Conversations
-
Shame...
what's there to be ashamed of? i read all kinds of books and granted harry potter is fantasy but it's still incredibly well written and jk rowling has a way with language. i'd much rather see harry potter as most read book that garbage like eragon or everything by dan brown.
Rowan Fortune Wood about 1 year ago
Advertisement
OK. Deathly Hallows is almost my favorite book ever. It's sad that you don't like it, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't put others down for liking it so much. the fact that it's so widely read must mean some thing, and maybe it just appeals to a lot of people.
Facebook User about 1 year agoI think it's great, not necessarily the book, but these redundant threads of conversation. So far we have people either starting threads to judge (attack of support) a book, but really the majority of people are just using them in an attempt to display their witty banter and repertoire of vocabulary skills. Would it not be more valuable of your time to be supporting other books so they appear on the most discussed list rather than harping on about a book which increased a generations interest in reading? And in case you haven't figured it out yet, there are very few novels (in the popular genre) that are truly original these days. Feel free to list as many as you would like, but each one will either be published well before today or will have some common thread with an earlier novel.
Facebook User about 1 year agoHarry Potter doesn’t just have a thread in common with The Worst Witch in the way The Worst Witch has a thread in common with A Wizard of Earthsea, it is all but the same story with the same characters in the same setting – the biggest single difference is the gender of the protagonist. As for contemporary, original, popular work, picking a few fantasies, what about The Worst Witch, A Wizard of Earthsea, Darkhenge, Bloodtide, Bloodsong and Artemis Fowl? I have to admit to having a limited knowledge of fantasy, so there are probably even more. If you like Harry Potter defend it intelligently, don’t just lazily accuse critics of being pretentious.
Rowan Fortune Wood about 1 year agoI can defiently tell you, that it is not the same book with a different protagonist. If you have a limited knowledge of it, then I really don't see where you can say that they are the same.
Anonymous User about 1 year agoIt just isn't fair or right to say that all books in that genre are the same. That would be like comparing Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter. Which many people are doing, and sure there are loads os similarites, but thery are not the same. Being in the same genre would naturally make them the same type of book.
And do you think Lord of the Rings is something to be ashamed of? Tolkien was among the best authors of all time.
I have a very vast konwledge of Harry Potter, and I know it is completely unlike those other books you have brought up.
Don't just lazily reply to portions of a separate opinion.
There was a book written in the 1980s, the title escapes me, but it pre-dates The Worst Witch by a few years and has the same story, but is based in America. I'm looking for the title.
You completely thrash the entire existence of a revived past-time (reading) in youth. Do you think Artemis Fowl would have reached a 10th of its current success if Harry Potter had not captivated the imaginations of young readers?
As for the other books I couldn't possibly compare them because I've not read them. And as for the self titled 'critic' you were not critiquing the book when you started this thread you began a rant to profess your ideas over one particular books popularity on a MAINSTREAM social networking site.
Facebook User about 1 year agoOkay, I deserved that vitriolic rebuttal for calling you lazy. If The Worst Witch was preceded by an identical story, with identical characters, in an identical setting then that is a good argument against the artistic originality of The Worst Witch, which is not a good series of books anyway; doesn’t help Harry Potter though. Artemis Fowl, on the other hand, is independent of Harry Potter in style, characterization and plot; you seem to be under the impression that until J.K. Rowling kids weren’t even capable of reading and enjoying literature. It’s fair enough to say that I wasn’t critiquing the book at the start of this thread, but nor was I displaying my ‘repertoire of vocabulary skills’; I was merely saying that Harry Potter is not a worthy candidate for ‘most read book’. I did not even, as some people seem to think, say that people should be ashamed to read Harry Potter. Anyway, the topic haphazardly drifted into a conversation about the quality of the books and I gave and backed up my opinion – for some reason that seems to bother a lot of people.
Rowan Fortune Wood about 1 year agoFirst if I were attacking your "repertoire of vocabulary skills" I would have replied to your and not the entire list in general. It was a statement made about the increasing, dare I say it, attempt at an academic discussion. If you must know I was referring to a person's response well before you even gave and backed up your opinion.
At no point did I say that kids were incapable of reading and enjoying literature, reread what I've written if you doubt this. Look up the numerous articles from around the world which speak to the revitalisation of reading among children as a result of the Harry Potter series.
I also never agreed that you stated we should be ashamed of reading Harry Potter, as some people seem to think you've stated. What I said was that you in essence began a rant about one of the post popular books of the decade and its popularity level/rating on a mainstream/popular social networking site. And I only mentioned this because if this were say an underground book website, then yes I could fully understand raising the issue of Harry Potter and it's popularity. Even if this were an academic website I could see this issue being raised, but the fact remains that this is a mainstream social networking site.
