Harry Potter

[Pensive]

No offence, but I really can't stand this snobbish nonsense about "real literature".

I second you. It's really annoying when you get to hear Harry Potter series does not come in literature. I can't see why!

]When making movies, director cuts most unnecessary parts of books, for example in LOTR movie there wasn't Tom Bombadil because it was really unrelated to main flow of story, and the movie was as good as novel's itself and even probably better than novel, but it's because LOTR was a good novel. Movie adaptations are generally as good as novel's itself. Sometimes even better than novel. Even though HP movies was full of unnecessary scenes, if director would be a little harsh like me the movie would long around 10 mins. But then it wouldn't make money and commercial success too, of course

If movies can be sometimes better than the novel, then why can't they be worse?

Sorry for being a little bit off-topic, but couldn't resist quoting this:

Hz.Jesus didn't need anything but food and clothes, Hz.Muhammed is same too,

They did! According to the majority of the Muslims, Hazrat Muhammad needed to complete his religion!

[NickAdams]

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. I don't think ending with a wedding automatically qualifies something as a comedy.

Romeo and Juliet doesn't end with a wedding.

[JuLe]

Even my English teacher reads Harry Potter!

[NickAdams]

Even my English teacher reads Harry Potter!

There's no accounting for taste. Cheap shot. Sorry.

I liked Harry Potter better when it was called Star Wars.

[grace86]

A book and author that has this much influence and that makes today's children so happy and excited to read cannot possibly be that overrated. Enlarge the pictures on the right and tell me that what Rowling is doing isn't a good thing!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/midnig...eid=E000000496

Those kids are so darling! I really commend her for creating such a wonderful experience in reading for them.

[kilted exile]

Just clarifying a couple of things: I do not read Harry Potter, personally I dont enjoy them. I was referring in general to reading practices. People focus too much on lofty ideals of meaning and philosophical enjoyment and lose sight of enjoyment and letting people spend their leisure time doing what they like. People reading Harry Potter is not going to bring about the downfall of the world, there are more important subjects to get worked up about.

[barbara0207]

Cute!
I think it's a true miracle how she got a whole generation interested in books again.

[Xtian]

It is not our business to invent stories ourselves but only to be clear as to the main outlines to be followed by the poets in making their stories and the limits beyond which they must not be allowed to go.
-Plato, The Republic, ca. 385 B.C.

I totally agree, it is a miracle what JK Rowling was able to accomplish in such a few short years. Only ignorant fools whould critize the books that would would so much good. Even the Christian Right ( I am sorry to readers who might fall into that category) want to ban the books. My mom teaches school at a Catholic school and one of the student's nanny wrote a letter to the school accusing my mom of promoting witchcraft and magick. The school told my mom that Harry Potter could not be taught or read by any class in the school. NOw, how stupid was that?

The complaintant wasn't even a parent, she is a Jehova's Witness and was appalled that my mom would dare to read such an evil book. I was outraged.

Most of my adult life has been spent fighting for social justice around the country and world, my favorite cause is the freedom of speech for all. By banning this book the school promoted students to buy the book in droves, The lesson being if you ban something it will be more popular:
Examples:

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Auel, Jean. The Valley of Horses

Baldwin, James. Another Country

______. Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone

Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles

Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Clark, Walter Van Tilburg. Ox-Bow Incident

Conrad, Joseph. The Nigger of the Narcissus

Fast, Howard. Citizen Tom Paine

Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying

Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl

Garcia-Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gardner, John. Grendel

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies

Hansberry, Lorraine. Raisin in the Sun

Hughes, Langston. The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird

Loewen, James W., and Charles Sallis, eds.Mississippi: Conflict and Change

Malamud, Bernard. The Fixer

Malory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte D'Arthur

Manchester, William. Death of a President

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Death of a Salesman

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind

Orwell, George. 1984

Rowling JK, Harry Potter series

Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Existentialism and Human Emotions

