Why? To make it a group thing? if so, why not read together out loud? Not critical just curious.:)
Bingo! The books are fun and made it on their own. After it was a hit in the UK and making inroads here, the money boys recognized the potential to make themselves rich. They made Rowlings richer but she had it made, on her own talent. There was substance before hype in this case.

BTW I noticed in the poll that nobody said they read them and didn't like them.;)

The dust jacket on the left came from Yahoo news photos, possibly from England. The jacket on the right is mine. Do you have a different one?

Yep, the one on the left is the UK edition.

Bruce said: Why? To make it a group thing? if so, why not read together out loud? Not critical just curious. :-)


We tend to listen on family trips in the car, although so far we've replaced some tv viewing with the audio book. Truth is, the man who reads these novels on tape, Jim Dale, is spectacularly good at what he does, and the tapes themselves are a substantive form of enhanced entertainment compared to reading the printed version, aloud or otherwise.

He is so good at it, that I was a bit disappointed at first hearing of some of the characters in the films. This guy has done the best job of rendering written fantasy that I've ever heard. In the current book, he creates voices for something like 250 individual characters and beasties.

Wow, I thought is was just somebody reading it straight. That might be fun even after reading the book.
As for the movies, I thought they did an amazing job of not leaving out any of the straight story line. But reading the book it seemed like there was so much peripheral stuff going on besides the story line. Maybe it was just in my mind.:D

Jim Dale does an <i>amazing</i> job on the audiobooks. he actually won a coupla Grammys for his work on the books.

Russotto, what plot points are you talking about that don't make any sense?

Regency formula: The formula a Regency romance follows. I don't read romance and don't know much about it.

Plot points: Trying not to spoil too much, the item Voldemort was seeking and the Order was trying to protect would have done Voldemort no good had he gotten it. That was the major one, there were several other minor ones which would be easier to patch up. (Voldy's explanation for why he didn't do the job himself was not credible, for instance)

I'm almost tempted to check one out.. is one of the rules "Have a nebbishly scientist/geek character running around for comic effect?"

Minor Spoilers
 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Russoto, you're right that it wouldn't have done Voldy any good now. However, I must point out that he didn't know that. After all, if he'd have had that it 16 years ago Harry would have died having never been within 20 miles of He-Who-Shall-Not-Get-a-Tan and the good guys would've lost back then. Due to the nature of the item he couldn't know how useful it would be untill he examined it.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Now, Tom's (I did enjoy Dumbledore calling him that) refusal to enter the Ministry to retrieve it himself then popping in like it was no big deal was a little annoying. However, it's a kids book. It's hardly fair to expect it to live up to adult book standards.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Oh yeah, did anybody else get what the hell exactly was behind that veil? It sounded like a portal to the afterlife or somesuch but I didn't get it...
Spoiler: I am still pissed nothing happened between Ron and Hermione. What the hell? They're 15 hormones churning and they act like, well, Ron's parents. Or rather they don't, the Weasleys do have what seems like 3 dozen kids. I don't know... Maybe Rowling felt a few more pages would be a bit to much. Maybe we'll find out later that something was happening, but since the book always follows Harry we didn't get to find out about it until they tell him.

Re: Minor Spoilers
 

He didn't, but Dumbledore did.

Quote:

     Oh yeah, did anybody else get what the hell exactly was behind that veil? It sounded like a portal to the afterlife or somesuch but I didn't get it...

I don't know what the technique is called, the literal portrayal of a figurative expression. Piers Anthony uses it a lot too. One who has died is often said to have "passed beyond the veil".

Re: Minor Spoilers
 

Yep I did too! You know, that could be a solution there... Everybody who's uptight about saying "Voldemort" could just refer to him Tom.

Well they're both too stubborn to admit anything. Besides, Hermione is still writing to that Viktor Krum.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Well yeah, Dumbledor did know that the info wouldn't do He-That-Needs-an-Eye-Doctor any good. But obviously Dumbledor intentionally used the situation to draw him out. Quite successfully too I might add. Admittedly it would have gone smoother without the DA's involvement but it would have taken longer too. Also that would have left the main character out of the action.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I was very glad to see Ron get some recognition. He deserves it. To hell with Vicktor Crum, Ron is the man. Hermione needs to see where the real action is. I hope Ron continues to evolve upwardly over the next two books. He's going to have to keep up with Hermione, especially since she seems to be turning into a McGonagal/Mrs. Wesley hybrid. Though I'd really like to see him be more useful to Harry, taking on Deatheaters and such.

And as for Harry Potter not being literature, well, I'd strongly take issue with that; I knew there was a major literary event happening here about the time I noted that my rereadings of HP were catching up to the number of my rereadings of the much more adult Lord Of The Rings. And I'm forty-seven years old. Sure, HP is kid-lit, but it is literature nonetheless. It will stand with Alice In Wonderland, Wind in the Willows, and The Hobbit.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I believe I said it was a kids book. Not that it wasn't literature. I believe it qualifies. The point stands that it's not meant to stand up to the same level of critique. I think the books are excellent, just that it's unfair to nitpic the plot as if it were a book for adults. So, either someone else said it wasn't literature that I didn't see or you didn't understand that in calling it a book I didn't mean that it wasn't literature. I don't know which.