Dementors are s pretty cool monster. And patronuses are pretty cool too.
 Nothing Ever Happens Shirt $21.68 |
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Nothing Ever Happens Shirt $21.68 |
ITT: Say something nice about the HP series.
Dementors are s pretty cool monster. And patronuses are pretty cool too.
Nothing Ever Happens Shirt $21.68 |
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Nothing Ever Happens Shirt $21.68 |
PATRONI
I like it, nice fun series to delve into if you want to re-experience (or in most cases here, just experience) a childhood adventures with your friends, but in a magical setting. Movies are extremely comfy to watch, wish I had a dorky gf that would force mi to watch them with her.
Also best memes on this site are based on HP franchise
>ITT: Say something nice about the HP series
The characters were memorable, something I can't say for most book series, especially YA ones.
I really enjoy the fact a story that brought me so much joy during my childhood is continuing to do so by bringing suffering to others. Yin and yang.
My mom and dad used to read them to me and my brother at bedtime when we were kids. I have vivid memories of sitting on my brother's upper bunk between him and my mom listening to her read Harry Potter. God, where have those days gone? I'll always be grateful to them for being good bedtime stories and for being "comfy". Oh and my grandpa loved Harry Potter and we would all, including himself, call him "Grandpa Wizard" and I remember believing he really could do magic and ride a broomstick. He didn't even have a beard though, just a tall, old, bald man with a big nose and lips. But he was my grandpa and had a wonderful, kind heart and I believed he was a wizard. True story.
I also think the HP books have probably gotten more than a few people into reading, which has lead to a few of those getting into IQfyerature, so I thank them for that too.
once every three years or so I re-read book six because I think it's a masterpiece. Most underrated book of the series. Matter of fact, I'm going to go to the store for snacks and crack it open again today.
Looking back and seeing that I stopped reading at Book 4, it was good foreshadowing for my lifelong inability to finish anything
Are you me, anon?
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My favorite experience relevant to Harry Potter occurred some small time after reading book four. I happened to have computer access as a twelve year old or whatever I was and I would get recommendations for p2p searches by my chess player friend. One of them was an ebook that I think was labelled as a book five leak. I started it and there were lots of crass and lewd references and english that reminded me of the kind I saw in the Redwall books only it was, again, more dark. It's where I learned the words blaggard and a number of others.
Recently during a trip to the behavioural health unit I found another strange book in the closet. It was a paperback Harry Potter book in spanish and it started on page 57 for some reason (pages weren't ripped out or missing) and it said it was printed by Salamander press.
I'm surprised that J.K. Rowling was able to pull a happy ending. Usually when you go the "darker and edgier" routine you'll never pull out of it and get a bittersweet ending at best.
I used to listen to the audiobooks read by Steven Fry to help me sleep.
I have a very strong nostalgic connection to this book cover because of it. I still remember the day my mother got it out of the cupboard and showed it to me (it was originally bought for my older brother but he never took to it).
I had a lot of audiobooks growing up, but Harry Potter was the first, and probably the main one. I listened to those books over and over again so many times I probablehad them memorised. Funnily enough I never became a superfan like the Tumblr crowd, but I did and do love them.
As much as people shit on them these days, it's undeniable that they tap into something kids really want.
They're good books for kids.
it's shit badly written derivative garbage that had an instrumental effect of devaluing the value of literature and beckoning in the dawn of "young adult" books which are basically just an excuse for actual adults to read fricking shit kids books and never progress past that and consider themselves readers. and they're not even good kid's books, they're badly thought out badly written shit full of deus ex machina. it's cultural poison that happened to get lucky and ruined culture noticeably in my lifetime
i did fap to the akubar game though although there was too much grinding and not enough scenes
Tonks was my waifu
I like the subtle undertone throughout the series that there are all sorts of really interesting things in the world that never get properly studied or experimented with, because the wizards are moronic and/or just consider them to be normal and boring. It's almost like the various Japanese concepts revolving around impermanence and gentle melancholy, but in the context of missed opportunities to learn and discover.
