Am I the only person here that has never watched Harry Potter nor read the books?

You're not alone JTW, I've not read the books, but an ex-boyfriend did drag me to see the second film. It was OK, but it didn't set my world alight! He also told me I'd "missed a treat" in not reading the books which just made me not want to read them even more. It's almost as if we're being told that not only must we read the books and watch the films, but love them too!

I don't agree that it's a loss to those of us who choose not to read them, as Mikay says it's all down to personal taste.
 
When I first heard of the Harry Potter books, they did not sound very interesting & the hype was annoying. However, I got the first one to read to my children & it single handedly got my son reading! He just couldnt wait for me to read him the next bit so took over himself.

Since then we have read all the books and I thoroughly enjoyed them. We have also seen all the movies and will see the new ones as they come out.

My son has moved on to read a huge variety of books since then, including more "worthy" stuff :D
 
Obviously it would only be a loss if it proved to be something you'd have liked. Trouble being, you wouldn't know that till you've read them.

RegarRAB

Mark
 
Haven't read the books nor seen the films, and I'm not likely to. I just have no interest in them. But, I'm not really the target demographic.

I think they're good books for getting children into reading. I've heard a few of my friend's kiRAB say they like them.
 
I felt the same.

I DID watch the first one on TV,but it left me totally cold and I have no urge to see any of the others or read the books.

I previously had been interested to read a bit of the books to try and work out what the attraction was, but the film didn't inspire me at all.

JK Rowling does my head in when she starts moaning about her celebrity and how much money she has... Well don't write any more books then. :rolleyes: (Yes, I know this is supposed to be the last but she started moaring about 3 books ago :rolleyes:).
 
They age with the kiRAB getting darker and darker, and by the seventh they're definitely not 'kiRAB' books. The 'Order of The Phoenix', for eample, has some of the most calculated sadism you could ever wish for, or actually want to read.

RegarRAB

Mark
 
Although reluctant, I find myself agreeing.
When I was reading Deathly Hallows, I kept thinking to myself "I started when I was 11.. I think if I had been 11 when reading Deathly Hallows I would have possibly have been scarred for life!"

(okay, slight exageration, but I know I wouldn't have been able to cope with death that well aged 11)
 
Is it really a loss though?

I mean, it's inevitable that we'll miss things in life that we would have enjoyed, but I'm not sure that not experiencing something means it's a loss.

Anyway, I'm just being pernickety. :) What annoys me when is when people tell you it's 'your loss' if you don't enjoy something they do.

With the Potter novels it's just unfortunate that the hype surrounding them made me sick of the sound of them before I'd even picked one up ,and I'd not heard of them before the hype because they were in the children's section where I wouldn't have looked. My eldest sister has read them because of her children and said they're great and we usually have the same taste.
 
Never read any of the books - mostly because of the ridiculous overbearing hype machine that follows them around everywhere. I've never seen "Titanic", either, for the same reason.

Decided to watch one of the films when it was on over Christmas one year and it just confirmed my suspicions that people who rave about Harry Potter are doing it just to appear to be "with it". The films are *awful*, total CBBC after school fare with poor acting and a silly plot.
 
I saw the first harry potter film and remember thinking how bad it was. It was like some a childrens BBC production. Having read a few fantasy novels as a kid, like LOTR, fighting fantasy and dragonlance, I would have preferred something gritty and a bit gory.

Even the LOTR films fell short of this mark for me, something I attribute to the two screenplay writers being women. Anybody who watched the DVD commentaries on LOTR would have had to listen to those two gushing over the romance scenes (that didn't exist in the books).

HP is too childish and girly for my liking.
 
well i've never read any of the books and certainly have no interest in them as for the films i've only seen the first one from start to end.
 
The films are dire and poor translations of the books. I thought LOTR and LWW were decent translations of those books but I have never liked the HP films.

The books are very good. I would read them first before making massive generalisations because they are different from the films. I thought similar before reading them as was pleasantly surprised how good they actually were and I ain't massively into fantasy world type literature either. The main reason for their popularity is that they are good books, although the first few ones are hard going for adults as they are children's books initially. At the end of the day, they would be no bandwagon for people who want to be with it to jump on if the books had not generated popularity in the first place.
 
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