Ricardo non-Montalban ([info]armoire_man) wrote,
2005-07-18 09:09:00
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Chug! Chug! Chug!

On the way to work I heard the NPR story about the girl who bought the new Harry Potter book at one of the Friday midnight parties, took it home, and finished it before sunup on Saturday morning.

This thing - it is the beer-bong of fantasy series for you guys, isn't it?

I envy you - I wish I could get that excited about anything.

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  • 26 comments

[info]eleanor

July 18 2005, 15:16:37 UTC 6 years ago

My kid did that, was annoyed with me that I didn't finish until Sunday morning -- she wanted to have a nice chat about it.

[info]armoire_man

July 18 2005, 15:40:58 UTC 6 years ago

That's really cool, actually. Right now my kid and I are bonding over "The Love Bug", though, which is quite nice.

[info]eleanor

July 18 2005, 16:44:24 UTC 6 years ago

Yes, I realy do feel very fortunate that she wants to talk to me and share things with me.

Betsy and I started reading Harry Potter together, from the first book, and she and Harry have quite literaly come of age together -- they were both 11 when the first book came out, are both now 16.

[info]armoire_man

July 18 2005, 16:57:33 UTC 6 years ago

I've considered reading Harry to Maya in the evenings, but she's pretty young for it, only seven. When's a good age to start, do you think?

[info]eleanor

July 18 2005, 17:01:27 UTC 6 years ago

Well, if Betsy was 11, her younger sister was 8. Vicky never took to it the same way we did, but I don't think it was age so much as personal taste. I think it really depends on the kid; my kids were embracing very sophisticated texts and adult themes at an early age, but I know some very smart nine-year-olds who are very happy with things the kids were finished with by the time they were seven. You might as well try reading it to her, and see if the story holds here at all.

[info]inapickle

July 18 2005, 15:17:41 UTC 6 years ago

I feel this pressure to read them, but you know, I lost interest completely by the end of the third one, and I was never that into them in the first place. But in the LJ fishbowl it seems like everybody likes them except for me, you know, like I'm some kind of freak.

FREAK!!!omg

That's okay.

[info]armoire_man

July 18 2005, 15:35:29 UTC 6 years ago

Whozzat? Whozzat inna icon? Is it you?

Yeah - I read the first one and never got to the second.

Someday, after I'm dead, I'll read them. When I have time.

Anonymous

July 18 2005, 16:08:24 UTC 6 years ago

Yes, that is me.

In living, washed-out color.

I think I only read them out of a sense of obligation. Which is pretty stupid when you consider how many popular books I will probably never read. The Da Vinci Code comes to mind.

[info]itchyglow

July 18 2005, 15:42:20 UTC 6 years ago

yeah i just don't get the whole harry potter fuckfest.

it's fun to see kids get wrapped up in the frenzy and get excited about reading the book. it's a little more unnerving to watch the adults.

i read the first book. i thought it was good (my 12 year old niece insists "it's the weakest of the series"); but i have a million other books i want to read before i invest more time with harry.

[info]bureinato

July 18 2005, 15:48:39 UTC 6 years ago

Total Beer bong books.

In reality I'm far more excited that R. R. Martin finished A Feast for Crows. But perhaps one or two folks on my flist also care. And there is going to be *far* less publicity.

[info]neonnurse

July 18 2005, 15:58:45 UTC 6 years ago

I am so hot for that to come out I can barely stand it!!!!

[info]armoire_man

July 18 2005, 16:03:57 UTC 6 years ago

Now, that series I'll try - one of my friends who never gets excited about fantasy series loves it, so I figure I'll give it a shot.

What's the name of the first book?

[info]neonnurse

July 18 2005, 17:56:59 UTC 6 years ago

I had to go Google this...I am no good with remembering series titles in order. The first one is Game of Thrones. Very deep, complex, sometimes dark stuff. Well worth try to see if you like it!

[info]bureinato

July 18 2005, 21:03:22 UTC 6 years ago

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows -out in October
A Dance with Dragons - the 2nd half of Crows
+ an estimated 2 more books to finish the series

And I don't remember the names very well myself, I pulled all that off the author's web site. The whole series is called A Song of Fire and Ice.

