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AIBU?

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Original poster

To not like Harry Potter?

59 replies

FlamingoOfTheShineyCult · 22/07/2009 17:41

OP posts:
Sickofbloodyswineflu · 22/07/2009 18:23

I have a 10 year old and he isnt at all interested in them either, he reads alot, but he's never shown an inclincation for HP. he turned down a cinema trip with his buddy at the weekend.

My 8YO watched one and half way through declared ''pathetic! What does he think he is? Some kind of wizard''

I think she missed the point!

cocolepew · 22/07/2009 18:24

I haven't seen the films, how I've escaped this I don't know, DD is obsessed by HP. I've read a bit of a book over DDs shoulder and it was crap, reallllllly badly written. I don't think it would have carried on being so popular if it wasnt for the films.

motherpi · 22/07/2009 18:25
Woooozle100 · 22/07/2009 18:25

LaurieFairyCake - that used to make me go 'bah mmeeuucchhh' - seeing adults all suited for work reading harry potter with them specially designed grown up covers. Pah. Its a kids book. Fair nuff you want to read it but don't hide under a chrome cover

Original poster
FlamingoOfTheShineyCult · 22/07/2009 18:25

OMG I also hate LOTR. In fact, a friend and I renamed it Lord of the Mings, it was so minging.

teamcullen - are you my friend?

And it's nothing to do with what I expect from it. I expect Balamory to be for children, and think it's quite good for children, but I wouldn't buy a Balamory book for myself to read, or pay good money to go and see it on my own in a cinema!

OP posts:
sarah293 · 22/07/2009 18:27

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Original poster
FlamingoOfTheShineyCult · 22/07/2009 18:28

Yes, that is a bonus - but it's more like the only thing that stops me from stabbing myself with a sharpened edge of the popcorn tub rather than a reason to actually watch the thing!

OP posts:
OrmIrian · 22/07/2009 18:29

Oooh I love LOTR and the Hobbit. So I am a bit of a nerd but Tolkein was the original and best. HP is just tedious and ploddingly written.

sarah293 · 22/07/2009 18:30

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Celery · 22/07/2009 18:32

I read HP for the first time earlier this year, after years of scoffing at it. I had tried to read the first book before, but could never get into it.

A friend of mine suggested that I persevere, get through the first couple of books and he bet me that by book three I would be hooked. He was totally right.

I really struggled with the first couple, they do really seem like mediocre childrens' books, but the later books are so much better and so much more adult.

I read all seven books in the space of a month and immediately went back and re-read them ( skipping the first two! ) but you have to read the first two to get the basis for the story and the characters.

I love how recurring themes and characters and incidents crop up throughout the whole seven books. Things that happened in book one are still relevent in book seven, even very small things. Very clever.

I will re-read the books again and again, but I do think the films are bad. You can't base your opinion of HP on the films, and you can't base your opinion of HP on the first two books.

I was a hardened HP sceptic, but I'm now utterly converted.

Woooozle100 · 22/07/2009 18:32

lotr makes me want to hold my breath till I burst. Despise it

LyraSilvertongue · 22/07/2009 18:34

You can't judge from the first book alone. the style it's written in is very childish. They get better and better (and much less childish) as you progress through the series.

OrmIrian · 22/07/2009 18:35

Me too! Star Wars, Red Dwarf, Terry Pratchett. Nerd-fodder the lot of it. I find reality harder and harder to swallow....

sarah293 · 22/07/2009 18:36

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Woooozle100 · 22/07/2009 18:39

so the harry potter books get pubes as they go on?

I read the 1st 3. they were ok. Haven't read more cos they got too chunky and I didn't think they were worth the effort

I did thouroughly enjoy the philip pullman dark materials trilogy. Until half way through the 3rd book and I just lost all interest / steam

debs40 · 22/07/2009 18:39

I thought the first films were really good - DS1 has just got into HP. Was very sceptical before.

HOWEVER, I've started reading the books to him and they are soooooo poorly written. Tortuous style and leaden prose. Very disappointing. Makes me think even more highly of the films....

save for most recent which was two and a half hours of PANTS!

Noonki · 22/07/2009 18:40

I read the first two to DSS and kind of enjoyed it then loved the third/fourth etc.

I will watch the films but find the kids very annoying and still dont get why they had to all be so posh

AppleTreeWick · 22/07/2009 18:41

It's the way DH keeps on suggesting we watch the HP films. His little face lights up with hope ... only to be dashed once more by me demanding something with guns and some decent eye candy.

The thing that grates most is that HP doesnt have to try hard at anything - it's all just there for him. Now Neville Shufflebottom (possibly name wrong) I do like. She should have written a whole series about Neville.

Alambil · 22/07/2009 18:43

HP is poo

Narnia on the other hand is the bees knees

I am after all, Lewis' Fan!

MrsChemist · 22/07/2009 18:45

I hated book 6. It had no sense of time and was clearly written with the film in mind. I think she could have added a few important bits from book 6 to book 7 and then just got rid of the rest, saving me time and money.
I am, however, going to see the film tomorrow and I'm so excited I could wee. I am huge HP nerd. I enjoy the whole Harry Potter universe more than even children should, let alone an adult.

Nancy66 · 22/07/2009 18:50

You are not being unreasonable. Badly written, over hyped shite.

And none of the kids in the films can act either. so there.

mrspooh · 22/07/2009 18:51

not read it, never intend to and not fussed bout it either!!

LibrasBiscuitsOfFortune · 22/07/2009 18:57

Both the books and films are shit. YANBU.

I just don't get the hysteria.

cocolepew · 22/07/2009 19:14

Lewisfan. I thought you were a fan of Lewis from the telly, just goes to show my literary knowledge .

LOTR films are good because of him

squilly · 22/07/2009 19:40

Not even vaguely. I think it's over-rated, but you have to admire what it's done for kids reading these last few years. It's gotten kids reading that never would have.

The films are watchable, just, even though the acting is dire during the earlier movies and just about passable on the last two.

Personally, being a science fantasy freak, I prefer LOADS of writers to Rowling. Dianne Wynne Jones, Pratchett, Cornelia Funke, Pullman, CS Lewis & Tolkien just for starters.

YANBU