One Side of Tripe, Please. Hold the Onions.
Let it not be said that I am not amenable to changing my opinions — specifically my opinion concerning the Harry Potter Phenomenon. Considering that I am a devoted follower of H.P. Lovecraft, who is frequently described as a minor hack writer, I should not be casting any stones in regards to what I deem “literature” and what I deem “tripe.”
LOLCat courtesy of ICanHasCheezburger.com
At lunch today, I learned that the Exceedingly Intelligent Wife of an Exceedingly Intelligent Local Attorney in her eagerness to read the final Harry Potter book actually shut herself in their bathroom. I admire that in a Reader.1 It reminds me of My Younger Self on several levels. A few encouraging bits in the media about Rowling’s deft tying up of loose ends in the series also piqued my interest.
So I ordered Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone from amazon.com. I got the mass-market paperback edition, with the rationale that I wouldn’t be spending too much money (and since I wasn’t spending too much money I could therefore justify the purchase of something a smidge more erudite — the annotated version of T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land — and something “just for fun” — Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s Knitting Rules!).2
I’m also looking for Something Else to Read because I’ve reached that part in The Fugitive when I want to slap Marcel into the middle of next week. “Albertine left you, eh? Perhaps it’s really not due to her lesbian proclivities and wild, abandoned desires but actually may have something to do with the fact that you’re an overprotective, overly jealous, clueless git?”
So, while I have this sinking feeling that I may be sucked into Pott-headness in much the same way people talk about being drawn into a stumbled-upon, coincidental televangelist broadcast and “finding Jesus,”3 I’m giving myself a few pats on the head about my trying to remain open-minded.
This whole enterprise may be a dismal failure. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone may suffer a fate similar to The Blithedale Romance, or, Heaven forfend, I might actually enjoy reading it.
* * * * *- That’s “Reader” with a capital “R,” which I know this lady is. [↩]
- On a side note, my cab driver who drove me home from my doctor’s appointment up at University Hospital last week was telling me that his wife knits, and that she reads a lot of knitting blogs, too, and did I know that the Yarn Harlot had been in town in April? [↩]
- When I hear this phrase I often think, “Was He lost? I didn’t know He was missing! Where did you see Him last? Have you tried retracing your steps?” [↩]
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Ha! Your LOL cat choices are superb!
Uh,hum…. I’m one of those who finished the 7th Harry Potter book less than 24 hours after receiving it in the mail (my husband finished it late last night — we did a bit of tag team reading, passing it off whenever one of us needed to do something else). I have really enjoyed the series, and while there are plenty of things you can knitpick about (aren’t there always?), I think my enjoyment is what really matters in the end. I find the stories to be very entertaining, and I appreciate the way Rowling injects humor into even the much “darker” later books.
If you choose to read more of the series after “Sorcerer’s Stone” you will find that the books show an interesting progression in complexity of language, character, and plot that (to me, anyway) makes a great deal of sense.
I hope you enjoy the book!
July 24th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Despite the sardonic tone of my post, I’m looking forward to reading it. I have the sneaking feeling I may have been missing out on an interesting series all these years.
July 24th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I won’t comment on the Harry Potter book yet, but I’m very interested to see if you like it, something tells me you will. But your footnote regarding “finding Jesus” was hilarious I always wondered if he was lost too.
July 25th, 2007 at 6:17 am
If I wanted to find Jesus, I’d throw a rock in Mexico. I’m confident that I’d end up hitting him.
Jakys was surprised that he enjoyed the movies, which leave a lot out, as far too many movies do.
A bathroom is incomplete without reading material.
September 12th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
[...] will admit, despite my earlier reservations and protestations to the contrary, that I am enjoying the Harry Potter series. “Enjoying” may be too tepid of an [...]