And in case anyone besides me cares I'm 44th on the waiting list at DPL.

[info]neonnurse

July 18 2005, 15:49:46 UTC 6 years ago

A good part of what I've enjoyed about the series is trying to figure out WTF? Not the plot and mysteries, but WHY this particular series has sucked so many people in.

My tentative theory is that JKR has achieved the ultimate in placeholder characters. You know the theory that heroines in romance novels are intended to be vague and fuzzy around the edges, so that the reader can imagine it's HER in the book? That's Harry. For the hero and viewpoint character, he presents in the books as almost transparent. Very easy to slip behind his eyes while you are reading. That's my theory, anyway.

[info]itchyglow

July 18 2005, 15:56:18 UTC 6 years ago

Not the plot and mysteries, but WHY this particular series has sucked so many people in.

a multi-million dollar marketing blitz and media hoopla may be responsible for some of that sucking.

[info]moominmolly

July 18 2005, 16:03:00 UTC 6 years ago

Some, but not all -- the marketing blitz mostly happened *after* lots of adults (oh yeah, and kids) got sucked into the first book, I think.

[info]armoire_man

July 18 2005, 16:11:54 UTC 6 years ago

I don't think so - I've never met anyone who decided to read Harry Potter because of an ad. That's one of the most intriguing things about it, is that the marketing is coat-tailing the fandom for the most part.

Most of the ads I've seen for the new book are pretty much "Since twenty million of you are going to buy this thing anyway, why not buy it here?"

[info]neonnurse

July 18 2005, 18:01:50 UTC 6 years ago

Probably some, no doubt. People like to join the crowd. Even if they don't want to read the books for themselves, they don't want to be left out of conversations about it. So I think some of the media and hoopla is a secondary by-product to catch THAT crowd.

[info]armoire_man

July 18 2005, 16:20:58 UTC 6 years ago

That's probably true - the readers get to be Harry, and Harry gets to inhabit the Special World that is one step sideways from standard suburban reality. But that Special World is the most idealized British boarding school possible, which is a little like heaven for a lot of people.

It's a lot like Wodehouse - it's an idealized British paradise.

[info]neonnurse

July 18 2005, 18:06:08 UTC 6 years ago

My vague general theory about popular culture items is that people like to read and/or watch stuff that reinforces what they already believe, or WANT to believe.

Stephen King is a best-seller, not because he scares his readers better than anyone else, but because he tells us that no matter how horrible things are, if you keep your head and help others as you can, YOU will be the one to come out okay.

I am not sure yet what JKR is telling people, but it sure seems to be something they want to hear!

[info]armoire_man

July 19 2005, 19:48:02 UTC 6 years ago

One thing about Harry is that his life is almost, but not quite, as completely boring as "real" life. He still does homework, but it's magical homework. He still plays soccer, but it's magical soccer.

I think the HP books say "What if you weren't bored with this stuff? What if soccer and homework actually seemed magical?"

[info]neonnurse

July 19 2005, 22:37:52 UTC 6 years ago

Hmm. So you're saying that it's a way for geek kids to be able to understand their mundane schoolmates who DO think sports and grades and popularity are the only things that exist in life. Interesting concept.

[info]armoire_man

July 19 2005, 23:10:39 UTC 6 years ago

No, I really don't think it's about understanding anyone. I think it's making school life acceptably fabulous without actually escaping from it.

I think it applies to every kid, not just the geeky ones. Because the one given about school from about age twelve on is that kids needs and desires outstrip what school can give them, and *everyone feels left out*, even the well-accepted ones who do everything "right".

I never met anyone in any school who was simply "about" school, or sports. There was always something else going on, and it usually involved a lot more of their dreams and personality than school did, even in the ones who bought into school and sports wholeheartedly. I had friends who eventually became super-jocks and they were sometimes the most outside of all.

Maybe it was just our school? I don't know...

[info]neonnurse

July 19 2005, 23:58:00 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, I see, now that you expanded on it more. Good points. It's certainly true that Harry is a good example of a kid who "ought" to have it all, and yet feels like an outsider.

If only we could figure out the key of success, see, then WE could be multimillionaire authors sighing because we can't walking into little coffeeshops anymore. :)

[info]armoire_man

6 years ago

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