With all of the hoopla surrounding the last installment of Harry Potter, I must make a confession. I haven’t read any of the books. Not even one. In some circles, that makes me a saint; in others, a sinner.
I will admit, however, that Harry is an interesting cultural phenomenon. For example, on the news last night, there was an interview with a middle-aged gentleman named Thomas Harrop about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The man and his son had each bought a copy with serious misprints and pages missing. Harrop was obviously disappointed in his purchase. Although absent from the written article I linked, the television report stated that this book was the apex of Harrop’s reading for the last ten years. This is where I must depart from the culture around me and ask the question, “Harry Potter is the crowning achievement of your reading for the past decade: Are you serious?”
This is the very reason I haven’t read any of the Harry Potter series. Are they good books? Probably. Do they dive too deep into the occult? Don’t know—haven’t read ‘em. Are there too many other books to read? Yes. My reading list continually grows longer. I do my best to read often; I can’t even keep my reading list on this blog up-to-date (I’ve got a 12-inch stack of books on my coffee table right now, waiting to be read). To be quite honest, I just have no interest in reading Rowling’s tales (or watching the movie versions, for that matter). I have too many other enriching books to devour.
I am not surprised at Harry’s cultural triumph, and I don’t even think it’s necessarily a bad (or good) thing. I just wonder, what if the general public took to Pascal’s Pensées or Francis Schaeffer’s Trilogy like they do to Rowling’s books? (I suppose we got closer to this with the resurrection of Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien’s LOTR, with their Christian overtones.) Where would we as a culture be today?
Perhaps mine is a special case. Perhaps many people would rather read Harry Potter than the books I choose to read. Fair enough, but I can have my pipe dreams just the same, can’t I?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Hi Jon;
I just came to your blog after reading an interesting article about writing and reading, I think you may find it interesting (I will “sell” somebody else’s blog for a change :)
http://xtremextina.blogspot.com/
I try to read "valuable" things, but there is a place for fiction and even escape fiction. That said, lately the only things I've read that were written within the last decade were heresies (Da Vinci Code, God Delusion, etc). The Potter movies have been fairly good (have read none of the books).
Livingsword,
Thanks for the link. It was a good article, indeed!
Chris,
I think you are right; maybe I am overdramatizing things a bit. There is a place for "escape fiction"; I just wonder whether that place should be "first" as it seems with this book.
The books have been good reading but as the years have gone by they have started getting darker and darker and it was not a tale of a boy and magic.As a Christian I have often wrestled with"Am I reading the right thing".I still am....but I have to say that I did enjoy all of them.
But they will not be the best books I have read in the past 10 years !Horrors !I guess the success of these books have been that non readers have read them
i have often wondered which book or books of our cultural age may be considered apart of the classics. what will captivate the literary community such as a 1984, great gatsby etc.. i hope i live long enough to see which work(s) may transcend time.... good post!!
I'm listening to Stevie as I write. Any way, who's Harry Potter?
As you konw, I have enjoyed every one of these books - the movies I can take or leave. I do have to agree that the popularity of these books is quite astounding. It is a shame that a more substantive book is not in it's place - but then again, you wouldn't look as smart if it were. :)
Enjoyed the comments. Now that I have devoured the final installment of the series, I am looking forward to digesting a few books of higher import. I believe that Pacal's Penses is actually next on the list.
I'll let you know how it goes...
Josh,
Thanks for the comments! I am glad that you find time to read my incessant ramblings!
Jon
Post a Comment