Countdown
Wowsers! I haven't written anything for a long time ... by now I may just be writing to myself anyway. Oh well - for a little while my life has been most interesting, what with packing and moving and familiy visiting and working lots of overtime to pay for that new house! But no excuses - I have still been reading - just not writing about it.
So it seems it's time to join the rest of the world and countdown to Harry Potter. I read the first 3 in 3 days, but now everybody has checked them all out of the library; I will finish - I will just have to borrow #4 from my brother.
So the official countdown is ... 16 days, 8 hours, and 37 minutes.
Click here for the rest of the post.
So as I was reading the first 3 books, I experienced some nostalgia for the week that my apartment found Harry Potter in college. We had 6 girls, and probably only 2 copies of the book - good thing the first book was such a quick read. We had a lot of debate - was Harry Potter really the next big thing? Why was it so great? Why was it so popular?
I still think Harry Potter had some great advertising, especially as the news networks picked it up as the next big thing...but I also think it wouldn't have spread to fast if it wasn't a well-written story. One interesting theory that we read online was that girls can relate to a boy main character better than the other way around, so books written with a boy as the main character have a bigger audience. Interesting if I ever turn into an author.
What do I think of the books themselves? They're good. They're fun. They're not the best thing I've ever read, but I like them a lot and it's really fun to read something that everyone else reads too because you can talk about it more. My favorite book was probably number 4 - I think that I liked the fact that the book lasted longer, but it still was full of action. Harry hadn't turned into a teenage jerk yet, and You-Know-Who was actually able to come back - which of course leads to the bigger and better conflicts in the books that come later.
Sadly, I didn't like Harry as much in #5 and #6, but they have their moments too, and the final book will really determine if I LOVE the series or just like the first 4 books. It's kind of like Star Wars - the original 3 - the 2nd movie maybe wasn't quite what you expected and it didn't leave you with that good feeling, but when you add the 3rd movie then all 3 are awesome.
So I have my book on order, and I'll be partying with anyone else who's at Island Books. I wonder if any of us will sleep at all that night.
So it seems it's time to join the rest of the world and countdown to Harry Potter. I read the first 3 in 3 days, but now everybody has checked them all out of the library; I will finish - I will just have to borrow #4 from my brother.
So the official countdown is ... 16 days, 8 hours, and 37 minutes.
Click here for the rest of the post.
So as I was reading the first 3 books, I experienced some nostalgia for the week that my apartment found Harry Potter in college. We had 6 girls, and probably only 2 copies of the book - good thing the first book was such a quick read. We had a lot of debate - was Harry Potter really the next big thing? Why was it so great? Why was it so popular?
I still think Harry Potter had some great advertising, especially as the news networks picked it up as the next big thing...but I also think it wouldn't have spread to fast if it wasn't a well-written story. One interesting theory that we read online was that girls can relate to a boy main character better than the other way around, so books written with a boy as the main character have a bigger audience. Interesting if I ever turn into an author.
What do I think of the books themselves? They're good. They're fun. They're not the best thing I've ever read, but I like them a lot and it's really fun to read something that everyone else reads too because you can talk about it more. My favorite book was probably number 4 - I think that I liked the fact that the book lasted longer, but it still was full of action. Harry hadn't turned into a teenage jerk yet, and You-Know-Who was actually able to come back - which of course leads to the bigger and better conflicts in the books that come later.
Sadly, I didn't like Harry as much in #5 and #6, but they have their moments too, and the final book will really determine if I LOVE the series or just like the first 4 books. It's kind of like Star Wars - the original 3 - the 2nd movie maybe wasn't quite what you expected and it didn't leave you with that good feeling, but when you add the 3rd movie then all 3 are awesome.
So I have my book on order, and I'll be partying with anyone else who's at Island Books. I wonder if any of us will sleep at all that night.
posted by Julie C | 3:07 PM
9 Comments:
we have all the books if you would like to borrow :)
I just finished #4 but am taking a break to read something I had on reserve at the public library. I should be done with it in the next day or so, which will keep me on schedule to finish #5 and #6 before I get #7.
I picked up my pink slip at Island Books ... #438 - that means I'm in the 9th group to get their books.
I also got #4,5,6 from the library last night, and after getting home at 8:45, watering the lawn, planting my tomatos, and doing the dishes, I have read 200 pages so far. Well, 187.
Countdown is at ... 10 days, 10 hours, and 10 seconds as of when I click the button
I didn't read HP at all for several years just because I hate jumping on the bandwagon, until I was stuck in the airport one long day. I bought the first one just to pass some time, and thought it was good enough that I bought books 2 & 3 and finished them all that same day. Afterwards, I felt a little sick, just like after binging on potato chips. =)
'sposita (who was just returning from her mission at that time) bought me book 4 for a Christmas present, which I thought was pretty cool. By the time book 5 came out, we were married (no kids yet), and so we spent HP5 day reading it together (btw - HP5 needs editing - why did JK think it was ok to have Harry SHOUT so much???). HP6 day was spent reading together during breaks in the day as we searched for an apartment in Berkeley (grandparents watching kids). People thought we were really weird as we huddled over our book in a restaurant during lunch. =)
I'm excited for HP7 day, but I don't see how 'sposita and I can read it together this time, given that our kids won't give us any peace and all our friends will be too busy reading HP7 to babysit. =)
Oh well.
Anyway, I feel the same about HP - they're fun books, but not the best things I've ever read, and HP7 will make or break the series for me. At this point I'm pessimistic that it will manage to satisfyingly tie up all the loose ends. There are too many of them and expectations are so high.
I also have thought about the popularity question a bit. I like other series (like Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising) just as much, but of course they are all obscure compared to HP. I still don't know the answer to this question (your theories are all reasonable), but I was happy to see that the Dark is Rising series is being made into movies - the first one comes out this fall. I think this is due to HP and how profitable it has made children's fantasy literature & movie adaptations. So I guess HP has had some positive impact on the broader culture. =)
One more thing: if you haven't read Orson Scott Card's essay on Snape in HP7, you really should. It's fabulous.
Blogger mangled the html tag in my comment. Here's another try at linking to OSC's essay: OSC's Snape in HP7 essay
The Dark is rising
Six shall turn it back
Three from the Circle
Three from the track
Wood Bronze Iron
Water Fire Stone
Five shall return
And one go alone
And that, without looking. I hope it's close. :)
Recession cone, thanks for the link to Card's essay on Snape! That is exactly what I have always surmised about him; so nice to have Card provide all the references to back it up for me...
vWhile I didn't really like Harry any better on the third (or fourth) reading of Book 5, I had forgotten how much I liked Fred & George's revenge at the end of the book.
And I loved the Snape essay - thanks!
Now I'm 164 pages into Book 6, and nothing has really happened yet. My other half has been picking up a bunch of the chores - dishes, watering the lawn, etc. - while I've been reading.
6 days, 0 hours, and 32 minutes. I think I'm actually going to finish by then.
I'm ready, and waiting. 8 hours and 32 minutes.
What will the next Horcrux be? Who's initials were in the locket? Will Ron & Hermione stay together? The questions will soon be answered.
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