So Michiko Kakutani got her Deathly Hallows review in early, and, boy, is Rachel Sklar steamed. “How on earth could you run a review of the last Harry Potter?” the HuffPo staffer asks NYT editors rhetorically. “To do so, you had to break an industry-wide embargo—and not just any embargo, an embargo that is almost tantamount to a public trust at this point.” Personally, I think embargos are a huge crock, but I’ll admit I’m curious: where the hell is the store that has sold the Times the Bob Woodward, Carly Fiorina, and now J.K. Rowling books before the national laydown date?
Meanwhile, Inside Higher Ed columnist Scott McLemee considers the cultural Potter fixation, specifically the way the novels are handled in the economy. My guess is that it’s the only article you’ll read this month with the words “Quidditch” and “Adorno” in it, not counting this one.