NationStates Jolt Archive

..Harry potter isnt a very good peice of fiction or writing...????

the writing isn't particularly good, but it is a good story told in a very easy-to-digest manner. hence why i like it (i have problems starting books...) :)

I wouldn't know. I've never read any of it or seen the movies.

The writing style and the way the background is built up is quite gripping. I think it's good fiction.

personnally i can not stand it..but that is just my veiw..i read one of the books..decided it was appaling and stuck to sharpe

I wouldn't know. I've never read any of it or seen the movies.
me neither :D

Never read any of the books. :)

Rowling does use quite a few neat little techniques to engage with the reader - certainly in this latest one. they work on me at least

Yes. I think quite often.


;) JK Rowling is not Shakespeare, (or Dostoyevsky, or Austen, or the Brontes, or whomever you would hold up as being a master of their time) nor is she meant to be. It's Young Adult fiction.

That said, I quite enjoy them, though I think they are becoming very dark. I was one of the people who had "The Half-Blood Prince" delivered on the first day and did not come up for air till I finished.

personnally i can not stand it..but that is just my veiw..i read one of the books..decided it was appaling and stuck to sharpe
depends which one you read. the first two are pretty bad & i only read them cos i was younger - nowadays i think i probably wouldn't bother. however Rowling has picked up her act more recently (probably Goblet Of Fire was the turning point)


edit: but as Kat says, she's not a literary giant or genious, and her work has been blown out of proportion. that doesn't stop her work being thouroughly enjoyable though

I swear I think J.K. Rowling brainwashed us all in the first Harry Potter book so we're all addicted to it. I don't even know what I was so hooked into as I continuously read Harry Potter 6.

.

young adult fiction?..i thought it was childish tat at 11

I hate them, the movies were ok

Well, some have more mature tastes -- I read "Gone with the Wind" at age 9 and "The Two Towers" at age 11 -- but in the US, Harry Potter is published by Scholastic Books -- a children's company. The reading level for the latest one is set at age 9-12.

I've never read the books or seen the films. I find the mass hysteria over them to be annoying in the extreme, so I have deliberately boycotted them.

I ignore the age because I like her style. While she does rather simplistic wording at times, she can get her point across very effectively. She has excellent character and plot development.

However, like most readers, I hated the first two books. I even encouraged a friend who wanted to read the series to skip over the first two. I told him not to bother and started him with book 3.

Well, some have more mature tastes -- I read "Gone with the Wind" at age 9 and "The Two Towers" at age 11 -- but in the US, Harry Potter is published by Scholastic Books -- a children's company. The reading level for the latest one is set at age 9-12.
:rolleyes:

You know, it IS possible to have mature taste at this age and still enjoy a Harry Potter book.

Though I wouldn't know if The Godfather is a mature taste for...*ran out of words*...reading.

..Harry potter isnt a very good peice of fiction or writing...????
Admission:
1. The first two or so chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (AKA, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) are slow and really, really, terrible mood-killers.
2. JK Rowling seems to love over-description.
3. Sometimes some of the words in her stories seem to be forced.
4. Sometimes some of the words don't quite fit.

Redemption:
1. The first few chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone helped set the rest of the story up to be completely captivating.
2. Over-description can help paint the mental picture and immerse oneself in the story.
3 & 4: Overall, it's a great read, an adventure in each story, and once it got my attention, it never left until I finished the entire book.
5. It is the very book that made me hold other books to a higher standard, and the very series that inspires me every read.

:rolleyes:

You know, it IS possible to have mature taste at this age and still enjoy a Harry Potter book.

Though I wouldn't know if The Godfather is a mature taste for...*ran out of words*...reading.

:rolleyes: Um...

I LIKE the Harry Potter books, and I am CONSIDERABLY older than 9-12.

The books themselves are nothing out of the ordinary. If you read some other books written for the "young adult" audience, you'll find that most of them are very similar in style to the Harry Potter books. I enjoy them as a bedtime read, but I wouldn't name them for the nobel prize ;)
As a librarian, I was astonished at the hype those books created, not only for themselves, but for reading as such. The number of new readers we got was simply amazing. Also, coinciding with the release of the Lord of the Rings movies, our Fantasy sections were constantly taken out completely, we were barely able to meet the demand. I think that's some good influence, if nothing else...:)

:rolleyes: Um...

I LIKE the Harry Potter books, and I am CONSIDERABLY older than 9-12.There's actually two different covers for the German edition. Adults were embarassed to be seen lugging them around, so a more mature-looking cover design opened that market... :p

i would like to say that i am 13 and that i am an avid reader. but i mostly read the adult fantasty books. My favorite author is Marion B. Zimmer. And i love Lord of the Rings and the Simirillion and the Lost tales and anything else i havent mentioned. I have read Rowlings books but this is riduculous that ppl will wait in line for her books while there are many,many lesser known authors that write a thousand times better than her. Maybe Rowling slipped something in our drinks....not mine but everyone else's. I once did a class project on the first book and let me tell u that is the class where i go a good nap. u are saying that she is a good writer for writing in a simpler fashion??? im not telling authors to write 24 letter words in each sentence but i mean...maybe all her books are popular because we have been brainwashed into likeing them by everyone telling us that they are great. And i really do not understand y the church should try to get these books banned. As a free nation(USA) we have the right to pick if we will read the books are not.Im not picking on Christians because i am one but the Church has no right to intervene.We were made to distinguish good from bad and thats our descion to read the books.To me Young adult books have no depth really,except for a select few.

As others have noted, she isn't Shakespeare. But then, few authors are. (There's even a theory that Shakespeare wasn't Shakespeare.)

That being said, she is a competent writer, and creates relatively believable and well-rounded primary characters. Compared to most modern mass-market fiction, that puts her in the top 10%.

i would like to say that i am 13 and that i am an avid reader. but i mostly read the adult fantasty books. My favorite author is Marion B. Zimmer. And i love Lord of the Rings and the Simirillion and the Lost tales and anything else i havent mentioned. I have read Rowlings books but this is riduculous that ppl will wait in line for her books while there are many,many lesser known authors that write a thousand times better than her. Maybe Rowling slipped something in our drinks....not mine but everyone else's. I once did a class project on the first book and let me tell u that is the class where i go a good nap. u are saying that she is a good writer for writing in a simpler fashion??? im not telling authors to write 24 letter words in each sentence but i mean...maybe all her books are popular because we have been brainwashed into likeing them by everyone telling us that they are great. And i really do not understand y the church should try to get these books banned. As a free nation(USA) we have the right to pick if we will read the books are not.Im not picking on Christians because i am one but the Church has no right to intervene.We were made to distinguish good from bad and thats our descion to read the books.To me Young adult books have no depth really,except for a select few.
What's worse than trying to ban books?

Burning them. :eek:

Thinking of it makes me cringe.

..Harry potter isnt a very good peice of fiction or writing...????

The problem is, they aren't even very good CHILDRENS books. When i were a lad, back in the midsts of time, when you read a kids book, there were always a few words you didn't know, you'd go find out what they meant, it encouraged you to learn. HP is written in such a "cat, sat, mat" simplistic style, it's spoon-feeding them the literary level they are *already* at.

Plus, it rips off about a dozen other better books, badly (good example being Ursula K LeGuins "Wizard of Earthsea" series).

I'd shag her though.

:rolleyes: Um...

I LIKE the Harry Potter books, and I am CONSIDERABLY older than 9-12.
:eek:

Though am I the only one disappointed when they found out that Gone with the Wind WASN'T about a hurricane?