Uncovering the Mystery of Who Reads Books

[Smurf]

I have been looking for the first of the "Wheel of Time" books, just haven't connected with it.. It would be easier to find if, I knew for sure what the title was. Perhaps you can help me with that?

Ehe eye of the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan#The_Wheel_of_Time

 

[Astronuc]

I just finished "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" after spending the last 3 evenings immersed in it.

Waiting for the next one. Presumably, the next book provides the climax and resolution. I suppose we'll have to wait two years.

Perhaps somewhat predictable - but it is nevertheless compelling.

As for escaping in fiction or fantasy - I can't really. I have seen too much in the world.

Reading Harry Potter, I see the parallels in real life.

 

[Janus]

hmm, interesting that the poll shows everyone who's read them to have loved them... no one's read them and only thought, meh... says something maybe?

I don't know. My daughter read the first book and it left her with no desire to read the rest. On the other hand, she devoured The Hobbit, And then couldn't wait to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Also, I note that there is no "started to read it, but didn't care for it" option in the poll.

 

[JamesU]

This is a hilarious video clip of someone ruining the ending of the lastest book for people at a B&N

http://www.fazed.org/video/view/?id=33

Don't watch if you don't want to know the ending.

I haven't read the ending, but snape killing dumbledore is pretty much what I expected.

 

[kaos]

hmm, interesting that the poll shows everyone who's read them to have loved them... no one's read them and only thought, meh... says something maybe?

anyways, i too thought i wouldn't like them. my mum bought the first three for my younger siblings, and they were too lazy to read them. i was vehemently refusing to read them myself, (they were just way too popular... which led me to believe they were crap seeing as i don't have much faith in the general public...) but, my sibs wanted to hear the stories... so i started reading to them both every night. usually though, i read a book straight through in one sitting, so i got frustrated one night after they slept, and just finished the book. after that, i started to read the second one. (my mum eventually bought the books-on-tape for my other sibs.) and after the third, i was hooked. the third was probably my favorite.

anyways, i think they are pretty decent. and yes, they're similar to many fantasies... but i think Rowling created a really fantastic world, with loads of details and what's most brilliant, is that its set in the present, right under our noses. so it makes it feel more real. she did create a lot of her own creatures though, with excellent imagery. a lot of it is too predictable maybe... i think especially in the 6th book. i mean, i was surprised... (well, mostly in disbelief) about a few things... but mostly it was my naivety...

anyways, i think the books are great, and if nothing else, at least she's inspired a generation to read.

Anyway i read one of the books (the prisoner of something) and thought it suxed. But then again I am HAte children ,so i wouldn't like stories about children.

 

[yourdadonapogostick]

i tried to read this thread, but the geekiness is just too much...must leave.

 

[Pre-AlgebraDude]

J.K. is clearly starting to get tire of writing them, as per the huge page number in OOTP, and then how it dwindled way down in HBP. Plus she said after the seventh book, which is the last, a prequel or anything of that sort won't be needed.

 

[selfAdjoint]

I just finished Half Blood Prince. I had ordered it months ago, and got it on THE DAY, last Saturday. I thought it was good, and ended very well (that is, of course, badly). I have read each one as they came out and did a rereading of the earlier ones when Phoenix came out because there was so much dependence on hints dropped in earlier books.

My daughter, son and son's wife and I form a discussion group on the series. In fact my daughter, on a business trip, bought a copy of the English edition of HBP in London last Saturday. A modest coup, at least in our family.

 

[neurocomp2003]

thats awesome...my sisters don't like talking about it...they just read it...never remembers anything from the prior books

 

[arildno]

Having finished reading the "half-blood prince", I can now inform those of you who haven't read it that Hermione Granger did NOT fail her O.W.L. exams.




Hmm..did I reveal too much of the plotline now?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Well you at least didn't tell them which subject she only got an Excellent in.

 

[poolwin2001]

HP 1-5 was good.But in the 6th one the plot loses all originality as JKR uses
SPOLIER ALERT

the oldest villian trick on the book-"my like is in my pet parakeet" from the arabian nights
/SPOILER ALERT

and ruins the series.

Anyway to add to evos collection,I have greately enjoyed Myth series by R.Asprin.

 

[Ouabache]

Of course I enjoy the Harry Potter stories, but then again one look at my *Location gave that away. The movies are fun too! I accept them on their own, without expecting them to follow each book exactly. One thing I have noticed after watching the movies, whenever I read a Potter book, my mind hears the British pronunciation.

*When I read that a pensieve was a place to store thoughts, it sounded clever. I recalled penser in French means to think.

 

[tribdog]

I read the Belgariad and Mallorean (David Eddings) serieses several times growing up and I loved them. I would have called them and the James Herriot all creatures great and small series my favorite books ever, until I read Harry Potter. The Harry Potter books are the best books I've ever read. Sure they are simplistic, but decreasingly so. Each book is better than the last.

 

[Chi Meson]

I grew up with SF and fantasy books; I loved "lord of the rings" so much, I even read the "Simarillion" (which was quite a snoozer at the age of 12). THen something happened when I got to college; I doubled as an English major and started to read "literature" (pronounced with a snooty upperclass accent).

For about 15 years, all I read was "literature." I was a complete snob. Everything that was popular was "beneath me." I even got a MFA (master of fine arts) in writing (don't ask). Consequently every movie I saw, every book or poem I read, every picture I looked at, I had to mentally write an opinion paper on it.

This maniacal mind binder (see? it paid off!) of "overeducation" prevented me from simply enjoying things. I read the first HP book five years ago to "see what the fuss was about." Now I've read them all and I got to tell you, I am awaiting the final installment! (Don't care about the movies though).

 

[-Job-]

I haven't read any of the books. I like fiction, but fantasy doesn't appeal to me very much. Maybe if they performed magic by making use of the laws of physics... maybe spells could be mathematical equations.

 

[tribdog]

I haven't read any of the books. I like fiction, but fantasy doesn't appeal to me very much. Maybe if they performed magic by making use of the laws of physics... maybe spells could be mathematical equations.

no wonder God put you through all those trials.