Monday, July 23, 2007
Just Wild About Harry
With a movie out and the final book in the series delivered Saturday, it seems that everyone's wild about Harry....Potter that is. Despite me being an avid reader of darn near anything, I've never gotten into the young wizard. Of course, it's been highly recommended by one and all. And I think that's part of the problem. I'm always wary of "runaway best sellers". I felt the same way about John Grisham, say 15 years ago.
Both should have been instantly appealing to me. Grisham: Southern writer, lawyer, great sense of humour, decent characters, fast-moving plots. Potter: Geeky guy with little round glasses, fantasy, magic. Heck, Alan Rickman's presence in the movies should have been enough. While I've read some early Grisham (had to for a lit class and read the next 3 for fun), I don't read him now. If I were in a waiting room with nothing but his books, I'd pick up another. Barring that, I just don't find him *that* interesting. Or more precisely, I find many many books MORE interesting. Will I ever read the famous series? Maybe. If there were world enough and time, I'd probably read every piece of fiction and every biography published.
Unfortunately, there's not. And while the rest of the world finds him tantalizing, I'm simply unphased by Harry.
Both should have been instantly appealing to me. Grisham: Southern writer, lawyer, great sense of humour, decent characters, fast-moving plots. Potter: Geeky guy with little round glasses, fantasy, magic. Heck, Alan Rickman's presence in the movies should have been enough. While I've read some early Grisham (had to for a lit class and read the next 3 for fun), I don't read him now. If I were in a waiting room with nothing but his books, I'd pick up another. Barring that, I just don't find him *that* interesting. Or more precisely, I find many many books MORE interesting. Will I ever read the famous series? Maybe. If there were world enough and time, I'd probably read every piece of fiction and every biography published.
Unfortunately, there's not. And while the rest of the world finds him tantalizing, I'm simply unphased by Harry.
