Do you hate Harry Potter and his Crock of C***?

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
I was refering to the fact that you bought some many parts of at least two series of books you found utterly unsatisfying. It astounds me.

Who said I bought a single one of them?

[Mr. President]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Harry Potter is so boring that you could only read the first four books?

My grandmother gave me the first three, and I bought the fourth because I heard that a main character was going to die and I hoped it would be Ron.

[Imran Siddiqui]

*gasp*

You are not killing Ron, you evil man .

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Agathon


I should post you one of my boring papers on Plato.

I've thought about it... go on, email or PM me a copy if you want an opinion.

There's a helluva difference though, in between writing about a "real life" figure (some deny Plato ever existed) and an "imaginary" figure (some deny that HP is fictional).

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Cruddy
(some deny Plato ever existed)

Sure you don't mean Socrates? I've never heard of anyone seriously questioning the existence of Plato.

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by Agathon


I should post you one of my boring papers on Plato.

Maybe YOU should be put in charge of interrogating Detainess at Gitmo....

[Elok]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Do you hate Harry Potter and his Crock of C***?

Originally posted by Agathon
No I didn't read it properly.
I agree - they are kids' books.
*Stands back in his fireproof coat*

Don't flatter yourself, Red. On this board, that kind of comment is so frequent as to become background noise...
Anyway, while I personally hate the marketing glut surrounding potter(it's become another Pokemon in terms of sheer crass merchandising), I don't see what's so hateful about the books themselves. Rowling obviously owes a lot to Dahl, maybe a little bit to Tolkien, but the style isn't sleep-inducing and there are no ripoffs that I detected. I've read the first four.
Comparing them to Huck Finn is just apples and oranges. She obviously did not set out with any kind of scathing social commentary in mind. It's just a story. If you expect profound insight from a children's book you have issues.
And it's absolute Shakespeare compared to what's written for adults. Within the genre there's nothing too noteworthy-or is Marion Zimmer Bradley's sad pseudo-erotica somehow literature? How about Anne Rice? Is there any GOOD fantasy writer for adults? Maybe Anne McCaffrey once, but nowadays...meh.
Outside the immediate genre of fantasy, you have Clancy and the airplane-ride filler material crew, who have all the sparkle and insightfullness of a washing machine. I think adult interest in Potter might just be a manifestation of the general crappiness of other reading material. Don't forget that a lot of parents keep tabs on what their children read and get hooked on the series that way when they would ordinarily be watching 'Survivor:Croatia,' or whatever.

[Seeker]

War and Peace...bah....Is character sketch and maundering about mere human feelings and relations supposed to be 'great'? I went in looking for battles, sex, betrayal, and ego-feeding escapism. I found Prince Andrei, a humanist, trying to maintain his relationship with his 'ancien regime' father. I found endless pages of how great it is to be young and innocent in the Natasha character sketches. I found her 'corruption' to be trite and not stimulating to my 21 century sensibilities. OMG, she ALMOST broke her engagement! Stop the presses Tolstoy! And his ridicule and dismissal of military science and technology "....It always comes down to one brave lad in the front rank who shouts "Hurrah!"'

Although I did like the rascally Hussar who ties an officer to the back of a bear.

I rank Hesse the greatest novelist even though his novels are almost exactly the same in different settings. I rank Lovecraft the second because he comes closest to true escapism, true wonder and fantasy, leaving the techniques of 'great' writers who care about human characterization and relations over atmosphere.

Short Version: War and Peace is boring, mostly. I would much rather read some hack fantasy from the 70s than about a bunch of silly aristocrats having silly relationships. For hundreds of pages. Heck, I would much rather read Livy.

[ravagon]

Why on earth would someone hate a childrens book?
The release has had young kids queueing up outside stores for hours before they opened to be among the first to get a book.
It actually has them interested in reading.

If one doesn't like the book or the genre one should have the sense not to vent ones hatred on a book and instead simply not buy it/read it.

[mindseye]

I agree that it is a sad commentary of the society that adults read these books.

Let's not forget that "Who Moved My Cheese" is the favored reading of the CEO set ...

SOS! Save Our Society!

[mindseye]

That's because great literature isn't as funny, witty, down to earth or lively as a best seller.

[gopher]

Dear God, the pretentiousness of some of the posts on this topic is too much to bear. Declaring that adults should be ashamed, or chastized for reading a children's book? Come on! I hope that the some of the posts and opinons here were just for troll and flame purposes only, for if you are like that in real life, can you please post the adress of your local post offices? That way, I can send, free of charge, any one of a wide varieties of luxurient lubricants to gently slide that stick currently up your a**.

Edit:

[MikeH]

Harry Potter, books that people enjoy reading despite the rantings of literature Nazis.

[gunkulator]

Can't believe such an obvious troll has made it to four pages already - and I'm helping it!

[laurentius]

Huck Finn ?