Hello; I was just wondering what our PS group thought about the Harry Potter series. Cant compare Harry Potter with PS because of obvious reasons but was wondering how many of our group have read this series (buying for kids does not qualify) and enjoyed it, how many have simply not bothered and how many have found it terribly boring.
Personally i think its a stunning piece of work, have read and reread, all the seven, atleast a hundred times. Its a bit offtopic but offlate this group has seen some really wierd topics.
No topic is weird as long as we can discuss it.. :)
I never got an inclination to HP. long back I tried my hand, read just one page of the first part and thats it... And more over, I have a problem - like I never go behind things which are hyped up like anything, unless I hear good about it from genuine sources. Let it be movies or books or whatever it is. Basically I feel, if everyone goes behind something just because of the hype, its herd mentality and I dont like to be in the herd (this is my personal feeling. no offense meant.) I never bothered to check with people who have read it. Now that you have given a good note on it, probably I might try my hands.
Hi Rahul, Am a big fan. I remember I had heard all this hype and in 2000, went to a bookstore in Singapore and started reading it.. was so gripped.. i spent the whole day there reading the first one.. then bought both the ones out till then. Of course, it got darker as the series developed but is a wonderfully written book.. a cross of Enid Blyton and fantasy series.. the characterization (which doesn't really come out in the movies all that well) is brilliant.. the humor is very nice and just overall very enjoyable. The last 3 books, we ordered them ahead of time so we would get them on the very day they were released. Both self and wife and huge fans :)
Hello; Lets not make this a thread which discusses why tamilians dont read tamil novels and read English ones. I dint start this because of that. Lets discuss about HP, thats it. Topics about Tamilians not reading tamil novels have become really boring. Lets, atleast for now, keep out.
Harry Potter was a good time pass. I started with book 2 from library, last year. Book 2 is all I could get my hands on at that time. Once I finished book2, I bought other books (and 7 was not released at that time). I was not able to keep the book down.
I also don't like to go after something that is hyped up. But my friend suggested reading the book and I was hooked on to the story. Though I did not like it after book 5, I was still reading it not being able to stop. Dobby was my favorite character in the series . The suspense was well maintained through out the books ( and also the series). Capturing one's memory to be observed at a later stage was an awesome imagination. It is a well managed, closely knitted story. Parts of the story reminded me of our good old Tamil magical movies. Did not like book 6 and 7 mainly because of tragedy, otherwise was interesting to read.
I liked the movies, but they were good to watch only after reading. My first son, Varun Krishna, likes the movie very much. It was fun watching him running around the house with whatever stick he could get hold on shouting "Expecto Patronum".
Hi, Few years back I read all 5 books(at that times only five were released)at one go. Sure I enjoyed it,but after the release of others I just dont feel like starting them.
Recently I started reading Ashok Banker's Ramayana Series. Ramayana in fantasy lines. i would like to hear others views on this book. I liked it very much.
One autonomous college in Pune has specified the first book, for MA English students, in the novels category. See the gains: 1. Has made the author a billionaire2. Created waves in the reading habits3. Catapulted publishing to new heights4. Became a best seller even before the book was written (later volumes)5. The author and the publisher are zealously guarding the copy rights; even a play castle built in Calcutta during durga puja, attracted vehement objections.
My family stopped reading after the third book; I still wonder, whether the style made the books popular or the events and experiences of the characters. Language of Tolkien is a bit tough for easy reading.
Well, a lot of the opinion here seems to veer towards the fact that since there was all the hooplah, ergo the books must be bad..
I personally feel that there was good reason for the hype. There actually is a lot of substance behind the hype if people would care to give the books a chance.
Nice Arun; Just because a book is hyped it doesn't mean its bad. There have been some highly hyped but bad books/movies. But i feel this is a stunning series.Its mind boggling even to think about how Rowling came up with the spell names, that too not 10-15...nearly a hundred!! After the second book JKR started writing the book keeping in mind the movies. Even in the final part you can easily visualize Dumbledore arriving before Snape "with robes billowing in the wind". Books are dear to everyone because it lets each of us visualise a character based on our imagination capabilities. I think JKR slipped a bit in that, she made the book more script friendly, other than that i think its a stunning book. So many million people around the world cant be wrong.
A lot of thought has gone into the names..at least some of them. Some of the names of monsters etc are from folklore and from Greek and Roman mythology etc. She has put in the hard work .. :)
Arun; Its the detail which stands out and differentiates successful novels from not so successful ones. Some novels suffer from a horrible overdose of detail. Thomas Harris (of Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal fame) has this habit of supplying an incredible amount of detail about Dr.Lecter's character. In Hannibal there are just pages and pages of Italian history in which Dr.Lecter is an expert. Thomas Harris is a writer i admire a lot but the pace of the novel lags a wee bit during these details. Robert Ludlum (in the Bourne series and some other books) also explains in high detail about FBI procedures, medical details, etc. The pace does not suffer here as its really cracking in Bourne Identity and Supremacy.
The above authors and more always spend a chapter or two in explaining a lot of things. Now, JK Roling never spends a chapter describing the Hogwarts castle, etc. the details are just woven so brilliantly into the novel that the pace is cracking and nowhere do we feel that its getting a bit tedious. At the end of the day we know as much about Hogwarts as we would have if JKR had spent a boring chapter on these. This is a significant factor which makes me go back to HP again and again.
Ive spoken to a few people who dint like the Ponniyin Selvan novel after reading it, Yes, there is such a crowd!! The reason they gave was the high amount of detail in which Kalki explains the natural surroundings of Tanjore, Kaveri banks, etc. Personally i found these fascinating but some found it terribly boring.
Maybe ive written too much but its just because i enjoyed HP as much as i did reading PS.
I agree Rahul.. also for someone like me who has grown up in hostels.. it was quite nostalgic reading about the boarding school environment. Her characterizations.. as I said earlier are brilliant. Her humor is subtle.. I love the Fred-George Weasley combo..
I think if a 11 year old kid had started out reading the first book and then read the succeeding books one a year, the darkness in the later books would make sense to him/her.
Well I personally think SS is a better book than PS. I don't like the fact that a lot of Vanthiyathevan's escapades are more through complete happenstance than through any brilliant presence of mind on his part. However, these are just personal opinions :)
It is quite true Arun. The book brought back my hostel memories as well. Regarding the book, apart from characterization and humor in the books, the fantasy is what made the book so famous I guess. There are lot english authors in this genre, but none focussed on the children. The fantasy and writing style appalled the adult as well, and that is why the book has became so famous. As I remember, the book got the hype only after the release of the 3 book. Though the later books are dark, the author never goes in to gory details. Considering the amount of people die in the books, I think not describing gore is a well thought writing.