The other day I asked my 20 year old son if he was looking forward to the new Harry Potter movie. He said he pretty much HAD to see it, as the books were such a big part of his growing up.
I’m curious who out there HAS NOT read the HP books and why. I’m especially curious about folks who were kids when the books were published.
The books were published between 1997 and 2007. My kids were born in 1988, 89, and 91, so they were 9, 8, and 6 when the first came out, and 19, 18, and 16 for the last. There was NO QUESTION of our not having the books in our house. Especially for the middle few, I remember the kids being quite insistent about getting them as soon as they came out. It seems to me that a tremendous percentage of people who are now 15-35 would have been swept up in the craze. At least in America and Britain.
I recall hearing of some folk with religious objections to the magic and witchcraft. Anyone avoid the books for such or other reasons?
I didn’t read any of them other than the first one, and that one several years after it came out. My kids read a few of them, not all of them by any means. They tended to jump past juvenile fiction to hard-core fantasy/sci-fi, except for their stubbornly habitual reading of Japanese manga books.
I picked up Phoenix, never got around to reading it. Mind, I’ve been reading fantasy of various sorts for most of the past 30 years; if they actually made a hardcore fantasy flick (which means deep themes, real actors, and a relative non-indulgence in action movie tropes), I’d be the first in line. Potter struck me as rather derivative and simplistic (tho I now recognize that the novels have a depth of a sort).
Not me. I was 11 when the first book came out, but I was well on my way to adult fiction. I never stopped on the young adult express unless teachers made me
I’ve seen all the movies and know a lot about the books though. I’m too much into fandom to not know a lot about them, plus I have friends who love the books.
I didn’t avoid them so much as I failed to be interested in them.
My sister loved them, to the point of getting day-of-release delivery from Amazon for at least one and the B&N midnight release party for another one. And so, when the first movie came out, she wanted to go. As I don’t like seeing movies based on books without having read the source material, I needed to read the book before seeing the movie and I did.
But I had no desire to read the next one. It was enjoyable but I could take it or leave it. That’s pretty much how it was until the last movie, which I never bothered to see. If I decide to see the new movie, I’ll probably read the previous two books. Otherwise, I’m probably not going to bother.
I’m surprised that this movie has the momentum it does. It seems like so long since the last book was released.
I’ve not read them. No kids at the time, and wouldn’t really pick up a kid’s book without a compelling recommendation on the writing, story etc. I do get the impression that they are shite, to be honest about it, but even that is not the reason I’ve swerved them. I’ve read plenty of ropey SF / fantasy doorstoppers in my time, it’s more the juvenile fiction aspect. Like others I enjoyed the films I’ve seen.
I live in Edinburgh, actually just round the corner from JK Rowling, and the cafe that she wrote the first one in is quite the tourist draw. You see all sorts lining up outside it for a photo. I had an American visitor over at work recently and we were talking over dinner about how his kids were mad for the HP books. We passed the cafe on the way back, took a photo of him in front of the sign (HP written here or some such) and he was over the moon, said his kids would be made up with it.
I’ve read them all but I got a late start. When the craze first began I was a little put off by it, the over the top squealing was just too juvenile and I figured it’d be like how Twilight ended up feeling.
I started reading it when the First movie was set to come out. I decided to get on the train once it became clear that it was more than just a little girl’s lark. And knowing that the movie franchise was imminent I felt compelled to read the books to have a proper background. Once I got into it and lowered my expectations (it’s not Lord of the Rings) I was able to really enjoy it in a disposable way.
That said, I think a lot of people are like how I was. Simply put off by the hype and fandom itself. The material may or may not be interesting, but the obsessiveness and media blitz can go a long way to poisoning the waters for anyone not in the know. It doesn’t help that the first book was pretty weak on all counts, meaning people used to a better standard of writing were put off even if they did give it a chance.
I read the first three (all that had come out at that point) and liked them, but decided to wait until the whole series was finished to read the others. Yes, I know that happened a year (or more?) ago, but I haven’t felt any burning need to get back to them – esp. since I’d need to reread the first three.
Never read them, haven’t seen the movies. I was 32 when the first book came out, and they really never made a blip on my radar…guess I was just in to other things.
Oddly enough, I did buy one of the movies…as a present for my dad.
I read the first one and found it quite imaginative and delightful. However, I only made it about halfway through the second, and haven’t read any of the others since. It just seemed like more of the same.
FTR, I was cough cough twentysomething when they came out, but I taught 10yros at the time (11yros now) so I had an interest in reading what my students were so excited about.
I have seen all of the movies, though I think I saw only the first one in the theater.
I still read (or more accurately re-read) some children’s literature, but I can’t manage Rowling’s prose style; what I have seen of it is too stilted and banal.
I picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone when it first came out and balked without getting very far into it. Blah.
I love the movies, they’re great fun. No criticism of Ms. Rowling’s storytelling ability - they’re very compelling.
I also picked up Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last year, thinking that maybe her prose style had improved, or consciously changed as the mood of the series became somewhat darker. In truth, I was mainly eager to find out what happens. Not eager enough to slog through that dreadful prose, those. I just couldn’t.
Me. I started the first one. Just not really my thing, and I’m not into the fantasy genres. (Born in '84.) No Harry Potter hate or anything like that, just couldn’t get into it.
That’s Mr. S and me. We didn’t start reading the books until just after book 6 came out. We loved them and still do, but we were just put off by the hype, as we are about lots of things. We’re not really the types to check something out just because everyone else is.
Never read them, nor do I have any desire to do so (born in '70). After trying most of my life to find fantasy fiction I didn’t find incredibly lame, I gave up, and didn’t think a children’s series was the thing that was going to change my mind. Just not my thing; I generally prefer “artsy” fiction that gives me glimpses into the human condition that I couldn’t arrive at on my own than swashbuckling action yarns, which come off as formulaic to me.
Never read them, never had much interest beyond a general curiosity about something so many people were experiencing.
But my lifelong experience is that pretty much no matter how well written (and I certainly don’t deny it can be well written) it is juvenile/young adult fiction just doesn’t work for me.
Have seen all of the movies though, because I prefer such things there. They’re not very good, however (especially as someone who hasn’t read the books), and I only continue seeing them because my wants wants to know what happens (even though she hasn’t particularly enjoyed the last few either).