As for Artemis Fowl, I previously mentioned I have not read them and cannot comment on the literary aspects of them. But I do know if you go to look for any of those articles concerning Harry Potter and revitalizing kids interest in literature (note I use the word revitalizing and not creating), you will see a list of authors including, but not limited to, Pullman, Colfer, Paver, Snicket, Horowitz and MacHale, who's readership has increased after the Harry Potter Series' rise to popularity.
Facebook User about 1 year agoOkay I can see how it could be interpreted that I was explicitly replying to you in my first post. I apologize for the lack of clarity in that post.
Facebook User about 1 year agoI think that its sad that you are ashamed that people are reading this book when I'm just glad that people are reading at all.
I read a LOT and have read everything from cheap romance novels, to hardcore nonfiction and Harry Potter is one of my favorite series. I'm not ashamed at all that its the most read book. Even if I thought it was BAD I wouldn't be ashamed. I would be glad that people are at least reading something.
Enjoy whatever you like to read yourself and let everyone else read what they want. Perhapts try to cut down on the judgment.
Facebook User about 1 year agoyou could just ignore it I mean its only an application on facebook, and it is only a book that by the way has done more for illiteracy in the United Kingdom than James Joyce and Oscar Wilde combined and got kids reading instead of just playing video games.
Jimmy about 1 year agoTake your nose out of the air and realise your shit smells as bad as everybody else's.
I would be more ashamed of being judgemental and pretentious
Matt about 1 year agoAmen, Matt. Amen.
I don't think anyone should be ashamed of reading anything. That's f***ing ridiculous. Reading, on all levels, is a good thing.
Eva Gronowska about 1 year agoWorking at a library, I get to see kids who are excited about reading and the kids (like my brother) who have to be poked with a branding fork to get anywhere near a book. I really think the best thing about Harry Potter is that it got kids who hated reading into reading for pleasure.
What an accomplishment.
I think the real issue here is a difference of opinion and one person trying to shove their perspective on everyone else. Personally, I'm all for tolerance and I'm willing to have you hate it.
Also: most books have recycled plots. Perhaps not most notably in popular fantasy lit, but look at all the murder mysteries. Shelving books, I've noticed about five or six different murder mystery series with food-based titles. Their plots are subtly the same. It's difficult in this day and age to come up with something so completely original it's revolutionary. Especially with the compounded mass of every book that's ever been published. We could probably bury the whole of Canada with one copy of every book that's ever been written.
I agree with Eva. Being ashamed of reading is ridiculous. I'd just as soon vote to eradicate all written languages.
Facebook User about 1 year agoand let us not forget that most of us started reading this book when were were young, and harry was young. Now we are older and Harry is older too. So to say that is is children's lit. is a bit of a stretch.
Elijah about 1 year agoKudos.
Anonymous User about 1 year agoVery good point.
and I agree.
I don't like the insinuation that people enjoy HP because it’s a serial, and by the end were mindlessly still following it out of habit as opposed to still enjoying it. Like any good story, it is deeply involved and has a tremendous amount of threads (I'm re-reading them, and I keep being amazed by foreshadowing and hints dropped even in the first books of things to come much later), and I don't think it should have been told in anything less than 7 books (look at the size of the Order of the Phoenix!).
Also, I agree that the stories were formulaic at first, and I know some people that stopped reading them when the books started breaking away from "Voldemort pops up, Harry vanquishes him", but that's when I started enjoying them more.
Finally, though I don't doubt the Deathly Hallows is the most read book, I don't think classic literature is fairly represented, as one publisher covers the Harry Potters, while everyone and their mom have published classics, giving Virtual Bookshelvers several options when logging literature.
Facebook User about 1 year agoOn a second finally, I think, especially for young readers, there are some philosophical issues raised, especially death. Harry seeks answers from the ghost Nearly Headless Nick after the death of his godfather, and it deepens with his having to deal with the death of Dumbledore, the contemplation of his parents at their grave in book 7 etc.
Facebook User about 1 year agoI just remember news reports when the third book was released......as they tried to interview children who'd just bought their copies and weren't interested in being on tv - they had to READ a book instead and in this media- obsessed age that thought is still enough to bring a lump to my throat years later. So I can happily forgive JK and Harry an awful lot and see no shame whatever in making books 'cool' again!! People queuing at midnight.... for a book.... FANTASTIC!!
Ruth about 1 year agoHARRY POTTER IS MY LIFE, AND I'M NOT ASHAMED. It's an awesome book, and an awesome way to make good friends.
Facebook User about 1 year ago