The litteral gateway to the world of the dead that just sits in the basement of a government building because the bureaucracy has no time for it is my favourite.
It starts really good and the first book is a classic. It stops being good after the 3rd book and becomes shit by the 5th.
Also might be the only Young Adult series other than maybe Percy Jackson where I can remember most of the characters.
>It starts really good and the first book is a classic. It stops being good after the 3rd book
There is something about the first three. The tone/the style. It's Roald Dahl-esque meets The Hobbit but unique at the same time. Magical.
It's as though the books were nostalgic the first time we read them. Each time we reread them it's because we never felt as though we'd never read them.
some of the happiest moments of my childhood can be attributed to this book.
Uhh, the local translation was pretty clever and inventive, and got a lot of kids into reading.
They filter the worst morons, and they make newbies and election tourists out themselves. They're also good material for learning a new language.
I completely missed the boat and only started reading the series now, at age 29. My blog:
>Philospher's/Sorceror's Stone
Just so incredibly whimsical and charming. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can see its appeal
>Chamber of Secrets
Also very good, Lockhart is one of my favorite side characters
>Prisoner of Azkaban
Also good, I personally love the "obviously bad guy turns out to be good" twist
>Goblet of Fire
At this point I'm getting tired of how childish the series is becoming; it's life and death but jellylegs seems to be the worst thing you can do. I'm so glad they upped the stakes with Cedric's death, what a "holy shit" moment
>Order of the Phoenix
I had to force myself to finish it; Harry's angst was just annoying and I just found it hard to care anymore
I don't think I'm interested enough to finish the series
Book 5-6 are interesting because they are the least memorable. Like they are about absolutely nothing. Book 1-4 all have a theme. Who stole the stone? What id the monster? Is he really guilty? The tournament. Book 5-6 however have no theme and no major mystery. However the second half of book 7 is the highlight of the whole series and therefore I really recommend sticking with it.
I don't blame you tho, I know people who stopped caring after the 5th.
Thanks anon for reading my brainlet take. I'm currently reading other books right now but I might revisit the series in the future.
book 5 mystery is what weapon voldemort seeks, or what is in the department of mysteries. in book 6 it is voldemort's past
Well. That could be true, but the thing what missing is: the urgency and presence.
I the first 4 books the main "theme" is always there and there's a need to fix the issue and as the book progresses we get more and more clues.
In book 5 they think it's a weapon then in the last minute they learn it isn't, but at the the end even Tom says eh, it's not that important. It's just a big waiting game until Tom decides it's finally time to lure Harry out. I love the fight at the end and the usual chapter where Dumbledore explains everything as usual, but everything before that is just a stalemate or a waiting game.
Book 6 is almost similar. Alright, who's the prince? But then: who cares? Harry wants it to be his dad, but he's not that heartbroken when it turns out it isn't. Tom's life? It's said that by the end they should be able to figure out how to beat him, but again: the urgency is missing. Shit sucks for sure, but nothing threatens them in the moment to make them hurry up, like the snake in the second book. Like it rather just felt interesting at best, but wasn't revealing, or wt least I felt absolutely fricking nothing.
And that's another thing. The villain. Tom is really interesting. This handsome, underdog kind of kid who sweettalks everyone into doing what he wants. But as Voldemort he's boring as frick. He just b***hes and hurr durr power and oh no, I'm scared of death. The cunningness is completely missing. I guess he just became so powerful he didn't need to be cunning anymore. I guess he was alright for a kids book, but he could have been more complex. Like there's always parts where Harry considers that maybe he's like Tom but it's never fully explored. And he never considers for a second that he's right, although his foster family was such an butthole, so maybe it could have crossed his mind that yeah, maybe we should nuke muggles to death.
