The thing that annoys me about this thread is this sense that the books should be bashed because some people consider them classics. No one considers them classic literature. They're great fantasy books, period. Are they the best? Of course not. Why people continue trying to compare them to better fantasy books in order to discredit JK is astounding. Grown men trying to make little boys and girls cry. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
I
love the Potter books.
Love. And I'm not ashamed to admit that. I've read Tolkien, Lewis, Dahl, etc, and I love their work too. But while I do indeed think say Tolkien's work is more "impressive", Rowling's work has captured my heart and imagination far more. I can't honestly say I've ever read a book where I felt as connected to the characters as I do with Harry Potter. It's hard to explain, but the books really remind me of being younger and lonely - the books always cheered me up. Yeah, I said it.
There was a time when I hated Harry Potter. Not because I didn't like the books; I had never read them. I hated them because at the time I was your typical brainwashed asshole Christian-type. The books promoted witchcraft and taught people how to do magic as far as I was concerned. A friend of mine was really into the first couple books and would always try to get me to read them, but I refused. Finally I made him a deal: if he read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (I'm sure you guys know why I would suggest such a book at the time), I would read the Sorcerer's Stone.
So we made the deal, and I went home with his Potter book and started reading. And reading. And reading. I literally couldn't put it down. When I did put it down, I couldn't help thinking about it. For me it opened up a new world to me. After I finished I immediately begged my parents to help me buy the two books. The funny thing is that we bought them the day before we went off to some big bible conference in Chicago. I took the books there and read them in public, and no one cared. I remember the founder of Grace Impact doing a sermon on Harry Potter and how harmless it is; lol I remember him comparing the names in the book to Klingon language, and like half the church was looking around like "wtf is a Klingon".
