June 16, 2003

Harry Potter

Knee-jerk fundamentalist response to Harry Potter:

It's satanism!

Knee-jerk liberal response to Harry Potter:

The new book is slightly under 900 pages; Ms. Rowling may single-handedly be condemning a generation to spinal curvature! Scholastic, issue the book in multiple volumes!

Posted by Linkmeister at June 16, 2003 03:40 PM
Comments

oh dear lord, i cannot wait for my copy!! (plus, watching kids stand in line to read *anything* thrills me to death)

Posted by: shelley at June 17, 2003 12:09 AM

I am somewhat ambivalent about HP. On the one hand, I enjoy the stories and think people labeling the series satanist or evil magic (two completely different things, mind you) are narrow-minded ignorami (-muses?), but on the other hand, I don't think these books are that great. At least, they dopn't hold a candle to the ones I read growing up. I'm guessing I'm letting sentiment rule me on this one!

I do agree, though, that it's great to see kids line up to read! :)

Posted by: bunny at June 17, 2003 05:42 AM

Bunny, I have the first ones in paperback; I don't think I'm gonna wait another year to get this one that way. They may not be the best writing, but they succeed on the "story" level, I think. It'll be fun to see all the munchkins (I exclude my nieces, who don't seem to have caught the bug, alas) lining up. ;)

Posted by: Linkmeister at June 17, 2003 08:36 AM

I think Megan and I are going to be fighting over who gets first dibs! I'm bigger than her and I'm prepared to fight dirty!!!

Posted by: Shelagh at June 17, 2003 09:35 AM

Hee-hee! Ignorami. Only Bunny could come up with ingorami!

Posted by: JeanNINE at June 17, 2003 09:54 AM

The inconsistency of English, Neener...if it's good enough for a hippo and an octopus...;)

Posted by: Linkmeister at June 17, 2003 10:01 AM

I read that the new HP book weighs 2.2 lbs.
The English Postmen are allowed to carry 36 lbs, which equals 16 books, excluding other mail!!Other postmen have been hired.
Also the mail slots used in England are too small to put the new HP books in...
Rowling is richer than the Queen so I guess she has some pull..

Posted by: toxiclabrat at June 17, 2003 03:43 PM

i can't wait, i'm buying my copy this weekend!

Posted by: deborah at June 18, 2003 04:44 AM

I never read the Harry Potter books. They turned me off at first because I thought they were a blatant rip-off of Gainman's Books of Magic.

Considering the level of her popularity, the length of the book suggests to me that her editors fear to rope her prose into manageable lengths. The last time I read a novel of that length it was the uncut version of The Stand. I didn't mind all the extra bits in that book, but it still could have used a better ending.

I do admit that I hold contrarian views sometimes out of habit.

Posted by: john at June 18, 2003 07:33 AM

I do admit that I hold contrarian views sometimes out of habit.

Grins...What's that line? "He only does it to annoy, because he knows it teases." I can't remember for sure, but I think it's from "Alice" or "Through the Looking Glass."

Posted by: Linkmeister at June 18, 2003 08:55 AM

[Hi. Bounced from linkworthy.]
Anxiously awaiting Amazon.com's hurry-up postage mailing of the new volume, as I can't wait for Sam's club to forklift in their pallots.
I start over reading them all, every time a new one comes out. I take them on the plane with me, traveling. (It's amazing how carrying a copy of HP commands whoever lays eyes on its cover to start up a conversation--kids, grownups, bookworms, people allergic to reading, shy, gregarious--doesn't matter. Maybe there truly is magic in those pages!)
Rowling is a great story-teller, creating wonderful characters, atmosphere, adventure.
It's not great literature or philosophy, but it is the best way to recapture that wide-eyed wonder of youth and the adventurous spirit of Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn, esp. if you're spirit and brain are constipated from eating too much sophisticated cheese and whine after a dinner of Knoke or Derrida.

Posted by: Kate S. at June 18, 2003 01:00 PM

The average English mail slot/letterbox is too small for most new books, especially when packaged nicely. You'll get an average sized paperback through but never a hardback.

Oh, and J K is only (sheesh) the 122nd richest person in the UK.

Posted by: Kevin at June 18, 2003 01:08 PM

Our local Borders is having an HP party tomorrow night and will start selling the books at midnight. It ought to be overrun with children and adults alike! I will most likely not pick up the book until the next time I go to Costco. I like the story but I'm not rabid about it. I think that they're a bit of a ripoff of Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci series, and because I loved Charmed Life so much as a child, I can't let anything take its place, I guess.

Linky, you are right about the Alice poem (I love Alice!). In fact, a weird coincidence, I was just thinking about Pig in Pepper yesterday, wondering what Carroll really meant (I have the annotated Alice, I just haven't read up on that part). So here's the full poem:

Speak Roughly
Lewis Carroll

Speak roughly to your little boy,
And beat him when he sneezes:
He only does it to annoy,
Because he knows it teases.

Chorus
Wow! wow! wow!

I speak severely to my boy,
I beat him when he sneezes;
For he can thoroughly enjoy
The pepper when he pleases!

Posted by: bunny, ignorami herder at June 19, 2003 03:45 AM