*giggles... loudly*
Nov. 22nd, 2003 04:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
From a certain book community:
"Finally - There are over eight THOUSAND communities and users listing Harry Potter as an interest, so please, keep the cape wearing kiddies out of this, hrm? There are plenty of other places to discuss it, so leave at least one book community free of it, okay?"
Damn straight. I'll agree, I like Harry Potter, I'll read it, I've read all the books
But it's not great literature by any means. There's better kids' books out there. I don't suscribe to the belief that kids' books make up some inferior subset of literature, so...
In fact, I'll list the better books out there, starting in fantasy, and sticking with the kids section:
1. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Patricia C. Wrede
2. The Woman in the Wall, author's name is lacking
3. Beauty, Robin McKinly
4. So You Want to Be a Wizard, Diane Duane
Moving past fantasy (hard for me, but I try)
5. The Secret Garden, Eesh, how could I forget her name?
6. Letters from the Inside, John Marsden
7. Tomorrow, When the War Began, John Marsden
8. Goodnight, Mr. Tom don't recall, sorry
9. Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
Those are books that I feel have more literary value. Well. Except the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, those are just funnier than Harry Potter.
Not every book has to be full of literary value, of course, but... I don't know why Harry Potter is so popular, nor why it completely overshadows everything else. Some of that is hype, of course, but they didn't start getting hyped until they were already popular.
Okay. Moving on. We can skip literary value. Maybe Harry Potter is more popular because the books are funnier? Let's see...
1. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (again)
2. There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom, Louis Sacher
3. A is for AAAAARRRRGGGHHH! Forgot, and may have misspelled the title
Funnier isn't it. Hm. They present the most serious issues, such as slavery or racism? I'm not even going to bother debating that one, as there are books written ABOUT those issues for kids. And, in fact, I'm not too thrilled with arguments I've seen showing those serious issues in HP. The serious real world issues are mostly sidelines from the real plot, and are easily ignored by the dedicated reader.
Maybe, just maybe, Harry Potter isn't as popular as I think? That could be. I often hear from people who are sick of Harry Potter Hype.
Let's check amazon.com
Rating for Harry Potter:
1. 5 stars
2. 5 stars
3. 5 stars
4. 5 stars
5. 4.5 stars
Wow. Five stars. For the first four books. Do the books really merit five stars? Well, let's pick some books from the list that I think deserve more than (though that's not possible) Harry Potter.
I'll pick:
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles.. well, that's four books, so I'll pick the first, Dealing with Dragons. I'll also take The Woman in the Wall, Beauty, and Tomorrow when the War Began.
DwD: 5 stars
WitW: 5 stars
B: 5 stars
TWB: 5 stars
Hm. Okay, I forgot what I was trying to prove, but I'm sure I had a point. Let's go to the reader reviews....
*dies laughing* Let's not, let's make that a separate post.
Geez, I'm bored. I had a point here, you guys go figure it out, 'k? Lemme know what it was when you're done!
"Finally - There are over eight THOUSAND communities and users listing Harry Potter as an interest, so please, keep the cape wearing kiddies out of this, hrm? There are plenty of other places to discuss it, so leave at least one book community free of it, okay?"
Damn straight. I'll agree, I like Harry Potter, I'll read it, I've read all the books
But it's not great literature by any means. There's better kids' books out there. I don't suscribe to the belief that kids' books make up some inferior subset of literature, so...
In fact, I'll list the better books out there, starting in fantasy, and sticking with the kids section:
1. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Patricia C. Wrede
2. The Woman in the Wall, author's name is lacking
3. Beauty, Robin McKinly
4. So You Want to Be a Wizard, Diane Duane
Moving past fantasy (hard for me, but I try)
5. The Secret Garden, Eesh, how could I forget her name?
6. Letters from the Inside, John Marsden
7. Tomorrow, When the War Began, John Marsden
8. Goodnight, Mr. Tom don't recall, sorry
9. Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
Those are books that I feel have more literary value. Well. Except the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, those are just funnier than Harry Potter.
Not every book has to be full of literary value, of course, but... I don't know why Harry Potter is so popular, nor why it completely overshadows everything else. Some of that is hype, of course, but they didn't start getting hyped until they were already popular.
Okay. Moving on. We can skip literary value. Maybe Harry Potter is more popular because the books are funnier? Let's see...
1. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (again)
2. There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom, Louis Sacher
3. A is for AAAAARRRRGGGHHH! Forgot, and may have misspelled the title
Funnier isn't it. Hm. They present the most serious issues, such as slavery or racism? I'm not even going to bother debating that one, as there are books written ABOUT those issues for kids. And, in fact, I'm not too thrilled with arguments I've seen showing those serious issues in HP. The serious real world issues are mostly sidelines from the real plot, and are easily ignored by the dedicated reader.
Maybe, just maybe, Harry Potter isn't as popular as I think? That could be. I often hear from people who are sick of Harry Potter Hype.
Let's check amazon.com
Rating for Harry Potter:
1. 5 stars
2. 5 stars
3. 5 stars
4. 5 stars
5. 4.5 stars
Wow. Five stars. For the first four books. Do the books really merit five stars? Well, let's pick some books from the list that I think deserve more than (though that's not possible) Harry Potter.
I'll pick:
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles.. well, that's four books, so I'll pick the first, Dealing with Dragons. I'll also take The Woman in the Wall, Beauty, and Tomorrow when the War Began.
DwD: 5 stars
WitW: 5 stars
B: 5 stars
TWB: 5 stars
Hm. Okay, I forgot what I was trying to prove, but I'm sure I had a point. Let's go to the reader reviews....
*dies laughing* Let's not, let's make that a separate post.
Geez, I'm bored. I had a point here, you guys go figure it out, 'k? Lemme know what it was when you're done!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-11-22 02:47 am (UTC)I like the books as well, but I hate fads and the like. I hear about the books so much that it does get annoying after awhile. Sure they're great and all, but we don't need Harry Potter underwear.
*adds some of the books you listed to the list of books she should get from the bookstore on of these days.* You're not the first to tell me to read them, but the first to inspire me to write them down XD
no subject
Date: 2003-11-22 04:10 am (UTC)Ever feel like saying "but I don't"?
In fact, I wasn't as thrilled as I might've been to see Tamora Pierce got a special stand for her books, I started to get scared the hype would hit upon another series I love... *worries*