Nope, you’re not the only one. I’ve read all of them so far, even that over-padded doorstopper The Goblet of Fire. They’re decent, but not anywhere close to as good as a lot of fantasy out there. Then again, I’ve tried several times to read Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series and can’t get past the first couple of chapters. I seem to be practically the only person who reads fantasy who has this problem if his sales figures are any indication.
I really don’t know why they’re so popular. Bad latin puns as spell words, non-moving plot, no depth or longevity. They’re kind of entertaining (though Goblet was just a chore) and relatively easy to read, but that’s about it. I’m not a literature snob, but jeez. The real problem is that publishers will be looking for more Harry Potter clones and might overlook some other books that are excellent but don’t fit the “popular appeal” profile that Rowling has defined with her books.
Okay, I’ve skipped over much of this thread; so forgive me if this has been mentioned.
I think the reason they’re so popular is because they empower kids. Remember being a kid, and you wished you could fly? Or you wished you had magical powers? No matter how good your childhood is, you really do have to live within limits. But how great it would be to go beyond those limits! Kids can identify with the characters, and imagen that they too can do magic.
Yeah, I do remember being a kid. I remember the books I liked as a kid. I’ve re-read some of those same books as an adult. Most of the books I liked then, I still like now. Harry Potter would not have been a series I would have chosen to re-read even if I had first encountered it at age 8-12, which seems to be the target age for the series. There are other series that are superior, in my opinion, which don’t seem to have caught on as well as Harry Potter. That’s what I find incomprehensible.
Diane Duane’s So, You Want to Be a Wizard is an example of a relatively recent book written for the same audience as the later Potter books but are better written, in my opinion. The series features kids living in a world like ours who discover a hidden world of magic that overlaps their own. The premises are very similar, yet Duane’s books have not been anywhere near as successful as Rowlings’. Why? Dunno.
Yeah, Ok. I’ll probably rant a bit now. For future reference this post is meant to be only mildly insulting
If I see one more “I’ve seen movie number so-and-so, and it compares unfavorably to being an integral part of tyrannosaur droppings” post I’ll frickin’ SCREAM.
What? You’ve never read a book? How else could you not be aware of the fact that great books more often than not make for uncommonly crappy movies? As far as I’m concerned you haven’t got a say until you’ve read at least one of the books. (Although I personally found the first one the low point of the series until no. 5 came out.)
I realize I can’t keep you from posting, I’m just really surprised that I need to inform anyone here that bad movie does not in any way imply bad book.
This is where I stand by the way:
Not great literature, but exciting stuff that fills me with childish glee. Like others, I appreciate that children are reading again. Someone mentioned that the fifth book seemed to suffer from severe lack of editing, and I’ll just steal those words. I also didn’t like that the characters were so stupid in that one. Not just adolescent and headstrong but incredibly hair-pullingly moronic. But as it doesn’t look like Rowling will pull a ‘Robert Jordan’ on us, I want to find out how it ends. Who knows, she might get her groove back in the last two books.
About the people who seem to lack the gene that lets you get excited over childish and silly stuff that perhaps doesn’t warrant quite that level of attention, and/or want books to be about “real problems and real life, thank you very much”: I can’t relate. It’s a valid approach to life I guess, but to me it defies belief. There’s a word for people like you: Muggles.
For people who dislike/don’t care about the books for other reasons: I got no quarrel with you, good sir knight. Please ignore.
But yeah, OK, the current level of hype is a little much. It’ll go away soon though. Just turn the other cheek.
Sorry about the double post, but there’s one more thing: Isn’t it the case for every mega success that it’s difficult to see the exact reason why it is so popular? As such it seems to be a waste of your energy to write: “Well, what really pisses me off is that ‘the Great Humprefoo of Whatchamakullits’ by ‘Lotta Notta Haque’ is in every way superior, yet it doesn’t sell”.
That would be because it isn’t Harry Potter. See how that works? Not all bestsellers are great books. Not all great books are bestsellers. You need to hit a nerve. Then you need clever marketing.
And quidditch is a terrible game by the way. Lousy design. She obviously didn’t think the 150 points through.
