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

"I eyed the blind watchmaker in the bookshop today, passing through Sheffield station"

Thought that was some kind of code for a minute

I too blitzed HP7 last weekend (they are books for kids but I still find them all fun to read.)

Currently on Edmund Crispin's 'Holy Disorders'

" ... some people are so snobby about Harry Potter!"

Yup, including Harold Bloom, Yale professor and literary/cultural critic:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17439192/site/newsweek/

"The book you cared most about sharing with your kids: The two Alice books by Lewis Carroll are the finest literary fantasies ever written. They will last forever, and the Harry Potter books are going to wind up in the rubbish bin. The first six volumes have sold, I am told, 350 million copies. I know of no larger indictment of the world's descent into subliteracy."

More here:

http://wrt-brooke.syr.edu/courses/205.03/bloom.html

[Don't shoot the messenger ]

Do you mean that, because a Yale professor professed such a sentiment, the sentiment is true? I don't wish to shoot anyone but I thought I'd throw in my worth.

I'd agree that the Alice books are fantastic but that's my opinion. I really enjoy the Harry Potter books but that's my opinion.

This all seems akin to the 'what is literature?' nonsense that people, mainly academics, who think themselves superior spout. Answers (cf what you quote from Bloom) such as "literature is what has stood the test of time" imply that Shakespeare's sonnets, for instance, were not 'literature' when he wrote them but have become so in the intervening years. If you think that then good luck

oh my he's very far up humself isn't he, Mr.Bloom (or is it prof?)

Trotting out all that guff. People read to enjoy sometimes.

Although the Alice books are wonderful - I would dispute that they are children's books. My Gruesomes like the stories but get bogged down in some of the detail he put in.

Shakespeare's plays were hugely popular entertainment for the masses in his time. Popularity per se doesn't preclude quality.

The English language is putty in my hands.

In fairness...I'm not being snobby, just offering the opinion that they're not as good as is made out.

Unlike 'The Ancestor's Tale', which *everyone* should read.

Going on holiday on Saturday, so am sorting out my holiday reading.

Have been trying to get hold of American Gods, but every bookshop I have tried is out of stock, and even the suppliers don't seem to have it at the moment, so I will have to order it and wait a few weeks for it to turn up, or hunt for a second hand copy on Ebay/Amazon.

I can get Anansi Boys - does it matter if I read that first, or should I start with American Gods?

"In fairness...I'm not being snobby, just offering the opinion that they're not as good as is made out."

As good as who is making out?

The media? Well, no, they aren't as good as the media hype makes them out to be. Of course not, nothing ever is.

People on this thread? I don't think anyone has claimed anything more than that they found them an enjoyable read. Not every book one reads has to have lasting literary merit or be educational. Sometimes its good to be able to relax with some escapist nonsense.

"Sometimes its good to be able to relax with some escapist nonsense."

Amen to that. While I prefer sci-fi and my wife prefers fantasy (two different things IMHO), its all good. Interesting input from Tolkien here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Fairy-Stories

Anne Frank's journal.

I'm in the middle of Stardust which I found on the shelf while I was waiting in line for my Potter . I had seen a preview for a movie version when I went to go see Potter 5 and thought it looked interesting. At the time I didn't realise it was Gaiman. It's okay so far if a little slow, not so jazzy as the Potter .

Meanwhile, I've had American Gods on my 'to be read' pile for over a year now. Guess I should pick it up next?

Also in the middle of Peter and the Starcatchers which I sidelined for the Potter. I'm very nearly full up on Potter, although I haven't finished listening to the audio version in the car...

Sorry, Harry Potter just makes me happy.

>> I can get Anansi Boys - does it matter if I read that first, or should I start with American Gods? <<

No. I hope I'm not giving too much away by saying that Anansi is a minor character in American Gods.

The HP thing...I'm not saying they're bad, I just got bored with them. I read #5 and wished I hadn't bothered. I think they peaked at #3. Ditto, the films...can't be arsed with them any more. As one reviewer of the latest opus put it: "Danger, baddies, magic. Danger, baddies, magic. Danger, baddies, magic."

I just started Hawksmoor, by Peter Ackroyd.

I've nearly finished The Queen's Fool by Phillippa Gregory.

Sorry to go back several days, but I want to respond to Edward here:

"Bagpuss...
Ta! I didn't know there was a new Thusday Next. I *do* hope you realise that the missing footnotes thing is a meta-textual joke. (Sorry if I'm patronising you here...and even sorrier if I'm not.)"

Well, no. It looks distinctly like a mistake to me. To quote the erratum (http://www.jasperfforde.com/tn5_erratum.pdf):

"Even though I'd like to claim it's an obscure Nextian joke that requires a brain the size of Jupiter to understand, it isn't. It's a balls-up of the highest magnitude..."


As for the topic under discussion, I intend to read Harry Potter. I think the books are good. Yes they're written simply enough to breeze, but that doesn't mean they entirely lack depth. There is some nice blurring of the lines between good and bad which creeps into the later books and, to me, elevates them above the still enjoyable first couple.

I do wonder at the HP books' huge popularity. I read and enjoyed the first four 'when I were a lad', then got tired of them. They seem pleasant enough and might be quite nice to read as an 'easy' book (simple pleasures, that kind of thing). Perhaps that's why they're popular. Though I'm not saying I don't indulge in simple pleasures myself (I favour Bernard Cornwell for that). I just find the HP books rather average.

Bagpuss:
I'm still not convinced. I reckon its a double bluff.

I love the line,
"Prego! Il Gatto del Cheshire!"

Eh, more Andy Kaufman than Jasper Fforde in that case. I'm just glad they didn't miss them out of Something Rotten, where they take up more than half of some of the pages.

reading the last part of the (accurately named) Viking trilogy by Tim Severin: King's Man.

it's good stuff, but now he's in scotland with the King, McBeath his mad wife who keeps wringing her hands and the king is asking about these three Norns he met ... hmmmmmmm

The discussion here has sent me to reread First Among Sequels, despite the pile of books I have yet to get through.

<>

You've probably finished it by now... I hope you agree with me that it's awesome! (Very dark, though... and the death toll is horrendous!)

I am still reading David Gemmell and Stephen Baxter's amazing novel Evolution. His description of the consequences of the Yucatan comet is mind-bending!

Vicky