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What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

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Original poster

Potter books - why so wordy?

41 replies

pointydog · 16/07/2007 20:04

The first few Harry Potter books are normal book size.

Got the story cds of book number 4 - there are millions of them! We got to cd number 7 and still nothing has actually happened.

Don't you think Rowling has become needlessly wordy? They just go on and on and on...

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 16/07/2007 21:54

Do you think so, MI? I'm on the fence with that theory - that she's striving for the Big Thing, having written only tatt (romance) for money myself. It can be a wee bit soul-destroying if you don't have a really good sense of humour - a la Pratchett.

I have to admit I do agree with you in one respect. When I first read the HP books - I started with the third - my first thought was, 'Ooo, someone paid attention in Medieval Lit class and brushed up on their Tolkein.'

They're a good read, but then you get other really good storytellers, even Jay McInerney, and think, 'Hmm, that was really creative! Respect!'

DumbledoresGirl · 16/07/2007 22:17

Funnily enough, the absence of spliffs and pregnancy scares is what makes the books so appealing. I get enough real life in real life. I like my books to take me away to somewhere else.

DumbledoresGirl · 16/07/2007 22:19

Oh and I say again, they are only children's books. I really do not think she is ever striving for great literature.

They are books for children and by golly they have got children reading who might not otherwise read and they have sold a hell of a lot of copies. I think Rowling will be remembered for that for a long time.

expatinscotland · 16/07/2007 22:21

I don't think they are childrens books, tbh. I mean, 'The Adventures of Huck Finn' and 'Tom Sawyer' were 'childrens' books, too.

DumbledoresGirl · 16/07/2007 22:23

Really? Do you think they are aimed at adults then? God help us!

Original poster

pointydog · 16/07/2007 22:28

I think they are def children's books. But she's made them so darn fat, she'll be turning a lot of them off again

OP posts:

KerryMumbledore · 16/07/2007 22:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FirenzeandZooey · 16/07/2007 22:32

yes dreadful editing by book 4

she needed a good kick up the arse

GodzillasBumcheek · 16/07/2007 22:38

Do you not think the fourth CD sucked so bad because of the storyteller? I've read them to my daughters and they loved them but when they heard the CDs (on loan from my sister), they complained and said it was really slow. And that was even with the first three!! The thing i hate about HP books is reading them aloud gives me SUCH a sore throat...
Maybe i could try not putting on Hagrid's voice...

nooka · 16/07/2007 22:40

I'm with the poor editing theory too. I'm a very fast reader and even I got bored (can't remember if that was book four, five or six!) but maybe because all that teenage anxt about dating just isn't up my street (not being the target audience). I think that she is pretty formulaic and not particularly amazing too. In fact I prefer the films of the later books (and I don't usually think that) because they are fairly ruthlessly edited (although still a bit over long). However she's not the only writer that has succomed in that way - it's not at all unusual for fantasy authors once successful to indulge in book after book going really nowhere at all (the Wheel of Time is a good example, which I think is on book 10 and showing no signs of ending).

expatinscotland · 16/07/2007 22:40

There is some real drivel out there, folks. My sister has just moved from columnist to a sub-editorial position and man, some of the stuff she has to read!

Book 4 wasn't bad.

Imagine if you had to edit romance novels, people.

There's a real hell out there .

Original poster

pointydog · 16/07/2007 22:42

The storyteller is Stephen Fry and I quite like listening to him. There are 24 cds for the one book. twenty four. I was bored because it was endless conversations about very little. The good thing about so many modern children's books is that they are pacey.

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Original poster

pointydog · 16/07/2007 22:43

twenty four

mn technology...

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GodzillasBumcheek · 16/07/2007 22:44

Holy cow! That is alot. Ok, some people must like SFry then, but i am quite chuffed my dds like me better...even if it does my throat in!

SueW · 16/07/2007 22:47

The 24 CDs have been played over and over in this house though - great value for money and kept the children quiet on long journeys when we travelled with family.

What I objected to was being told that ONE replacement CD costs over £7 from the publishers. FFS..... We now have a back-up copy in case any more get damaged.

Original poster

pointydog · 16/07/2007 23:00

Dd1 was given them for a long car journey, sue, and we still could only listen to 7. Our ears were bleeding

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