Harry Potter

[Capulet]

As most of you know, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the sixth book in the series, will be released worldwide on July 16th.

I personally can't wait for it to be released... it's definantly going to be cool.

This thread is for everyone to discuss HP and what not.

NO SPOILERS OR HP BASHING. If you don't like Harry Potter, fine. But don't talk about it here.

 

[blindside]

I tried reading the first book and got bored so I never bothered with them again. I can't stand child characters.

 

[Chairman Meow]

No spoilers?

Spoiler :

Reading Harry Potter is a waste of time

 

[North King]

I tried reading the first book and got bored so I never bothered with them again. I can't stand child characters.

The first book as a stand-alone novel is nowhere near as good as the series as a whole.

 

[Yom]

@OP: Maybe.

 

[Capulet]

I found this doing a search on Google News.

 

[Cuivienen]

I tried reading the first book and got bored so I never bothered with them again. I can't stand child characters.

North King's right. The first book, even the first couple of books, are rather childish in tone, but the later books are much improved in that aspect. It's like reading The Hobbit and deciding that, because the book is obviously for little children, The Lord of the Rings isn't worth your time.

(In fact, that's a great analogy as The Hobbit suffers from the same childish tone that Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone does.)

 

[Capulet]

Well, The Hobbit wasn't necessarily a part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy...

 

[Cuivienen]

But they are closely related. In fact, Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings because the pressure from the public to publish a sequel to The Hobbit was very strong. It began as a sequel but eventually came to stand on its own.

 

[blindside]

North King's right. The first book, even the first couple of books, are rather childish in tone, but the later books are much improved in that aspect. It's like reading The Hobbit and deciding that, because the book is obviously for little children, The Lord of the Rings isn't worth your time.

(In fact, that's a great analogy as The Hobbit suffers from the same childish tone that Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone does.)

I actually liked the Hobbit quite a lot. It was a fun adventure. Like I said, I really dislike characters in books (and movies) that are around my age.

 

[amadeus]

No, because I didn't read the other ones or was that particularly interested in that type of book.

 

[Nobody]

yes i am going to read it. i have read the rest and yes they are childish but i liked them. The last 2 were the best i think and this one should be even better. All the hyp they recieve and they dont disappoint. (unlike starwars and the matrix) and all the people who don't like them i bet havent read them (because then they would like them)

 

[Keirador]

I tried reading the first book and got bored so I never bothered with them again. I can't stand child characters.

Well, yes, they're children's books. Thing is though, even children's books can make great literature. It would be a grave mistake to dismiss The Chronicles of Narnia or the Wrinkle in Time series because they are ostensibly children's books; they're still significant and impactful literature.

 

[GenMarshall]

Not interested in Harry *caugh*Pothead *caugh* books.

 

[Rambuchan]

I thought this was about Harry Potter not The Hobbit?

Anyway, I read "The Wizard of Earth Sea" by Ursula Leguin (sp?) when I was a kid, along with LOTR repeatedly. When I saw Harry Potter come out, and heard its plot, I quickly realised that she had simply ripped off the classic story of "The Wizard of Earth Sea", which is situated in a Wizard Academy etc.

I have read the first page of the first HP book and it confirmed all my worst fears. It is a theft, mish-mash and dilution of many wonderful stories and mythologies and typifies a general dumbing down and dilution of children's popular culture in general. Sorry Caputet you can't open up a discussion thread and ask for no opion counter to yours on HP. Harry Potter does suck and it does so big time.

The only thing two things it has going for it:

a) It gets kids reading.
b) The films keep the British Film Industry alive.

And at an outside chance if it leads kids to the great classics in search of the reason why they enjoy HP, then that might become a third good thing about HP.

Aside from that, diluted rubbish from a literary ransacking IMO.

 

[FredLC]

Didn't read any so far, don't plan on starting now...

Regards .

 

[North King]

I thought this was about Harry Potter not The Hobbit?

Anyway, I read "The Wizard of Earth Sea" by Ursula Leguin (sp?) when I was a kid, along with LOTR repeatedly. When I saw Harry Potter come out, and heard its plot, I quickly realised that she had simply ripped off the classic story of "The Wizard of Earth Sea", which is situated in a Wizard Academy etc.

I have read the first page of the first HP book and it confirmed all my worst fears. It is a theft, mish-mash and dilution of many wonderful stories and mythologies and typifies a general dumbing down and dilution of children's popular culture in general. Sorry Caputet you can't open up a discussion thread and ask for no opion counter to yours on HP. Harry Potter does suck and it does so big time.

The only thing two things it has going for it:

a) It gets kids reading.
b) The films are keep the British Film Industry alive.

And at an outside chance if it leads kids to the great classics in search of the reason why they enjoy HP, then that might become a third good thing about HP.

Aside from that, diluted rubbish from a literary ransacking IMO.

The first page of the first book!? My, you must know everything about them!

 

[blindside]

Well, yes, they're children's books. Thing is though, even children's books can make great literature. It would be a grave mistake to dismiss The Chronicles of Narnia or the Wrinkle in Time series because they are ostensibly children's books; they're still significant and impactful literature.

They might be literary significant but still doesn't mean I will start liking it. And I read some of Narnia books when I was younger and I did enjoy them. But now being an older teenager I can't stand these type of characters.

 

[Capulet]

I thought this was about Harry Potter not The Hobbit?

Anyway, I read "The Wizard of Earth Sea" by Ursula Leguin (sp?) when I was a kid, along with LOTR repeatedly. When I saw Harry Potter come out, and heard its plot, I quickly realised that she had simply ripped off the classic story of "The Wizard of Earth Sea", which is situated in a Wizard Academy etc.

I have read the first page of the first HP book and it confirmed all my worst fears. It is a theft, mish-mash and dilution of many wonderful stories and mythologies and typifies a general dumbing down and dilution of children's popular culture in general. Sorry Caputet you can't open up a discussion thread and ask for no opion counter to yours on HP. Harry Potter does suck and it does so big time.

The only thing two things it has going for it:

a) It gets kids reading.
b) The films keep the British Film Industry alive.

And at an outside chance if it leads kids to the great classics in search of the reason why they enjoy HP, then that might become a third good thing about HP.

Aside from that, diluted rubbish from a literary ransacking IMO.

So she copied that book because she used a wizarding academy? That is a pretty general idea. Did Ursula Whoever plagarize in using the idea of magic, something that has been spoken about in myths for years?

How can you know anything about the books by reading the first page of the first book? Hogwarts and Harry's powers aren't revealed until like the third chapter.

 

[Cuivienen]

Ursula LeGuin is a very good author as well. Don't insult her, Capulet.

However, Earthsea is not nearly as good as Harry Potter. Even with The Other Wind out and the story at a definitive end.