tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post1908928241156118961..comments2024-01-10T17:38:08.333-05:00Comments on Elizabeth Burns: Harry PotterLiz Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16671844475303001610noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-23161485734274755662007-07-17T23:08:00.000-04:002007-07-17T23:08:00.000-04:00We are a country founded by Puritans. I think ther...We are a country founded by Puritans. I think there's always this air of "Do you deserve your good fortune?" that is directed toward those who are somehow, by their own hand, wealthy. Heiresses? We're okay with them, panty-less, incarcerated and all -- somehow they seem to have a right to their glitzy famous-for-being-famous paparazzi laden lives. (Shades of a people who came from a kingdom to a democracy?) But someone who worked and stuck her head up above the crowd? Well, let's quickly somehow link her with Satan. Because the rest of us haven't managed that type of level.<BR/><BR/>Sometimes we are SO STRANGE as a society. So very, very strange.<BR/><BR/>And me too, Jenn. Just want to read the book. Don't need anyone else's opinion so much. I just KNOW someone's going to write a spoiler somewhere before I get to it, so I am NOT READING much more about it!tanita✿davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01671822274852087499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-78729938726487887442007-07-17T15:04:00.000-04:002007-07-17T15:04:00.000-04:00Totally with you about it being all about the stor...Totally with you about it being all about the story, Liz. That's how I justify my internal conflict about wanting to read more, but having TV shows and movies that I enjoy, too. <BR/><BR/>I'm honestly not reading much of the Harry Potter coverage. I'm glad to see this much hype over a book, especially a children's book, but I personally want to sit down with my copy of HP7 and get lost in the story. Then and only then will I lift my head up to see what anyone else thinks. (Of course, I'd better get cracking, because I'm not quite finished re-reading book 5, let alone book 6).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-30230390287305723862007-07-16T23:39:00.000-04:002007-07-16T23:39:00.000-04:00While I'm neither here nor there about Harry Potte...While I'm neither here nor there about Harry Potter (although I have now finished book 4 and am starting to catch the fever a little bit), I do like that all the the rhetoric on both sides results in at least some people thinking about reading and literature in our culture. <BR/><BR/>I agree will Gail that other books have received their share of bashing, not to mention the entire genres of chick lit and romance novels. I say if people are reading, they're expanding their minds no matter which books are in their hands.Reneehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00986482123482600440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-37331163236321392152007-07-16T12:31:00.000-04:002007-07-16T12:31:00.000-04:00Actually, I think other books do take the same kin...Actually, I think other books do take the same kind of beating Harry Potter does, they've just been adult books in the past. <B>The DaVinci Code</B>, for instance. All kinds of popular bestsellers have been bashed, whether or not it was deserved.<BR/><BR/>As a culture, we support the little guy. We like to see little guys like us get ahead. Once the little guy gets ahead and is the big guy, and no longer like us, we like to see him taken down. Whether it's right or wrong, we have a history of doing it. Wild success offends our democratic natures.<BR/><BR/>Personally, I don't think the article about Harry Potter doing little to change reading habits is anti-Potter. I read it as saying that reading habits are in such a state that even Potter can't do anything for them. It's a comment on our reading culture, not Harry Potter.Gail Gauthierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01673131515563387968noreply@blogger.com