J.K Rowling & education/general knowledge/literary refs

[Cranleigh]

Brilliant post, Aargh. I agree with you about Rowling's writing (although I've read far worse) & I strongly agree with this: But I wish more children were aware of the quality books Rowling is drawing from.

Primary teachers & beyond would ideally be aware of all and enrich lessons with literary references. I remember a teacher who compared Hardy to a famous painter, told us about Mrs Malaprop, Charles Kingsley, Lamb's Shakespeare and yet more. He was a junior school teacher and he enriched our lives.

[mike1880]

Chalk up another anti here. Daughter loved HP, son was very uninspired and wouldn't go near them, Mrs 1880 was at school with JKR and has nothing good to say of her and won't touch the books; I've read them and thought the first one derivative to put it mildly (aargh has said it all so much more eloquently than I ever could!), the rest of the series just getting less and less imaginative, worse and worse written, and more and more in need of the biggest editing job since writing began.

If it gets people reading I can't object, but my worry is that all the hype about how wonderful they are might put people off reading good books ("Blimey, if this is as good as they say it is then everything else must be really cr*p. Think I'll stick to X-Factor...").

Mike

[aargh]

Hooray.
I usually get a tirade about it as if Rowling was a religion
It got worse and worse the more I went into them for the dissertation of friend's DC, he asked me because he knew about my knowledge of books (was a Librarian) and myth. He didn't like them very much either so I can't understand why he chose the subject.

Still, I have to thank Rowling for one of my best librarian moments.
When the third Potter came out, a small boy came to my desk to ask if we had a copy yet.
"Yes," says I, "Do you want it?"
"Yes please!" says he
"Here it is then." says I, making a few magical gestures then producing it by magic. His expression was fantastic, but actually it had been (by chance) on the top of the pile of books on my lap under the desk.

[Fran17]

How wonderful!

[cinnamon]

Phew aargh, I thought we were the only family that didn't appreciate her books.

Add us to the list.

When the third book came out, my husband was given the boxed set for Christmas by his sister - no idea why, as they're not his thing at all and he's an adult. A couple of years later, the subject of JKR's books came up in conversation at a family occasion and my husband said they didn't appeal to him and he'd never read any. "But I gave you a set one Christmas" said my bemused SIL, who clearly thought she'd endowed him with some indispensable literary masterworks.

Luckily, these days we only give presents to each other's offspring.

[KS10]

This family loves the Harry Potter series and unashamedly so.

[aargh]

If you like magical worlds KS10, I am saying there are a lot of better thought out and well written books to try which you might like even more.

[scary mum]

We all loved them too & they are what gave DD her love of reading so I will be eternally grateful for that. However I did feel that the first one was the best and as they went on, the editor was afraid to take his or her red pen to them (there is one in the middle where nothing happens at all for the first few chapters).

[KS10]

No doubt, but sometimes you just enjoy a story for what it is. I'm not necessarily into magical worlds. I hated Pullman's His Dark Materials but persevered.

[KS10]

Sorry, I was replying to aargh's post.