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath

Suzuki, D. T. Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings

Terkel, Studs. Working

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple

Wallace, Terry. Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans

Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie

Wright, Richard. Black Boy. Native Son

CLASSIC targets

Aristophanes. Lysistrata

Bacon, Sir Francis. The Advancement of Learning

The Bible: Martin Luther's Translation; Revised Standard Version; The Living Bible

Chaucer, Geoffrey. Canterbury Tales

Eliot, George. Adam Bede

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter

Homer. The Odyssey

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince

Molière. Tartuffe

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. The Merchant of Venice. Richard II. Romeo and Juliet

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels

Voltaire, François M. Candide


FAVORITE TARGETS

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men

Twain, Mark [Samuel Clemens]. The Advenures of Huckleberry Finn

Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse Five



YOUNG READERS' TARGETS

Baum, L. Frank. The Wizard of Oz

Blume, Judy. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Cinderella

Dramer, Dan. Monsters

L'Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time

Little Red Riding Hood

Rowling JK, Harry Potter

Rumpelstiltskin

Sendak, Maurice. In the Night Kitchen

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

JK is in very good company I think. Most of these books have become top sellers and most are taught in High Schools and universities.

[Stieg]

I haven't read any Harry Potter books but they have fallen under attack mainly by the Christian Right most notably.

Yet... yet, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit is openly being discussed amongst Christian reading groups.

They should not raise issues where there are no issues, when a special interest group fingers a figure or piece of literature and falls under heavy fire that only popularizes the subject with greater sensationalism.

Kudos to Rowling for thinking outside the box.

Just my two cents worth!

EDIT: For argumentive purposes, if God exists, I feel the last concern in the world is my choice of literary reads. Come on shed those Dark Age fears and stretch, take a deep breathe and enjoy a writer's imagination. These *irrational* reactions frighten me personally. Don't manufacture a *Devil* where there isn't one... that can have serious repercussions. God is love NOT FEAR remember. I've read the bible too.

Nothing wrong with being a "bad-boy or bad-girl" lit reader and still follow religion folks. I'd adorn them (the books) with pride. Quotations for inference. This message probably belongs in another forum oh well.

[grace86]

I don't really think that the majority of people against the books are Christian Right. I am not sure it matters what religion you apply yourself to to be against it. Some people here who criticize it do so out of non-religious purposes.

As a Christian myself, I think the books are awesome to read myself and have recommended them to many other people Christian or not, child or adult.

I too have wondered myself on the Hobbit and LOTR, and C.S. Lewis. I've thought about the supposed qualifications are supposed to be regarding Christianity and fantasy. I've enjoyed those novels too.

What you read is read because you enjoy it. Otherwise you wouldn't read it.

Stieg I'm not trying to seem offended with your point, just adding to it.

This probably doesn't belong here on this thread, Logos edit it if you need to...I was just trying to clarify, not trying to be offensive.

[Annamariah]

"Don't judge a book by its cover" should be "Don't judge a book by its movie".

I've seen the two first Harry Potter movies, and I didn't like them. The books are great, though.

I don't think it's right to say that Harry Potter series are children's books. True, the first ones are, but as Harry grows, the reader is supposed to grow with them. The themes are coming more mature as Harry gets older. I wouldn't call Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince children's books, maybe books for young readers or something like that.

[Stieg]

Well, that is a matter of personal tastes that cause people to be critical of the HP books, not everyone loves them or even likes them.

But I was further elaborating on the absurdity of publically denouncing the books that mediahounds just loved exploiting. That's all

[Gorilla King]

Let's not generalize about Christians. I consider myself a fundamentalist Christian (in the true meaning of the word, such as Lewis and Tolkien were) and I certainly have no objections to the books. I'm very pleased to see people reading again.

[formality hater]

The books appeal to young and old alike but yet again, the tastes vary.

[grace86]

But I was further elaborating on the absurdity of publically denouncing the books that mediahounds just loved exploiting. That's all

Yes I agree with you on that.