Tectonic movement,
Sliding land, mudflow, earthquake.
One human lifetime.
Want to do another tao te ching, but it sticks.
Amy Winehouse joins the 27 Club. Sad, as all waste of humanity is, but not at all surprizing.
Harry Potter bores me. Read enough Pterry, and J.K. seems trite. I read the first two, or read the first one, skimmed the second, read first and last chapter of the third, and last pages of the forth. Mostly because I worked with people who read the series, and raved. I still don't quite get why, although if I'd read it as a ten year old to start, I'd have loved it, I'm sure. I loved The Hobbit, then the LOTR, re-reading it several times, until I was about 20. I read the whole Narnia series - which I would now be repulsed by. Some stories need to come at a certain point in life. And, even for those who found HP in adulthood, I have to assume they read along with their children, and maybe never got into fantasy as kids themselves. Anything to get anyone reading is not a bad thing.
But, at some point, I realized I'd read a bellyfull of fantasy, and had enough. Not quite like when I was between grade 8 and high school, and was finally allowed to read from the adult side of the library. I decided to read through the romance shelves, in order. This was 1976, so nothing terribly racy, but suggestive, and very, very dysfunctional. And by the end of the summer, I was inoculated against ever reading romance novels again. I made an exception for the odd historical romance, or Eleanor Hibbert (in her many guises.) But, I vowed to never read another story that didn't stand on it's own again, trilogies in particular. HP is both, a sitcom that resets every book, and a multi-volume story, but it's all rather... tame? Inconsequential? A bit too much like one-thing-after-another picaresque adventure tale, signifying nothing. That everyone gets older, doesn't change how bland it all is. Night Watch stands alone, and packs more punch in one novel.
I have no objection to Harry Potter. But I hope it's young readers find other books to read. And don't just succumb to Star Trek fandom, with all the limitations thereof.
3 comments:
I never liked Harry Potter after the first one. The first one was quite good, though.
JW,
The first one was fine. None were a patch on the most "contractual obligation" T. Pratchett, in my opinion. Certainly not as funny, or as much a cynical impulse to an idealistic goal.
I was amazed when the first one came out and then the second at what impact it had on reading in general. My kids parents are avid readers and we have a wealth of books so I am not concerned about my kids reading - G-bot is already hooked. C-ling is just now learning to read so it is early to tell.
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