I Am Not Enthused About Harry Potter
It’s not that I’m a grumpy muggle or have some axe to grind against Ms. Rowling. I just don’t care.
I’ve never read a Harry Potter book. Never even watched one of the movies. I don’t really know why, but I don’t enjoy most stories where kids are the main protagonists. There are exceptions, of course, such as Lord of the Flies, Leon (The Professional), and The Phantom Menace.
Tonight Harvard Square was transformed into Hogwarts Square in honor of the last book’s release. While the temptation to see hot coeds running around in witch outfits was powerful indeed, not even that could lure me out of the comforts of home to face crowds of grown men wearing round glasses waving their wands around.
What I do think is cool is that all this hype is over a book. A book! In this age of mind-numbing television and vapid feature films, the fact that kids and adults alike are waiting in long lines to actually read something other than a MySpace page gives us all hope for the future that maybe, just maybe, books won’t be a lost art form.
Enough of my friends and coworkers are excited about the Harry Potter thing that I have no doubt they’re good books — I just have no desire to read them. That’s okay, as I’m pretty sure J.K. doesn’t need my money. And if just a small percentage of Potter fans decide to read other worthwhile books, I’ll be happy.
Oh, and of course I was kidding about The Phantom Menace. Jeez!
It’s crazy. I was at a midnight release last night with some friends, but I have generally the same attitude as you do… no desire to read them. I’m sure they’re good books, but I’ve been reading other fantasy (I’m struggling not to say “real fantasy”) for years and I just can’t imagine it compares. My friends actually convinced me to try reading them last night and start at book 3 (where it’s supposed to start getting a more adult tone), but I’m skeptical I’ll be hooked…
I was amazed, however, at the party itself. It was a costume party that drew close to 1500 people, and I felt like I was at a comic convention or a star wars convention or something. It was surreal. I felt like what non-gamers must feel like when they inadvertently stumble near a gaming convention… all this excitement over a book boggles my mind. Not because books aren’t awesome, but because I didn’t realize people cared this much. Very cool.
I’ve read the first two books (the second for a grad school class, no less), and seen the first movie. They’re okay, decently written, adventuresome, appealing in their own geeky way. I’m not sure how they became the phenomenon that they did. There are other books that are better written, more interesting, with better stories. But if it gets kids reading –and as a high school English teacher, I can confirm that yes, in some cases, it does — so much the better. Hopefully, some of those kids will move on to other books, as well, but alas, some will not. It’s still nice to see a lot of (especially young) kids reading ‘em.
Of course, Harry Potter was done better as Tim Hunter in Neil Gaiman’s Books of Magic comics.
” I’m sure they’re good books, but I’ve been reading other fantasy (I’m struggling not to say “real fantasyâ€) for years and I just can’t imagine it compares. My friends actually convinced me to try reading them last night and start at book 3 (where it’s supposed to start getting a more adult tone), but I’m skeptical I’ll be hooked…”
They do get better after the first two. If you read a lot of fantasy it can still come across a little young but it does get better. order of the phoenix was quite good IMO. A classic, no, but good nonetheless. I would never have been up at midnight to get the new one, but definitely a decent read.
It is a bit of a phenomenon, but I don’t know that it translates to more kids reading to be honest. I have a few nephews and nieces who read these and became very big fans…yet they didn’t read ANYTHING else. I have no idea why that happens. I have a huge collection of fantasy novels (somewhere north of 600 books) and almost none of them have any interest in reading them (did have 2 who wanted to read my LoTR novels though).
Personally I am waiting for the Wheel of Time saga to end, hopefully with Robert Jordan still alive to finish it.
I’ve read through a bit of fantasy in my time…Tolkien, Salvatore, Piers Anthony, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, and others. I had actually heard of Harry Potter back in 1996?, but never thought twice to read any of the books until my brother recommended I do so (and he was never one to read; I was the academic, he was the social one, so this basically sold me).
I was not one of those freaks standing out there in black robes with circular glasses last Friday. I picked up the book Saturday morning with my wife, and didn’t even crack it open until that evening, reading maybe a chapter. However, I will say that the books are good and worth reading. If you are obsessed with gore, gratuitous violence, sadism, or other psychoses, I’d recommend Goodkind’s Temple of the Winds (though you’ll probably want to read the preceding books in the series first). What I find very interesting about the Potter series as a whole is the characters’ literal and figurative growth and development. While starting on book 3 to “get to the good stuff” does get you into the more “mature” aspects of the storyline, reading the first two books gives you a better idea of who the characters are, personality traits, history of the story environment, etc.
I have found the ease and flow of reading these books much more enjoyable than select books of just about any of the other authors mentioned (especially LOTR, and especially some of Robert Jordan’s WOT). While some of the content in the first couple of Potter books may seem mild or even sappy, the details, like any good story, come back to play a role in future books.
I do recall the first time I saw a Harry Potter book…I believe I made fun of the person holding it due to the silly looking artwork on the cover, and could not understand why every time I saw her she was holding one of those books with her. Ten years later I understand, and don’t really blame her.
There were a lot of people lined up in Walmart at midnight!
Quit being a cranky old fart and read the freaking books! What, are you afraid you might have fun reading them?
At one point, quite literally four years ago, I caved in and read the books, one after another after trying to impress Kelly (who I am now married to BTW). I was pretty much like you, apathetic about the books and uninterested in reading a childrens book. I ended up really liking them and falling in love with the world depicted in the books.
I remember another book I was grumpy about back in the day, it was this little book called “The Hobbit”. I thought that was a silly children’s book too.
I read my first Harry Potter novel when my eldest daughter (then 9 years old) brought home The Sorcerer’s Stone and couldn’t put it down. She was a reader to begin with, but I wanted to see what kept her away from the TV for several days. I read the first book in a day (it is short) and since then it has become something we all share as a family. We have enjoyed the movies, but it is the books which caught our imagination and kept us reading.
When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, my daughter (now 16) and I were in line at midnight to pick up her copy. Another daughter (13) had one shipped to her at a summer program and we needed yet another copy for my wife and I to share. My son (11) is on the fourth book, and is loving them. Nothing beats watching a computer gaming, soccer playing, Playstation wiz poring over a 700+ page book!
Along the way I have shared other fantasy lit from my collection with my family and some they have found interesting, others not. I am confident though, that my love of reading (and fantasy in particular) has rubbed off on my children and J.K. Rowling has played a significant part in that.
As a lover of fantasy and a fan of imagination I am certain I would have come to the Harry Potter series on my own eventually without the influence of my children. But sharing the experience has made it even sweeter.
I, for one, am sad to see this particular story come to its long awaited, hugely publicized and ultimately satisfying conclusion.