You're reading it with an adult brain, when I was 14 years old my favourites were books 5 6 and 7 because I related to Harry's adolescent rage
I don't mind angst in books, I just felt like Harry's angst came out of nowhere; it just sprung up overnight. Ron too, was really getting on my nerves. I forget which book it happened in but him becoming prefect made zero fricking sense whatsoever. Plot convenience but in-world? Who would ever choose him?
Ron was better than the other male gryfindorsfor prefect tbh
>Harry's angst came out of nowhere; it just sprung up overnight
I mean, that's what puberty is
Amazing how Goblet of Fire is the mid-point and is like where the series turns from good to shit, with elements of both.
>represents a point where the books get longer and more bloated
>first HP book really hyped as midnight release, leading to spoiler hijinks by Book 6 & 7
>the "Cedric dies" is the first "dark" element that often plagues late-era YA books
>individual plotlines start to vanish in favor of overarching story
>series gets retconned to be in the early 1990s
We share almost the same opinion and I grew up with the books. As much as I felt disappointed by the last one, book 7, it felt nice to see it wrapped up. I barely think about it anymore and that's okay, it's just a nice memory to look back on.
Really? I read Phoenix around age 13 and thought it was pointlessly broody and angsty out of nowhere. So much "snogging" (what a fricking moronic term) and former friends just deciding to hold grudges for no good reason. That didn't happen in real life. Sure, some people weren't nice to me, but they were never a good friend in the first place. It's like JK Rowling took the stereotype of teenage drama and hamfistedly wedged it in the story. Huge chunks of book 4 onwards were at the time, and currently are, unreadable because my eyes can't stop rolling.
The films really killed it for me too; only the first 2 were good. Azkaban was so awful it made me tear up a bit. I wondered why JK Rowling would allow the studios to do that to her books. It wasn't until later books, like I said above, that I realized, oh, she doesn't have integrity and never cared about whimsy and magic, just generic Star Wars hero cycle junk. And now I'm pretty sure she never wrote the books at all and they were actually written by a committee of MI6 agents at Tavistock or something.
The fact that the book count does not exceed 7 is high praise for the dullest franchise in the history of movie franchises. Seriously each episode following the boy wizard and his pals from Hogwarts Academy as they fight assorted villains has been indistinguishable from the others. Aside from the gloomy imagery, the series’ only consistency has been its lack of excitement and ineffective use of special effects, all to make magic unmagical, to make action seem inert.
Perhaps the die was cast when Rowling vetoed the idea of Spielberg directing the series; she made sure the series would never be mistaken for a work of art that meant anything to anybody?just ridiculously profitable cross-promotion for her books. The Harry Potter series might be anti-Christian (or not), but it’s certainly the anti-James Bond series in its refusal of wonder, beauty and excitement. No one wants to face that fact. Now, thankfully, they no longer have to.
>a-at least the books were good though
>"No!"
The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs."
I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing. Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.
>god tier
>atlas shrugged
stop reading your pseud drivel right there
for years (maybe 10) as a child i listened to the cassette audiobooks while falling asleep. i think it has permanently stunted my ability to write and made me homosexual (Fry)
It does a really good job of developing its setting.
Reading the books feels like experiencing their world through the eyes of a child. You have a basic understanding of what's going on but everything feels like it's full of magic and mystery and you never quite know what's around the next corner.
The first three books do an excellent job of this with Hogwarts and Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. Although even by PoA it already starts to feel a bit watered down.
The Quidditch game in GoF is good but the rest of the book is lacking in this. The Triwizard Tournament should have been held in one of the other schools so we got the chance to explore a new place.
OotP is bad. You visit the Ministry of Magic but don't get to actually see anything. So lame.
Books 5-7 combined develop the setting less than any of the first three individually. You can really tell that JKR was punched out by this point. It feels like Hogwarts has no mysteries left to explore and the larger setting feels empty and lifeless.
But the first three books are fantastic examples of worldbuilding and I think any fantasy author would do well to learn from them.
