It has been years now since pop culture has been embraced by Harry Potter madness and people seem to have long ago decided if they are for or against HP. Why keep beating a dead horse? I wonder why these books are the source of so much consternation...
I'm sorry, I just can't seem to be moved to any kind of emotion on this topic. I think that is because I don't really care for Harry Potter. I hate saying that in public because people draw the conclusion that a religious, Christian, conservative, homeschooling mother such as myself takes issue with the morality or the witchcraft or whatever. Or at least I do not like to voice out loud I don't care much for Harry because I do not want that assumption made of me. But I don't like HP because I find it boring. There, I said it. I actually do not hate it either. I just could not get into the books despite many attempts, and I fell asleep watching the last two movies.The movies are monotonous to me. I find the little details of living in a wizardry world fun, but beyond that, there is little attraction for me.
Rosey Posey (who despite being my child, is a totally seperate person with very different opinions) enjoys the books a great deal and desperately tried to make the last book stretch as long as possible. However, she has told me that she finds not well written. She said there are other book series she finds much better that do not get nearly as much publicity such as The Artemis Fowl Series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and The Ender Saga.
I would just love to here a discussion about what people enjoy or do not enjoy about the series without all the "Aren't these books fantastic because now even inner-city minority children are reading because of them!" or "they are instruments of the devil", or whatever other cliches we are used to hearing about them.
As someone who enjoyed the HP books a great deal, I'll tell you right off that they're not as much "good writing," as "good story-telling." I think JKR's strength lies in her character relationships. Sure, I was a bit annoyed by her propensity for leaving the bulk of the action for the very end of the books, but I figured that as children's books that were part of a series, that they *would* be rather formulaic anyway. I have felt from time to time that JKR was in need of a good editor, but I suppose when an author reaches that level of recognition, editors turn a blind eye to all of that. I enjoyed Book 7 very much, but I felt that the epilogue fell a little flat. While it was nice to see how everything turned out in the end, I found the whole ending lackluster, to say the very least. And yet I think it was my favorite of the 7, followed closely by Book 3.
I was actually thinking of you the other day when I got this e-mail from Amazon about this fantasy book that lots of people seem to be raving about. From the sound of the reviews on there, it may turn out to be a good read. In any case, it's titled "The Name of the Wind," by Patrick Rothfuss. Needless to say, it's already on my wish list. My interest has been piqued. :^D
I Hope I don't spoil anything for anyone in this message.
Yes, the ending was quite lackluster. I think the only thing that saved it for me was the epilogue and the introduction of a certain godson named Teddy (They don't even have him say three words and yet I love him. I have no idea why.) I also agree that I love their dynamics. I liked when Ron left for a few chapters in the book, so it was just Harry and Hermione. I liked seeing them interact with each other in a extended situation since we rarely saw any of that. Though he treated her kinda cruelly... (I am by no means a HarryxHermione fan by the way.)
I did NOT like that she seemed to throw some things in purely for shock factor. I won't say what, but I'm sure everyone who's read the book knows exactly what I'm talking about. (Sobs)
.... Oh my. What were we talking about again? When I started writing this message I wasn't planning on it to be a book review. Erm yes! All those series my mom llisted are all really, really good. I will definitely check out "The Name of the Wind". I'm always looking for a new fantasy series. Especially since I'm waiting for the next releases of all the above sagas and I just finished the 'Modern Faerytale series' by Holly Black. Which is not recomended by the way. It's llike the movie Thirteen with Cigarettes and Pixie dust.
I can't add much to this discussion, because as I said on Dawn's blog, my kids aren't into the books at all and I never made it through the first one myself (though I admit I didn't give it much of a chance). I'm happy to miss all the hype.
I think it's impossible to have a discussion about what kind of books are "good" for kids without first specifying the particular kids -- one size does NOT fit all. What's appropriate for one might be a horrible choice for another, for all kinds of reasons.
Okay, I happen to (sort of) know Michael O'Brian, (the guy quoted in that page you linked to) and he's a very good Catholic person, great artist and writer, a friend of my parents (who pretty much take everything he says for granted without bothering to read the books themselves) but I happen to disagree with him on the Harry Potter stuff. For one thing, I don't get how they can be all up in arms about the "good" witches and comparing that to good pimps fighting bad pimps, when in just about every fairy tale, there are good witches or fairy godmothers (pretty much the same thing) and bad witches or wizards or what have you. The Lord of the rings has Gandalf, the Wizard of Oz had two Good witches, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, etc, etc have Fairies and fairy godmothers.
The witches in Harry Potter are magical beings, it's not like they are ordinary humans getting into witch craft and satanism. So anyway, nothing anyone's ever said about HP has convinced me yet that he's no good.
Moving along... I guess the reason I like HP is that I just like fantasy. I'd love to have powers. I think it'd be kind of cool. Also, I liked the first books, but the last books are the best, with the story line and characters getting more complicated. I had a hard time putting the last ones down. (Haven't read the deathly hallows yet, but soon)