“Around three o’clock on Saturday afternoon, I raised my eyes in despair from somewhere in the middle of the book, and thought with shame and intensity, ‘Jesus, I’m reading a book about sodding pixies.’” Unlike other Potter-trashers, Philip Hensher nails Rowling for the most basic sin of them all–bad writing of an order that would have shocked Richard Adams, J R R Tolkien, and let’s not even mention E B White. (Hensher never says a word about the inventiveness of Rowling’s world, which appears to be the key lure for adult readers, however, though he indicates that the sloppiness of her prose is a complete disqualifier in itself.)