Final thought on HP6. Semi-final. Whatever..

[conuly]

I know a lot of people are going "I just don't care about the last book now". And some are going "OMG! BEST BOOK EVAH!"

*waits for both groups to converge*

I've been reading HP since the actual beginning, before the hype. Never liked the hype. It obscured several books which deserved more attention, set up a huge number of copycats, caused every friggin' fantasy book to be "If you like Harry Potter....", which sucks, because many of them are very different from HP.

And unlike books by some authors, I've never been dying to know what happens next with HP. Oh, I read it, but I'm not counting down the minutes. Hilari Bell, now... I want to read the last book in that trilogy so much.

*coughs*

As I was saying, I'm not that invested in the books. I think they're a nice bit of fun, and it's certainly fun to take them too seriously and analyse the shit out of them as you would with... well, for want of a better term, with real literature. One of these days I'll analyse Dick and Jane like that for fun. So I could hardly start crying that "I'm not that interested in them anymore", nor could I start declaring my undying love for them.

But I'll say this for the most recent book: It's the first one I've wanted to re-read so soon after getting it. I often enjoy books by reading them twice a day for weeks, until I get bored, then taking a break. I sometimes enjoy books by reading them only once, then not again. I usually (now that I'm not a kid anymore) enjoy them by reading them, waiting a while, then re-reading them. I read fast, it's not a problem for me to read a book several times.

Harry Potter has always been in the third category, except in cases where I was traveling and inexplicably only had Harry Potter with me. But now I want to re-read book 6. This is a good sign for JKR's writing. She still needs to find a better editor, one who will help her cut down her word count just a tiny bit (agreed totally on adverb abuse. This is why god invented descriptive verbs), but her writing is already vastly improved over even the last book. *nods*

So says me, anyway.

So, maybe I'll re-read it, after I finish this DWJ I never read (Merlin Conspiracy).

Comments

[feathered.livejournal.com]

Good post, Connie. This sums up a lot of how I feel about the books. I've been reading them since they were first released in the U.S, when the librarian handed it to me and said, "I don't know about this one. It looks really weird, but you can give it a try and let us know what you think."

The hype really decreases my enjoyment of the books, but they're still quick, fun reads.

Maybe I'm just cruel, but I think that all of the people who are like, "OMG JKR is really not a good writer after all this sucks angst angst angst!" are hilarious. It's one of the fabulous things about reading a series as it is released: the fans grow up between books.

I still hate the fanfiction though. Sorry.

[conuly]

Which is why we're not forcing you to read fanfic.

Librarian, pff. I just read it sitting in the borders at the WTC. I used to cut school and go there.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised you hadn't read Merlin Conspiracy yet... Did you get Conrad's Fate?

(I have MC and was not impressed with it, unfortunately. She seems to have a very strange pattern -- outside the Chrestomanci books -- of writing one obviously-DWJ book, then a sequel that sounds nothing like her. I'm really hoping Conrad's Fate is going to fall into the "sounds like DWJ" category rather than the other one.)

[conuly]

I read Conrad's Fate. It was a lot like her normal books, but... not as good as the rest of the Chrestomancis, I think.

[rantinan.livejournal.com]

Have to say, that;s the on thing i'm relay glad rowling has managed to do... bring DWJ to the attention of the world. IWhen i was a kid there was a year or so when all i read was DWJ and nicolas fisk.

[kandelschwartz.livejournal.com]

One of these days I'll analyse Dick and Jane like that for fun.

"The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperatives
in Dick and Jane: A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender Modes"

[conuly]

Academia, here I come!

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I had the same response, wanted to reread it about an hour after I'd first read it.

I think it's the best of the series so far. I won't say more because I don't want to deal with trying to figure out what's a spoiler and what isn't.

[conuly]

You can feel free to post spoilers here. I'll post a huge spoiler warning in my entry if you like.

[conuly]

Which means you can post whatever you like, thus ending the trouble of figuring out what's a spoiler and what's not.

[ex-chaos-by-699.livejournal.com]

I deal with spoilers by just putting any post about HPB behind a cut tag with a warning. Some of my early posts about it weren't really spoilery at all (just comments on her writing, with no mention of any details of events in the book), but I figure it can't hurt to be overly cautious.

No matter what you post, if you put it behind a cut tag, nobody really has the right to bitch.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

JKR needs to step away from the thesaurus. It's really hurting her writing overall. +_+

Call me crazy, but as much as I liked this one, it felt like a twisted rewrite of the last one in many ways. Too formulaic for my tastes. Yes, the writing was better, but it felt better in the same way a second or third draft of an essay would. It didn't really feel like a new book to me.

[feathered.livejournal.com]

Good post, Connie. This sums up a lot of how I feel about the books. I've been reading them since they were first released in the U.S, when the librarian handed it to me and said, "I don't know about this one. It looks really weird, but you can give it a try and let us know what you think."

The hype really decreases my enjoyment of the books, but they're still quick, fun reads.

Maybe I'm just cruel, but I think that all of the people who are like, "OMG JKR is really not a good writer after all this sucks angst angst angst!" are hilarious. It's one of the fabulous things about reading a series as it is released: the fans grow up between books.

I still hate the fanfiction though. Sorry.

[conuly]

Which is why we're not forcing you to read fanfic.

Librarian, pff. I just read it sitting in the borders at the WTC. I used to cut school and go there.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised you hadn't read Merlin Conspiracy yet... Did you get Conrad's Fate?

(I have MC and was not impressed with it, unfortunately. She seems to have a very strange pattern -- outside the Chrestomanci books -- of writing one obviously-DWJ book, then a sequel that sounds nothing like her. I'm really hoping Conrad's Fate is going to fall into the "sounds like DWJ" category rather than the other one.)

[conuly]

I read Conrad's Fate. It was a lot like her normal books, but... not as good as the rest of the Chrestomancis, I think.

[rantinan.livejournal.com]

Have to say, that;s the on thing i'm relay glad rowling has managed to do... bring DWJ to the attention of the world. IWhen i was a kid there was a year or so when all i read was DWJ and nicolas fisk.

[kandelschwartz.livejournal.com]

One of these days I'll analyse Dick and Jane like that for fun.

"The Dynamics of Interbeing and Monological Imperatives
in Dick and Jane: A Study in Psychic Transrelational Gender Modes"

[conuly]

Academia, here I come!

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I had the same response, wanted to reread it about an hour after I'd first read it.

I think it's the best of the series so far. I won't say more because I don't want to deal with trying to figure out what's a spoiler and what isn't.

[conuly]

You can feel free to post spoilers here. I'll post a huge spoiler warning in my entry if you like.

[conuly]

Which means you can post whatever you like, thus ending the trouble of figuring out what's a spoiler and what's not.

[ex-chaos-by-699.livejournal.com]

I deal with spoilers by just putting any post about HPB behind a cut tag with a warning. Some of my early posts about it weren't really spoilery at all (just comments on her writing, with no mention of any details of events in the book), but I figure it can't hurt to be overly cautious.

No matter what you post, if you put it behind a cut tag, nobody really has the right to bitch.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

JKR needs to step away from the thesaurus. It's really hurting her writing overall. +_+

Call me crazy, but as much as I liked this one, it felt like a twisted rewrite of the last one in many ways. Too formulaic for my tastes. Yes, the writing was better, but it felt better in the same way a second or third draft of an essay would. It didn't really feel like a new book to me.