Dumbledore is cool.
Here are some random thoughts about this series. It's a rather fresh experience because we've just reread it.
I think it's good. Not great, but good. As this young adult mystery fantasy thing with slice of life elements it's pretty alright. Some people love the school thing more than the kill the bad guy angle, some are the other way around. The former group usually stops around book 5.
The first few books are pretty British. I'm not sure whether it's intentional or not but the ministry of magic must have been a Monty Python like joke. Like there's this wonderful magical world and what most of the magic people do? Bureaucracy.
The series is also the journey of Rowling on becoming a better writer. You can feel this change in book 5. The Britishness goes away, the sentences become better and also some descriptions. There's no more explaining what quidditch is like there were in previous books.
I didn't mind the love drama, I loved to hate Unbridge. However even if reading the 6th book is fun, it's still feels weird. Like there's literally nothing going on, then suddenly HORCRUXES, and the book ends. The first half of the seventh book is a snore fest. Which is sad because it had the chance to be a great heist book. The stealing of the medal and the chalice (or what) was pure kino, but the b***hing and moaning in the woods part completely ruined them.
However the second half is amazing. Like it's not only about Tom and Jerry, I mean Harry anymore, but it's this big epic saga spanning through thousands of years with the hollows and the founder's items and the happenings in Dumbledore's youth and Harry's father's youth and so on, all leading to and climaxing in the final battle.
The books overall structure is fricking piece of shit. It goes like this: boredom in the muggle world, then nothing fricking happens, then suddenly everything happens. On one hand, for the third part it's usually worth it. However because of this I cannot pick a favorite book. I have favorite moments, but every book is tainted in some way so I cannot pick a favorite.
The first two films are great, I'd say even better than the books. Like the chocolate frogs. In the book they are actually just boring chocolate frogs but in the movie they are alive. I know some characters got butchered, but the music, the warm colors and some clever ideas save them. These are the only moments when I feel the magic. Like yes, I'm on this magical journey. The rest of the series completely failed to deliver this feeling. Also, the rest of the books are extremely detail heavy, which translates badly to cinema, therefore some of the mysteries make no sense. Like the third book or the seventh make no sense on the big screen. Especially the third, where they don't mention the concept of secret ceepers, therefore making you question why it's a big deal that it wasn't Serious who betrayed them.
Anyway, I'm glad I've read them. It's a great adventure, but could have used some polishing.
I hated Anglos until Matilda and Harry Potter gave me my first Anglo sympathizing feelings ever cognized
Luv Germans
Simple as
the author doesn't like troonys
A genuine point of praise is the promotion of literacy and reading as a hobby (as opposed to punishment) for children and young adults since the release of the first book. Despite the original work’s faults from literary standpoints the series created a new generation of readers and tangentially stimulated the imaginations of children growing up in increasingly technology dominated lifestyles.
From an economic standpoint the series’ universe has created new jobs in a variety of industries which is an oft overlooked side effect of the HP brand popularity.
It’s easy to criticize the books themselves but the author’s (official) life story itself is an empowering example of success being attainable regardless of one’s life circumstances. A testament to the value of maintaining belief in oneself and most importantly, creating narrative content that is both engaging and open to expansion.
Rowling’s quality of writing may not be up to par for the ivy tower intellectuals but that only further reinforces the value of a good idea and dedication to see an idea through to completion.
The typical critiques: Something something future Steven King readers something something stretched his legs something something refusal of wonder, are funny but deflect their critiques to surface level snafus without regard to the wider sociological developments from having an increasingly literate young adult population.
>may not be up to par for the ivy tower intellectuals
To be honest I think nobody gives a shit about those people and their writings unless you are one of the following:
>A major in English/literature/whatever-you-call-it
>An ivory tower author
>A professor at a university or a high school teacher
The movies had several girls that I'd like to frick.
I used to coom endless loads to this Luna Lovegood met art model (Dasha B).