Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Books: Harry Potter V & VI read them again, seriously

I'll refer to both books here, since they are out in the wild for some time and I read both again—in preparation for the 21st of July, obviously.
Just to make sure, the titles are:

  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


There is nothing I could say about the content, at least, nothing new. But there is something I noticed during this second reading of these books—when I read them for the first time, I "ploughed" through the books—it is the style of the writing. These (childrens-)books have an amazing flow in the story, worded almost flawlessly, especially if I dared to compare them to some acclaimed books targeted at adults. It took this second time for me to understand why some younger children had problems reading these books, J.K. Rowling said so herself: They are written for an older audience. The books "grow up" with the readers. I have to admit, I was impressed.

My recommendation: Read the books again. The experience is a more relaxed one the second time around. Book 7 "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" needs "ploughing" again. Its a matter of self-defense against too chatty people in the media or the Internet, I'm afraid. But I won't wait that long to read the book again—to really enjoy it.

IMHO: What is wrong with the media or other people trying to spoil the experince for the shallow fame of being the first to ruin the reading of a book reporting the conclusion? I don't have an answer for that, but may they be punished accordingly.

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