I think the reason...(might contain info re the new HP book)

[Genevieve]

nobody is on is because of...

HARRY POTTER!

What, you haven't finished it yet? Hurry up so my poor characters don't die of miserable aloneness.



So what did you think of it?

[west]

I haven't gotten it yet. I'm waiting to read it until I go home in August, because I can't afford to drop twenty bucks on a book ALL of my siblings are going to read and probably already have at least one copy of. I did however talk a few of my fraternity brothers OUT of showing up to the midnight release party stone-cold drunk, because nothing's more dangerous to F. Drunkasaurii than two hundred angry soccer moms and their kids that think they're wizards

[Dee]

I hate Harry Potter

[Antichrist_Online]

I second Dee. Harry Potter is in my opinion a bad plot aimed at the idiot masses, completly unlike books such as Nineteen-Eighty-Four or Hitchhikkers Guide to the Galaxy, to name some books of similar success but a bit more depth or at least humour.

[Pie]

i right now am reading Bernard Cornwell. He is an Exelant historical fiction writer. and also, Clive cussler. Exelent Fiction history action Explotion books(it was the only way i can discribe them.) and there is this other one, i just started reading, its calld 'building Harlequn's moon.' its a scy fy.

[Nick]

I would have thought reading microwave directions would be your idea of a novel.

[mortaine]

I second Dee. Harry Potter is in my opinion a bad plot aimed at the idiot masses, completly unlike books such as Nineteen-Eighty-Four or Hitchhikkers Guide to the Galaxy, to name some books of similar success but a bit more depth or at least humour.

Christ on a cracker, apples and oranges, much?

Harry Potter = children's literature.

1984 = NOT FOR CHILDREN.

Hitchhiker's = As deep as an ice cube on a hot day.

(Neither 1984 nor Hitchhikers has has the level of success that HP has had, by the way, but they are different markets, and therefore not comparable).

You absolutely cannot read Harry Potter as if you were reading a novel written for an adult. It's not fair to the book, it's not fair to yourself. You have to set aside comparisons with 1984, Vonnegut, and other "deeper" novels and come to it as "this is lighter reading than I am used to, but I will embrace the characters as they are and enjoy the storytelling." They are not deeply plotted-- they are not supposed to be. They tend to repeat themes, ideas, plotlines-- because children's lit is repetitive for a reason.

It is not a "bad plot." It is, in fact, a retelling the classic archetypal Hero's Journey that has been repeated in nearly every hero-quest narrative and folkstory for the last 2000 years or so (including, I might add, 1984). If you have a problem with the characters, fine. You don't have to like them, you don't have to read them. But give a little credit to the fact that these books are being taught in grad school children's lit programs because they're actually *good*.

I think you resent HP's success because it is "just" a children's book and because of the marketing hype. I did, too, at first. I especially thought that, while it was encouraging to have a resurgence in kids' interest in reading, it was also discouraging that: 1) they were being made into movies so fast, no kid would ever read another book, and 2) the attention to HP might be drawing attention away from just as worthwhile novels in the same general market.

But then I actually read them, gave them a chance, and was completely drawn in. The first three books are the most tightly-written, and in my opinion, they are stronger books than the most recent 3. However, they're still good books. They are not the Very Best Children's Books Ever, but they are good books, well-told stories, with compelling archetypal characters that people enjoy reading about.

If you must compare them to something outside of market, how about Robert Jordan, who has written a gigazillion "best seller" novels. Six books in, you couldn't have PAID me to keep reading, because there was no more story to tell. At least with each book, JKR moves the story further along, tells an actual story instead of having a bunch of duplicative characters stand around and do nothing.

[wichita]

It's like refusing to watch the Sandlot just because it's not American History-X?

I'm not a Potter hater, just rather ambivalent.

[west]

I hate the Potter phenomenon, but as a literary elitist I can tell you I enjoy Harry Potter as much or more than Orwell, although not as much as Hitchhiker's.

But you're right, it is apples and oranges.

Hitchhiker's is more sophisticated humor (a bit) and more clever satire, Orwell is just depressing, and Potter is somewhat dark children's reading, although I'd say it's more "universal" than "childrens'". My grandmother (a former librarian) reads them and got every single one of her grandchildren hooked on them (that's fifteen grandchildren!)

I'm curious as to whether anyone who hates Harry Potter has ever approached them with an open mind. They're great fun, and every single one of my siblings and cousins (I may have mentioned that I'm the oldest of seven) enjoys them. And we're all pretty different, so it's kind of remarkable.

[Nick]

1984 is probably my favorite book.

Shows that corruption is inevitable, and timeless. We're not in some age where things like that don't happen anymore. Things like that are happening right now.

[west]

OMG GEORGE BUSH IS BIG BROTHER !!!11111one1111one!111

[Surly]

I find Harry Potter boring and predictable, and no better than any of the books I read as a child.

It really isn't as much of a masterpiece as everyone seems to think. But if it gets kids reading, then I suppose there is a place for it.

But I really wish people would just accept it is a children's book, and stop trying to think of it as anything else.

How many HP books are there now? I can never remember...

(NOTE: The HP card game is WITHOUT A DOUBT the best thing about it.)

[Pie]

i find that i like books that have a deep plot (example: a mistery book, with a wered, but understandible twist(example: the robot killd him becous of a malfunction,and the robot was the detective's partner for that case, instead of the guy was killd buy the robot becous HE HAD A MIND OF ITS OUN! a human mind was put into his mind by AND EVIL SIENTEST)i think you get my point) have you ever read a clive cussler book? the criminal is doing somthing totally irrelevent, yet(wooo, Dejavu) somhow linked to the CATCH CRIME. cinda like the 007 movies.

but Harry potter is predictable. compleatly predictable. at least to me. YES, i got a 99(whatever that means) on my Iowa basecs for reading. YES all of reading, not just my Extendded and boysterous vocabulary(witch you know i have.) plus Harry potter takes too long to catch my eye. a book has to catch my eye on the 25th page, before i put it down.

[Pie]

I would have thought reading microwave directions would be your idea of a novel.

i have made cinnomen roles FROME A COOK BOOK thank you very much. AND in 4 grade i was the best reader in the 4th,5th,AND6th grade. or was that the fith grade, and i was better than all of the 5th, 6th and 7th? . \

ok, i frequently(every time i finish a book) read 300 pages to 500 pages. witch takes me 1-1.5 days INCLUDING rests. AND thats frome the time i start the book to the finish.

HA!

[Surly]

Now, how can you spell 'boisterous' but not 'which'?



Very strange.