h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I spotted you in the "what are you reading" thread and thought I'd wander over to ask...

did you enjoy them better for reading them in one go? I think I did.

Definitely better. When I first read the "thin book trio", I read them with about a year between each one. I thought it was about as deep as an Enid Blyton boarding-school saga, missed all the background, just thought it was a cutesy story about a fairly incompetent boy-wizard.

Reading them in sequence was much better! Severus is still the best character, though...

What did you think of the films (lousy question, of course!)
SQ

I agree with you - up to book 3 they were just amusing kids' books. After 4 they got very interesting - although from 3 I fell totally in love with Sirius ( in book 5) and I have thought Snape one of the best characters ever since book 1.

The films... hmmmm well, I like them as films, but they have to leave so much out I wonder how people who haven't read the books can follow what's going on - especially the 5th film (and again about Sirius)

Book 7 was a bit of a shocker though - I have had to disappoint The Gruesome Twosome by telling them that they will have to wait until they can read it themselves!

Sirius - well, he was a fabulously naughty boy (the Marauders' Map? Woooop) who felt sore about being underused. He was acted brilliantly, though, I could see the character's horror of Azkaban and worry for Harry all the way through.

I didn't see the film of the Goblet, and I didn't enjoy the film of the OotPhoenix at all (too much left out). But brill acting all around!

How old are your Gruesome Twosome? My munchkin's too small to have even the first three books read to her. We'll stick to Pooh Bear and Alice in Wonderland for now! Book 7 was brilliantly formed, anyway... (though I dread to think how the story will be chopped in the film.)

the Gruesome Twosome are 9 and 10andahalf (very important, that half) and are each reading HP1. #2 Gruesome is reading it in English but #1 Gruesome is insisting on reading it in German. Which doesn't bother me too much - anything to get her reading. (and I can read it afterwards)

But you're right - the acting for Sirius made me totally fall in love with the character. Gary Oldman is absolutely fantastic anyway, and as Sirius he really pulled all the stops out. What didn't you enjoy about the 5th film? For me it was just that so much was left out - but again I thought Gary Oldman made it. But what really made me was that he was just suddenly killed. in the book there was a huge build up, and in the trailer there was that fantastic duel with Bellatrix - but they cut that in the film and it was almost a "by the by, Sirius got killed"

How old is your munchkin, if you don't mind me asking. Have you tried her with the Rainbow Fairy books? there are about a gazillion of those at the last count!

The film? It was just the chops! Everything I enjoyed about the book ended on the floor, you're right that there was no build-up of atmosphere. From the Quidditch to the Exams, too much was missing for my taste! But all of the actors are extremely able, and worth every penny they're paid (it's not their fault that the directors can't squash 800 pages into a normal-length film!)

Your daughter is reading the book in English??? Wow! I couldn't read in German until I was 16 or so - very impressive! Do they know any other languages? Are you based in Germany? Have they travelled around, to help get languages?

Munchkin is 4, just. We love reading, go to the library frequently, and have a lot of books for her. In fact, we have a lot of books for me and husband (around 3000 I think) so I'm trying to instill a love of books in her... Heard of the Rainbow Fairy books, but we haven't investigated them yet. Any book she reads, I have to enjoy, or I just won't read it again. Mean mummy!

oh 4! how cute! she might be a little bit small for the Rainbow Fairies then. (at that age my two loved a book called Herb The Vegetarian Dragon)

As for the German/English thing: sorry, I always assume that everyone knows me () we're English but the Gruesomes were born here in Germany and are growing up bilingual. Unfortunately, #1 seems not to have been bitten by the reading bug, and finds it easier to read in German since she has trouble working out what some words are in English (it's fiendishly difficult to work out pronunciation sometimes )

But #2 is more like me, and likes to show off, so she's doing it in English.