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As for Harry Potter books , It seems every good reader's first reaction towards those books would be that its a childish book ,Same was the case with me until I finally began to read them some years back , And reading them was definitely worth it, They are good for sure.
I've read books of all types and Harry potter is the best of Its type.
I disagree, but oh wells.Quote:
Originally Posted by kelby_lake
Neil Gaiman and Nora Roberts. bad thing is my girlfriend LOVES Nora Roberts, which she felt compelled to tell me at the top of her voice in a book store, the shame...
I forgot to mention Wuthering Heights (I know some people will just hate me now lol)
Is it? Funny, maybe if you get a degree in sci-fi, but most literary courses stick to more important works than Ayn Rand. Ayn Rand isn't light reading of course, merely mediocre reading, and it is rare to see an academic disagree with that, especially now adays when they all seem so left-leaning.Quote:
Originally Posted by tscherff
Rand was following her own philosophy, as I see it, and wrote a book that appealed to the communist scare in her era. Since the fall of the iron curtain, I think we can now go beyond looking at that book as legitimate philosophical literature. It is, to me at least, pseudo-philosophy for dummies.
Bravissimo to the writer who hit To Kill a Mockingbird, another Emperor's New Clothes book, because of its racist themes it is seen as impossible to criticize without seeming racist.
jane austen. mansfield park is the most pointless book ever written
I love the Harry Potter books to, and as far as I am concerned they are not over rated. I guess this is really a matter taste and thankfully we all have different tastes.
I never thought that the Harry Potter series was critically esteemed as to deserve the overrated title. Sure they're best sellers, but there are plenty of terrible books, movies, and musicians that are top sellers.
As for critically acclaimed writers, I never understood what was so great about The Grapes of Wrath. It's a fine period piece, depicting the Dust Bowl, great depression and what not, but outside of its culture and era it lacks anything of substance to me and isn't particuarlly moving. Steinbeck comes off far too melodramatic and aware of the "epic importance" of his novel.
Exactly! It's just BORING! It's not like it's even radical, it's just middling dull dross in which nothing happens and we're supposed to think that something really sad has happened. that bit near the end where (A) attacks (B)- good on (A)!Quote:
Originally Posted by JBI
In terms of over-rated 'high-brow' authors, Fyodor Dostoevskii problably tops the list. His garrulous, sentimental proto-fascist, as well as tedentious garbage is vastly over-rated. Sartre is another one. Dostoevskii also really nees to omit those long-winded, totally irrelevant passages about characters with serial neuroses that inhabit the opening passages of all his books.
In terms of popularity-Dan Brown is another abysmal writer. And that A.S Byatt book, 'Possession' was terrible.
I was in a bookstore when a man came in with a girl, and as they passed a pile of Harry Potter books, the girl said "I like Harry Potter."Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack_Aubrey
The girl was about 7 years old.
I think that just about sums it up.
If she is 7, and reading at that level, congratulations to her. Somehow though, I doubt she has read the full series. After all, keep in mind 7 years old is a grade two reading level, whereas those books place around a 5-6.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Bean
Why do say that you "try to avoid it"? Surely any person who understandsQuote:
Originally Posted by wanderlust_ox
hype when they see it just ignores it.
The reason why "everyone is so obsessed over it" is because they are too gullible to see that they are being used.
In a world where the lowest common denominator has become the touchstone for excellence it is hardly surprising that so much juvenilia fills the bookstores.
Obviously, there are some childrens books that might be considered as literature but they were written before the advent of mass marketing and the band-wagon syndrome that has reduced publishing to an outlet for whatever people can be gulled into buying.
I like Harry Potter