Titling convention significant?

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 89590

Sue B wrote:
 
> Or what if it's all just a case of the publisher wanting the titles 
> that way so as to sell more books? Sorry to throw cold water on 
this 
> idea (unless it's tongue-in-cheek)

It partly is, but I'm utterly sincere on two points:

(1) I find the "Harry Potter and the" formula rather dull and 
childish.  That doesn't mean it's sinister, it just means JKR and I 
don't see eye to eye on this particular aesthetic question.

(2) The backstory on Neville seems unnecessary.  Why *does* 
Dumbledore tell it?

The publisher may want to sell more books, but the fact is that most 
bestsellers in series aren't titled that way.  If they really want to 
flag that this is the next book in a series, and they usually do, 
it's printed on the book somewhere:  "A Series of Unfortunate Events, 
Book 4," "The Wheel of Time, Book 10," even "A Hercule Poirot 
Mystery," or the like.  The last book could easily have been 
called "The Order of the Phoenix," with "Year 5 in the Harry Potter 
Series" stamped on the cover, and satisfied the publishers.  But that 
clearly wasn't the way JKR wanted it.  De gustibus non disputandum, 
except this is a book discussion group and we can disputandum with 
the author all we like.  <g>

Amy Z