Reading Harry Potter and a writing update

[averygoodun42]

So, like many of you, I've been trying to reread the Harry Potter series again before DH comes out. I've been at it for about three months now, and so far I'm approximately 2/3 of the way through Sorcerer's Stone. I thought it would get better after the first five pages (which have successfully put me to sleep about ten times), but it seems the entire book has a soporific effect on me.

They bore me now.

I'm putting most of the blame on fanfiction for this. Most of the fanfiction I read are written much better and have fuller characterizations and more interesting storylines. It's spoiled me.

Of course there are stinker fics out there as well, but, for the most part, I think the fic is better than canon.

I suspect that once I have read DH through, that will be it for me. I highly doubt I will be wanting to reread it or the series ever again. It just isn't good enough.

*sigh*

But it'll still be fun analysing and reviewing the books with everyone. In fact, I'm looking forward to that almost as much as to finding out who she kills off, and how she handles the epilogue. :-)


Got through the trial. Finally. Unexpectedly added another nasty character. Have got to a possible natural stopping point for the chapter, but I want to write out the rest of what I'd had planned before I send it off to the betas. The rest could very well be more comfortable as part of this chapter rather than as its own, but I won't know till I write it.

Also the entire thing needs major revision. Ach well.

That has probably been the most difficult 5000 words to get written in a long while. Glad I'm done with it. Now only 5 bajillion more to go before I finish.

Comments

[ginny-weasley31.livejournal.com]

Okay, I LOL'd at your feelings on the HP books... oddly I feel the same way. I like the 5th book the best, but even that one is trying to read at times. But the fanfic... there is some truly excellent stuff out that that I enjoy so much more. :) Sad but true.

Yay on SMHC! I'm looking forward to reading it.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

HP started boring me at about Book 4. I don't write fanfic. I think they just got long and tedious. I've never considered rereading them.

However, weirdly, I started liking the movies when they got to Book 3. I'm now looking forward to the movie more than the book. I think this is the first time this has ever happened to me.

[mollyssister.livejournal.com]

We agree 100% then! I reread all the books in preparation of HBP. I was also recovering from surgery so it dovetailed nicely. As I read I kept thinking things like "wouldnt Hermione's POV be interesting here" or "whats the back story on that?" Fan fiction answers those questions. I heart fan fiction!!!

[keladry_lupin]

I'm with you, though I am pushing forward with the books. I read a few hundred pages of OotP during my very lazy Fourth, and I've only read HBP twice, so I'm eager to re-read. (Despite everything in it.) I also blame fanfiction for this; ever since I started reading and writing in earnest, the books have been more of a reference for me than a source of entertainment. Nine times out of ten, I pick one up because I need to look something up (and I'm nowhere near the Internet).

[amsev.livejournal.com]

Hit the nail on the head with that one: Most of the fanfic I read is written by adults for adults, which makes a huge diff as far as I'm concerned. If I were to read children's books over and over, there are a couple others that I would rather read.

Of course, it would be such happy fair as "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf" and "Love You Forever", both of which, if you haven't read, do. And bring a box of Kleenex. Just looking at the cover of "Love You Forever" makes tears well in my eyes. It is one of the sweetest, most poignant books I've ever read and it's a kids' book! If you're looking for happier children's fair, I recommend "Old Turtle."

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure which book I like the best, it's been so long since I've read any of them. I think HBP was the last one, and that was two years ago! (I haven't re-read that one at all.) It used to be PoA; it would inspire me for some reason. But I've tried to re-read that as well and...

I guess it's that I know the story very, very well and re-reading isn't going to shine any more lights for me while the fanfic, the good stuff, anyway, is new and exciting.

:-)

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed 4. It was long, but it was dense and the subplots were exciting. I have a feeling it's the only one I'd be able to re-read in the future. However, it hasn't retained the emotion depth it had when I first read it.

Movie 3 was awesome! I hated the first two (although I probably will re-watch them this weekend), but Cuaron's vision was so perfect! Not to mention that was my favorite book. Movie 4, however... *snicker* I'm going to have to watch it again, I know, but I will have to put on my camp glasses before hand, maybe watch a bit of Clue! or Rocky Horror Picture Show to get me in the mood. :D

I'm hoping (and actually expecting) movie 5 to be a good one, though. The book was written to be a movie, after all.

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

I'm trying, really I am, to get through the books, but it seems unlikely since I haven't even managed to finish the shortest one yet!

But I definitely heart fanfiction as well! Writing as well as reading it. (GinnyW's icon, "Fanfiction: Cheaper than Therapy" is so very true!)

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

You've more discipline than I do, then, although I am trying.

*looks shifty* I actually haven't re-read HBP. At all. I've pulled it out for reference more than a couple of times, but I haven't gone through it from start to finish after that first time.

Sometimes I pull them out for reference even if I am near the internet, just because I know more or less where what I want is in the book and it'll be faster than navigating any site. Lol!

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

Yep, although there's a good case to be made for Young Adult lit. Sometimes that's even better than Adult Lit for re-readability, but perhaps that's just because the themes more prevelant in YA are ones that appeal to me.

I haven't read any of those books, so when I get use of the car again, I'll have to go to the library and check them out. I think "Bridge to Terebithia" is one of my favorite childhood tearjerker, although "Black Beauty" was a favorite as well. Of course, then there's the question of what is defined as children's and what as YA and what as pure Lit? I would actually put HP in the YA category, although it only barely makes it there on the refinement scale, while Black Beauty and Bridge both could easily be in any of the three categories.

And then there's classics like "A Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden" and "Anne of Green Gables" and the Emily books and "Little Women" and.... yeah. Lots of re-readable books out there.

[keladry_lupin]

HBP is so dead depressing! Yes, it's wartime, so I certainly know why, but with all the stuff Draco and Snape do, it's just a downer.

Now that I've actually visited the Lexicon from time to time, I usually go there for what I need to know. But the books are also handy.