AIBU to think that all this Harry Potter hype is

[M0naLisa]

well....ermmmmm

Boring!

All i hear is harry potter this harry potter that [condused]

So what???

whats all the hype about?

I haven't read them, (I am too old ) I did have a try at the first one, but I don't think they are particularly well written and I feel there are much better children's authors who are somewhat over shadowed by JKR and all the constant HP hype.

Having said that, my children grew up with them and love them, and that's great, it's part of their childhood. And HP was the first book my DS read all the way through (he has dyslexia and was 15 when they came out). He is now an avid reader, - so I am grateful to JKR on a personal basis, even though she's not my cup of tea.

But the serious issues is obviously - the recycled halloween smilies. It the thin end of the wedge

I have never read any of the books or seen the films, but I keep thinking that I should?

Oh Hufflepuff off OP, you (Oliver) Wood Siriusly deny us a bit of fun(dungus fletcher)?

Ok do I win the most puns in one sentence house points yet? [hwink]

"I keep thinking that I should?"

Yes, you probably should. Hype aside, it's part of popular culture and it never hurts to stay abreast of that kind of stuff. Remember reading the Da Vinci Code eventually ... can't say I understood why there was so much fuss about it, but at least I can now have an opinon :)

it's all a bit daft and silly imo

kids book, kids film

star wars much better

I haven't read them, (I am too old grin)

YOu are never too old for Harry Potter - My 74 year old mum loves them.

I do agree Bruffin, - I was being slightly tongue in cheek,- in reply to Smartyhan's post near the beginning of the thread.

I do often read teen and children's book, I loved the Philip Pullman ones, - I'm glad your mum enjoys them, good for her

Harry Potter? Is it just a sort of daft religion?

I thought the films were well made. But left nothing to believe in .Just fancyfull bullshit (as the yanks put it) Jesus did at leasty have a sort of philosophy.

Grubbyloggon... Jesus had a sort of philosophy? wtf?

PLEASURE abnout incredible majic. I prefer Paul Daniels. Though rowling is a decent bird who struck lucky. Its kids stuff, Most of the support is from under 25s

Its Mickey Mouse; without the credibility. Dont be fooled by rushing crowds of immature people. They do TV gamess as well ESCAPISM is there game. Get real

A 'decent bird who struck lucky' Grubbyloggon? Not an intelligent young woman that launched a literary phenomenon through her own efforts? Back to your old sexist claptrap, I see....

Try and invent something which supercedes the sh+t we have today. I do mean you.

YABU. I refuse to take you siriusly.

[hgrin]

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kreecher. Tell me about your phantasy on HP ....do you think it could be real?

will not read bloody harry potter i am not a child.. i was in my early teens when the first film came out and only recently gave into watching the first couple because DD wanted to watch them. she is 6. the films are alright i guess but i just do not get the hype. dont mind other ppls seriously deluded dedication to the franchise tho and i am happily using the wee hated emoticons as i amble thru MN [hgrin] see? as long as no one tries to convert me to the crap being a fan im fine [hsmile]

I went to see a couple of petter films. The audience looked 90 per cent under 25? Whats your experience. We can only debate sensibly on percentages.

Its no chuffing good saying my granny has a blow up dumbledorf to play sex games with.

I know a woman who says she uses a popeye the sailor man vibrator. But my hubby will nort let me use one.

"I went to see a couple of petter films."

Would that be the heavy variety?

Yes Harry POtter is over hyped

And NONE of them can act

AND the books read terribly

Emperors new clothes IMO

I bought my 8 year old the first one (yes I know any child worth their salt on MN should have read the entire set by the end of reception year) :o but she didn't like it and didn't bother finishing it.

Greythorne, adults enjoyed them as they might any blockbuster and because they do have quite substantial overlap with the classics, they carried a nostalgia. I read them. I have a first class honours degree in English Lit from one of the best universities in the world but strangely, reading a few novels on holidays did not wither my neurons or make it harder for me to value major literary works. This is the age where we can all access popular and high culture: you can enjoy Buffy the Vampire and War and Peace without shame.

I quite enjoy Roald Dahl's children's books as well. Remember reading the BFG to my DS and, long after he'd nodded off, I sat there and finished it. Just to see what happened in the end, you understand...

working9 - excellent point. I have indeed read War and Peace, Middlemarch and Joyce etc etc. But I also love Angel/Buffy and even at times, Home and Away. I can talk about the role of coincidence in Hardy and have a passing knowledge of Hansen in Holby City.

The cleverest mainstream writers really know their classics - because there will always be elements of that familiar literature deep within their work.

Example: the word 'dumbledore' is Victorian and is seen in Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge. Hermione is a classical name. Rowling was a bookish child who absorbed everything and produced something old-fashioned, for a modern age.

But it is odd that millions of adults assess the books by adult standards. She is a children's writer and it is what it is.

So of course I am biased. She has put a lot of people in work, kept a roof over our heads and sparked so much creativity: set designers, prop makers etc.

There is undoubtedly a snobbery amongst literary folks but I am not one of them. Publishers are struggling - really struggling. Those Jordan biographies subsidise the literary books. Big names sell and keep our tender book industry going. I am a writer, my OH is in films.......long may imaginations be sparked.