This entry has been superseded by: Books: Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix II: please reference that page instead

As you may have heard by now, it has been announced the book 5 of the Harry Potter series – “Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix” will be publicly available from the 21^st of June (in the UK, Canada and the USA).

You can pre-order a copy now though – Amazon has the children’s edition AND the Adults edition available at half price – just £8.50 each. Obviously you’ve got to wait until June to actually get your copy, but over 60,000 copies already have been ordered it could be a case of demand outstripping supply: so order now!

What can I tell you about the book without falling foul of anything that I may or may not have signed? Well, on the first page of the 768 tome it starts : “The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. The only person left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four.”.

A later quote which has been widely circulated in the media goes: “Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. ‘It is time,’ he said, ‘for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.’” but all I’m going to say is that readers will find out the reason Lord Voldemort killed Harry’s parents and something interesting about Harry’s mother Lily and the Dursleys.

There’s a new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher (much to Snape’s disgust) and she’s a woman, but there’s also the return of Professor “Mad-Eye Moody” (the previous teacher) and Lupin. Oh, and there’s that little matter about the death of a major character – and I think I’d be spoiling the surprise it I stated who it was (but it’s not one of the 3 main characters NOR is it [deleted something that I wasn't supposed to say])… Finally there’s a new song for the Sorting Hat and a bit more about the Mundungus.

What else can I say at the point? Not much, but maybe in the coming weeks…

Yesterday I was loaned a copy of Paul Britton‘s “The Jigsaw Man – The Remarkable Career of Britain’s Foremost Criminal Psychologist”. It’s about a criminal psychologist (strangely enough) from Leicestershire (who actually worked in the same place as my parents) who helped with such cases as the Leicestershire murders of Caroline Osborne and Amanda Weedon by 18 year old butcher Paul Bostock, the Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth by Colin Pitchfork (which was the first use of DNA testing – the testing of over 2,000 men has been nicknamed ‘The Blooding’), the murder of “Baby James” Jamie Bulger by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson and many other murders.

I think the back cover of the book sums it up extremely well: “Paul Britton has assisted the police in over a hundred cases and has an almost mythic status in the field of crime deduction. His achievements read as though from the pages of Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie. What he searches for at the scene of the crime are not fingerprints, fibres or bloodstains – he looks for the ‘mind trace’ left behind by those responsible: the psychological characteristics that can help the police the identify and understand the nature of the perpetrator.”

It’s quite a fascinating read (I’ve already got to page 404 of 650: and I’ve been reading it for around the last 6 hours solid): not just from the “local angle” (I actually lived quite close to the scene of the Pitchfork murders and went to the schools mentioned), but also from the whole psychology and criminal investigation angle.

It’s going to take me another day or so to finish it, but I really need to now consider getting out of bed and making breakfast (yep, I’ve just been lying in bed reading this book since I woke up and I’ve got lots to do…)

Ok, the “Books” category is lagging behind with the number of posts, so I’ll try and even it out by doing a review of one of the 3 paper backs I read yesterday – “Blott On The Landscape” by Tom Sharpe.

Sir Giles Lynchwood, MP, married Maud Handyman of Handyman Hall, Cleene Gorge, Worfordshire, for her money and property. But, due to a pre-martial agreement, the only way he can get some money for Handyman Hall is by arranging to have a new motorway (M101) put through Cleene Gorge and Handyman Hall subject to a compulsory purchase order. But Giles could not take into account the actions and problems caused by the numerical-obsessed Ministry Of Environment troubleshooter Dundridge or Lady Maud’s adoring gardener Blott…
» Read more: Book Review: Blott on The Landscape

Well, I’ve just some of my Christmas Shopping on Amazon.co.uk and it’s come to quite a bit! I’ve brought some of the stuff for myself (hey, I deserve to be treated ), but…!

• Book: Eaters of the Dead – Michael Crichton – £4.79
• Book: Sphinx – Robin Cook – £5.59
• Book: Vector – Robin Cook – £5.59
• Book: Punchbag – Robert Llewellyn – £5.59
• Book: Brother Nature – Robert Llewellyn – £5.59
• Book: Tales from the White Hart Arthur C. Clarke – £6.45
• Video: Blott on Landscape – Written by Tom Sharpe – £17.59
• Video: Porterhouse Blue – Written by Tom Sharpe – £5.99
• Video: The Complete Fawlty Towers (1975/79) – Written by John Cleese – £26.39
• CD: Escapology – Robbie Williams – £9.99
• CD: Now 53 – Various – £12.99
• Software: Norton AntiVirus Pro 2003 Upgrade – Symantec – £27.99

12 items at a total cost of £134.54! Wow!