*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!
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my two cents?
Date: 2003-11-22 03:22 pm (UTC)Frances Hodgson Burnett. I like "A Little Princess", too, and "The Lost Prince". "Fauntleroy" was too sappy.
Stylistically, HP is nothing at all to write home about. But it has a damn sight more imagination than probably 90% of what's available for kids (ENOUGH with the omgangst! crap), and it hits that balance between fantasy and realism that a lot of kids go for.
Re: my two cents?
Date: 2003-11-22 06:03 pm (UTC)I don't mind the angst in kid's books... so long as the book itself is well-written and whatever angst is there fits, isn't overdone, etc. My sister, wonderful girl that she is, is a fan of V.C. Andrews and Lurlene McDaniel, so her tastes differ somewhat.... After that, I didn't mind normal angst so much. But I don't find HP so imaginative... Certainly not amongst fantasy books, which, admittedly are the bulk of my reading... and not all that much compared to other books. Nothing in them (other than Quidditch, and a few of the monsters) is that out of place from the rest of them. You have school, slightly overdone villians (are NONE of them female? siderant), you have your fair share of angst (though that isn't overdone so much), and you have standard magic stuffs.
Re: my two cents?
Date: 2003-11-23 08:34 am (UTC)Re: my two cents?
Date: 2003-11-23 08:41 am (UTC)HP is imaginative not so much in the Great Sweeping Groundbreaking sense -- yes, okay, The World Is In Peril etc. etc. -- but in the details. The little grace notes like the jellybeans and the giant squid. The fact that there's this whole parallel society with its haves and its have-nots and its infrastructure and its currency and its quirky habits.
They're not Great Art, obviously. I have to snicker at the hardcore fans who insist that all of Rowling's infelicitous word choices and plot holes are the hallmarks of a CAREFUL AND MASTERFUL AUTHOR. *eyeroll*
But she's obviously having a hell of a lot of fun. So much so that it's infectious. And that, that is refreshing.
Re: my two cents?
Date: 2003-11-23 01:11 pm (UTC)Sorry if this isn't my thread, but I had to comment.
UMBRIDGE. Sure she didn't work for Voldemort's side, but I have never hated a character more in my life. But I think that may just be because she reminds me of my stepmother.