved literacy levels. I developed my reading with Edith Blyton. I know she is despised these days but we were out this week and I saw a Secret Seven book and it gave me the same thrill as I had as a child when I dived into a thrilling adventure. I developed my love of stories and story reading through her.

I've read books called masterpieces and they have often been stodgy, slow-paced and hard work. It's all subjective anyway.

BasicBinaryBltch · 17/04/2022 23:21

@Ides

Dear lord, JK Rowling isn't a great author. I'm sorry, but she just isn't. She's just been lucky enough to hit on a theme that wowed film-makers. She just made the mistake of getting herself embroiled in the GC/trans rights debate, rapidly found herself out of her depth, but had no choice but to continue. I get that she's a darling of that weird alliance of right wing women and full-on misandrist radical feminists ... but she really, really isn't much good as an author.

She's great at applying make up (full marks for the lip-gloss, especially), and she's made lots of money as a result of her books chiming superbly with what the film industry wanted at a particular time. But that's it. She's not a great author and even less of a thinker. Time to get over it and move on. Most of all: stop quoting her in relation to the GC/trans-rights debate. It's embarrassing.

"Anyone who disagrees with me is right wing, wahhh!!"

Let me guess- another former HP fan who has decided she's no longer a good author after hearing what she thinks. I'm sure she's devastated.

JC544D · 17/04/2022 23:29

No place for Black Beauty, and National Velvet sadly.