Posted on 08/01/2007 6:59:32 AM PDT by ParsifalCA
I am warning those who have not finished the series . . . and there must be still a few of them by now. . . that there are spoilers ahead. I have just finished the last book . . . having spent an enjoyable evening with it thanks to Sam’s Club and an indulgent wife.
I am done with Harry Potter and enjoying the literary aftertaste the way one enjoys a fine meal almost as much after it is done as when it is being consumed . . . though it is a bit sad that the series is finished.
And it is really finished . . .
Will one be able to re-read the books with pleasure?
I think the answer is only a tentative “yes.” If one knows the “puzzles” and “the secrets” of the book, it will not take away the charm of the characters or the fun of a good Quidditch match, but the first read will always be the best.
The strength of these books is in the plot and the second read, when everything is known, will be satisfying for finding all the clues to what happens . . . but I am hard pressed to know if I will want to re-read them a third or fourth time.
A really great book is as good on the fourth read . . . and some children’s books (Little White Horse) are better.
I deeply enjoyed the last book and thought the ending satisfying. For those who found them quite Christian, they will find much in this last book to give strength to their idea.
(Excerpt) Read more at exilestreet.com ...
Excellent. Don’t forget, those in power seek to disarm and control the people. (The Ministry of Magic)
Actually I already presented those facts, you’ve just ignored them, instead focusing on the teenage male prostitute thing. Here are the facts again: HP has no real world occult, it has nothing that even resembles real world occult, there is no evidence of HP readers being drawn to real world occult and in fact if you were at the same Borders I was when book 7 came out it appeared HP readers were actually repelled by real world occult, and you only need to read the first few chapters of the first few books to find out all these things are true.
There’s your facts, again. Don’t whine about them not being there just because you didn’t read them.
Exactly! "Magic" is the plot device Rowling uses to create a story about choosing between good vs. evil, courage vs. pacifism.
If on every national “guitar day” you found, at the B&N, a table of guitar interspersed with porn magazines, what conclusion would you draw?
_______
Boy oh boy howdy, did you just make my point for me. Every year the guitar mags put out a buyer’s guide, listing thousands of guitar related products.
And every year, they put some scantily clad women within the pages. This year, it was the “girls of myspace”.
You know what connection I draw? They want to sell their magazine. Not that there is a connection between guitar gear and soft porn.
If you think the message in LOTR is muddled, I think you either didn’t read it, or didn’t understand it.
“Well that’s a good non-answer answer.
You should be a Democrat.”
Let me be more clear. I’ve know a lot of people who considered themselves to be “good witches”. They don’t even know the nature of what they are dealing with. Anything that has contributed to their deception is not good. These women, unless the repent, will open their eyes in hell the moment after they breath their last breath.
IMHO, the message is too sophisticated for children.
My favorite example of this was in Book 7 when they make it illegal for parents to homeschool their kids. They wanted every single "magic" student to be in the school, under their control and learning their agenda. It happened under Hitler, it is happening again in Europe, and it's slowly coming to the US as well.
For today's children, perhaps. But not necessarily in the era they were written. I read them in high school.
But, the message being too sophisitcated is not the same thing as the message being muddled.
No, I think Voldemart is Soros and his ilk. The minister of magic is Bill Clinton. Hillary does make a good Umbridge, though I admit I thought of Barbara Boxer when I read her.
“So we’re not to be prepared for what’s waiting out there?” (Harry)
“There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter!” (Umbridge, in a honeyed voice) “Who do you suppose would want to attack children like yourselves?
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Harry, “Voldemort?”....”That is a lie!” (Umbridge) “The ministry guarantees you are not in danger from any Dark Wizard! “
“HP has no real world occult, it has nothing that even resembles real world occult, there is no evidence of HP readers being drawn to real world occult...”
Those are not “facts”.
They are expressions of your opinion.
Now how about some facts....
I usually follow that rule with books. Movies not so much, because some of them, I want to see on the big screen with a group of friends and talk about it over a cold beverage afterward. And there's nothing like seeing a movie at the drive-in with good friends, a full cooler and a hot BBQ grill.
Generally speaking, I avoid books with an overwhelming hype level, because they almost never live up to it. The more people gushed about the Bridges of Madison County, or The Celestine Prophecy, or The DaVinci Code, the less interested I became, and I don't feel that I have missed anything by not reading those.
Harry Potter became an exception. I blew off the first three books until my mom started gushing about them, and gave me her copies. i trusted my mom's opinion (she got me to watch "Office Space"), so I gave it a try. Books 4-7, I bought within a couple of days of release. They're kid fiction, so it's a fairly fast read, in spite of the imposing length of the later books.
I have never had a long list of authors whose books I will buy as soon as they come out -- three in my whole life, as far as I can remember, and that number is now down to zero. Tom Clancy fell off the list. Douglas Adams died. And now JK Rowling is done. If she publishes a non-Potter book, I'll probably check it out in a timely manner.
But other than that, I have a long enough backlog to last me several years, even if I spend more time reading books and less time reading FR and other sites.
I have a Lincoln bio lined up now, I want to read or re-read a bunch of Vonnegut, as my own personal tribute; I did the same when I learned Douglas Adams had died. A friend whose judgment I trust recommends The First American, a Ben Franklin bio. And as long as David McCullough and Joseph Ellis have written more books than I've read, I have unfinished business.
No worse than calling Jack London literature. The sophomoric appologetics for a low life. I'm betting JK Rolling is better.
I don’t remember who did The Great Divorce. I listened to it and enjoyed it however. My favorite series and the reader, The Master and Commander books by Patrick O’Brien, read by Patrick Tull. If you enjoy audio books, look into them. They are done by Borders.
Actually, most libraries have some downloadable books. Check out the website.
“You know what connection I draw? They want to sell their magazine. “
So B&N has a sudden, unrelated desire to sell occult books and they think the way to do so is to put them on or next to the HP books???
Come on!
No those are facts. The fact is that there is absolutely nothing in any of the HP books that bears even the slightest resemblance to any documented occult practices. Magic in the HP universe simply doesn’t work that way, if you’ve seen the movies you saw the beginning you know that Harry’s magic occurs before he even knows what wizards are, you also know that wizarding talent is handed down genetically in a pattern identical to recessive traits. And there’s nothing about occult practices in the real world that shows it as a genetic trait. Those are facts, and you saying they’re not changes nothing they ARE fact and your denial just shows your own desperation.
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