Is it unreasonable that aged 30 my favourite books are the Harry Potter books?

[DarlingDuck]

I read them all once a year, usually around Christmas

How long does it take to read 7 novels that you are already comfortable with? It takes me less than a week a book, so that leaves another 45 weeks a year to read something 'more worthy'.

FWIW I am turned 'off' a lot of modern adult literature and it's desperate trawl through ishoos and disaster. I love Austen (lets spell her name correctly), Eliot, Dumas, Pratchett and Heyer. I look for wit and lightness (albeit wrapped around darkness like a particularly luscious truffle), delicately precise language and yes, comfort.

Thus spake the ancient.

its

CoteAzur, you say, "OP seems to think there is only Harry Potter and classics like Jane Austin in the world, but there are loads of different books out there you can read, many of which are both entertaining and intellectually challenging."

Where does she say that? Have you actually read the thread?

She actually said, "I read a awful lot and do have other genres I enjoy but these are my favourite! I enjoy the classics and have just finished Moll Flanders which was great, I don't like Jane Austen much to be honest."

Actually, I have read the whole thread (all 79 posts of it ). The books she mentions are from the 18th century. There are loads of great books written since then that are worth a read.

OP asks if she is BU as a 30 year old to fixate on the seven HP books and read them every year. If not unreasonable (because BU or NBU has little to do with taste in books), I think she is being odd because (1) she is not a child, and (2) there are so many books out there, many of which are written for an adult audience.

I honestly don't mind it if you have a different opinion, though

@ CoteDAzure.

I don't think rereading books at Christmastime means she's fixated on them. It's normal to comfort read in the depths of winter, isn't it? She reads enough to be able to reread sometimes. It would be strange if that was all she read.

Many adults have loved the HP books. I love them and have reread them when things are bad in the outside world and I just want to escape.

As I've said, you are perfectly entitled to your own opinion. Mine is that habitually re-reading the same 7 children's books every year is "fixation" and rather odd behavior for a thirty year old.

I do very much enjoy the Harry Potter books so I guess YANBU.

However, they are not very well written and there are much better childrens books out there. If fantasy/sci fi are your thing then there are a great many books out there better than Harry Potter.

I do like them though, its very easy reading which I like sometimes :D

I'm not into Harry Potter, but I'll say YANBU...only because at 33 I Wish Doctor Who was real and that I fully intend to be The Doctor's next companion.

You are definitely nbu, I have read loads of books in my 40 years, but these are definitely up there in the most enjoyed top 10 (maybe 5) Hermione was a better friend than Ron, discuss...
(Hide away ascared of slating!)

oh, and can adults not enjoy fantasy themes? OK there is no sex or swearing but there is excitement, intrigue, humour, excellent plots and characterisation. I have cringed at loads of adult books for being predictable and crap and written badly... chick lit springs to mind.
I hate people's book snobbery! Have you read them?

Nobody said adults can't enjoy fantasy books. What is being said here is that there are loads of books out there and that a 30 year old reading seven books written for children habitually every year is a bit odd.

I'm a big sci-fi fan so really the last person to berate fantasy as a genre, but seriously, you need to broaden your horizons if you think HP books are so exceptional at the age of 30.

Why don't people recommend some fantasy adult fiction that is nice and lengthy in a series so that maybe the OP and other weirdos [cough] like me [cough] who enjoy HP but are a bit outside of the acceptable age limit for children's literature can find something aimed at adults? I do find fantasy a daunting area in the library, it's full of crazy looking book covers with odd names and places but I am intrigued .. if anyone could recommend something good that would be much appreciated by me :)

Does it have to be about magic, wizards, good vs evil? (Although, tbh, I think most good books written for an adult audience deal with shades of gray rather than black and white)

If not, Dune books are fantastic and would easily satisfy your appetite for fantasy. I'm talking about the original 6 books written by Frank Herbert rather than the new "prequels" written by his son.

Another massive lover of the Harry Potter books, to the extremes I walked to Tescos at midnight when the last one was released, and stayed up until 5am reading it

Im 31 in a few weeks

Ive been reading the Tess Gerritsen series and it was starting to get a bit depressing so i ordered Sweet Valley Confidential and have just finished it. I wouldnt admit i have read it in real life but after being addicted to sweet valley high books at school i thought i would try it Im 35

The reason I mentioned Jane Austen was because someone mentioned I should try reading some of her books. I have and didn't enjoy them.

Goodnight Mr Tom is a childrens book which also appeals to adults. Its one of my favorite books and i still cry even though i have read it many times since i 1st read it in 1991.

I've always mixed and matched and I'm a great believer in comfort reading. My mum could always tell when I was feeling poorly as a child because I'd get the Enid Blytons out again.

One of the nice things about being an adult is getting to choose what you want to read. I read modern Booker list stuff, I adore Jane Austen and Charles Dickens but I also love my Laura Ingalls Wilder, Moomins, Antonia Forest, Monica Dickens, Susan Cooper, Joan Aiken, Peter Dickinson etc etc etc and will re-read them every few years or so.

So, although I haven't read them, and have you tried the Earthsea quartet?, YANBU.

There's nothing wrong with reading the same few books over and over again. I've yet to meet a Georgette Heyer fan who didn't do exactly that.

So long as you also read other books from time to time, then no, YANBU.

I agree, the HP books are fantastic comfort reading, and I find myself wanting to reread them when I'm getting stressed about things in the 'real world'! I don't think reading them every year is odd at all, no matter your age. I would also recommend 'The Dark is Rising' sequence of books by Susan Cooper - really fantastic storytelling, and another set of books that I love to reread!

I think YANBU, read what you enjoy and read it as often as you want.