Okay, so 10 years after the start of the Harry Potter phenomenon, I finally read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I was never interested in the books, probably the only person I know who wasn't. DH has read them, sister has, god-daughter has... but they've never sounded interesting to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE sci-fi & fantasy fan, I read Asimov and Heinlein from a young age and The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy around age 11, but Harry's adventures never interested me.
Until now... A friend is reading them with her son and recommended them saying it's a good story and an easy read.
So, on a recent business trip I grabbed the first book out of DH's library. I read it in a day, definitely an easy read and not a bad story.
I've told a couple people I didn't like Harry Potter. My sister's reaction was an incredulous, "You didn't like Harry Potter?!?!" Okay, maybe "didn't like" is a bit strong, but frankly I was underwhelmed. I expected something that would grab me and pull me into the story. That because I wasn't going to be home for two days after I finished the book, I'd go nuts waiting to get home to pick up book two. But none of that happened. I finished the book and came home and put it back in the library and picked up something else that isn't Harry Potter. (I've currently got my nose in four books, but will drop them all if I get Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille for Chanukah. I've been wanting to read it for over a year and wanted to pick it up in November when it came out in paperback, but I digress.)
My life will go on if I don't read the other six Potter books, but I'll be definitely disappointed if I don't get ahold of Wild Fire sometime soon.
Now, I've promised my niece that if she wants to read and discuss the books, I'm happy to continue, but I don't know if she's interested. If she's not, that's fine, I'll go on to the gazillion books sitting around here yearning to be read.
I honestly don't think I would have be crazy for Harry as a younger me. As I mentioned, I read Tolkien around age 11. I tried to get into the books around age 9, had a tough time and put them aside for two years. I just don't think Harry's adventures would have appealed to me then, either. Of course, by then I was reading my Dad's old Fantasy & Science Fiction magazines and books. Oh and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine which is detective fiction. (Dang! They both still exist!)
Harry Potter definitely has done good in getting kids interested in reading that possibly wouldn't have been before. He's just not for me.
2 comments:
Hey, I used to read my dad's EQMM's too! I loved those short stories. I didn't know it was still around either.
Don't feel too bad about not loving HP ... I didn't really care for the Lord of the Rings books. Too much war for my tastes.
This is funny - I just read all 7 HP books this summer. Honestly, I enjoyed them & got into the story. The writing isn't technically superior, but I think Rowling dreamed up an imaginative tale.
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