Of why harry potter and dan brown books sucks

[Zankou 2.0]

I think it's quite natural to feel that way about 'Over Hyped' books and films. I still haven't read any Harry Potter Books or watched Forrest Gump. I like the Harry Potter films though but I will not be reading The Da Vinci Code, even though someone gave me it for Christmas!

Why not? It was a very good book.

[WelshRarePasta]

We could start a whole new sub-thread! Books/movies/shows we were too cool to watch, and then felt like morons for having put off for so long...

My list would look (incompletely) like this--

Harry Potter
Forrest Gump (hrmm, a pattern emerges)
The Sandman
The Watchmen, V for Vendetta (movie and book)
Ocean's 11 (new one, old one still isn't that good)
The Shawshank Redemption (movie)
Love Actually (ok, I'm a softie, I admit it... but I fought for years with myself before I'd watch Romantic Comedies)
TV in general (didn't watch any for ~10 years, and now I find there's some quite good shows on)

Books I was too cool to read, was convinced by friends to read anyway, and still wished I hadn't (not saying they are bad, I just didn't like them):

His Dark Materials
DaVinci Code
Lemony Snicket or whatever

[Capellini]

THANK YOU re: the Pullman books!

The first one was good, but the other two made me wish I was illiterate!

[~NoodleDemon~]

THANK YOU re: the Pullman books!

The first one was good, but the other two made me wish I was illiterate!

Well, c'mon, they weren't that bad.

Certainly they weren't as good as the first one, and the first one was moderately interesting at best.

[WelshRarePasta]

Not gonna cite their literariness, since that seems a contentious label at the moment, but... I just couldn't see the point. That whole trilogy seemed like it was just restating what had been stated before by, oh, about a million and a half authors, and not very well at that. I hate to say it, but those books are on a very short list of books I haven't finished reading once I started. So far, it includes:

An American Tragedy by Dreiser (ejected from the window of my truck at 60mph for sucking that bad)
His Dark Materials (still sitting on my shelf after reading half of the first one because I haven't found a suitably bereft charity yet)
The Ethics by Spinoza (because it makes my brain hurt, although I do intend to finish it one day just to say I did)

[pieces o'nine]

I had big plans to *never* read several books, among them: The Confessions of Augustine. When it was required for a class I put it off as long as possible and then 'read' every page at blinding speed so that as little as possible would contaminate my mind.

I passed the test.

And I remain happy in my dislike for All Things Augustine.

[Detective TurtleHolmes]

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Read it. I wish I'd read it earlier.

[black bart]

I think it's quite natural to feel that way about 'Over Hyped' books and films. I still haven't read any Harry Potter Books or watched Forrest Gump. I like the Harry Potter films though but I will not be reading The Da Vinci Code, even though someone gave me it for Christmas!

Why not? It was a very good book.

I've lost the Da Vinci Code...a Spacetime continuum vortex opened and a Pterodactyl ate the book...

...Honest.

[Zankou 2.0]

THANK YOU re: the Pullman books!

The first one was good, but the other two made me wish I was illiterate!

Those books were made of pure fucking win. I don't know what the hell you are talking about.

[black bart]

THANK YOU re: the Pullman books!

The first one was good, but the other two made me wish I was illiterate!

Those books were made of pure fucking win. I don't know what the hell you are talking about.

Yet again I have to agree with you, it just goes to show how peoples tastes can differ...I cannot understand how anyone would dislike 'His Dark Materials'. Pass the Tokay Zankou old chap I feel a parallel universe coming on.

[GreenRain22]

Dan Brown is fantastic and creative, and considerably brave to consider writing something that Jesus actually sexed it up with Mary Magdalene! My church hates him, and this fuels me even more.

J.K Rowling started writing because she WANTED to. Not because her bloody agent said, "Write this!" She got the idea and jotted it down. She published it, and she started writing even more.

Dan Brown and J.K Rowling will both go down as some of the best authors of the 20th/21st century.

Paul Pullman? AWESOME.

>> I realllly don't know where you guys came from, but you have pretty bad taste in books. If you want REAL litature, go read Mark Twain or Shakespear. :P

[~NoodleDemon~]

Ummm...

Philip Pullman.

Not Paul Pullman.

[fueledbycoffee]

Dan Brown is fantastic and creative, and considerably brave to consider writing something that Jesus actually sexed it up with Mary Magdalene! My church hates him, and this fuels me even more.

J.K Rowling started writing because she WANTED to. Not because her bloody agent said, "Write this!" She got the idea and jotted it down. She published it, and she started writing even more.

Dan Brown and J.K Rowling will both go down as some of the best authors of the 20th/21st century.

Paul Pullman? AWESOME.

>> I realllly don't know where you guys came from, but you have pretty bad taste in books. If you want REAL litature, go read Mark Twain or Shakespear. :P

Actually, Pullman's name is Philip.

Kid, I won't kiss Dan Brown's feet for suggesting that Jesus boned Mary Magdalene. The idea's been around for years. All he did was dumb it down for mass consumption. Also, you shouldn't like/dislike something just to be contrary towards something you hate, and yes, this is a mistake I make frequently. But while my Dad loves Miles Davis, does that make him any less cool? I think not.

And everyone starts writing because they want to. It's why they want to that's in question.

Do yourself a favor. Check out Neil Gaiman. You may just change your opinion on what's modern literature.

[Capellini]

HDM was tedious, didactic, and I found the language to be immature. The comparison to HP is stark.

HP presented intricate themes and murky questions about morality and life, and used language that was challenging to it's target audience.

HDM took an idea as old as time (organized religion sucks ass) and used pedantic and easy-to-follow language to beat it's target audience over the head with it, in a not evenly slightly veiled attempt to indoctrinate.

I am also VERY intrigued by the respective responses of Rowling and Pullman to media criticism re: religious issues. Rowling was completely dismissive of all talk that churches and such were suggesting their congregations ignore the books, and Pullman complained that religious groups didn't think he was evil.

Pullman had an obvious axe to grind, it wasn't even a unique or interesting axe, and he used a highly contrived children's story to do it. It was the absolute definition of didactic.

[Zankou 2.0]

HDM was tedious, didactic, and I found the language to be immature. The comparison to HP is stark.

HP presented intricate themes and murky questions about morality and life, and used language that was challenging to it's target audience.

HDM took an idea as old as time (organized religion sucks ass) and used pedantic and easy-to-follow language to beat it's target audience over the head with it, in a not evenly slightly veiled attempt to indoctrinate.

I am also VERY intrigued by the respective responses of Rowling and Pullman to media criticism re: religious issues. Rowling was completely dismissive of all talk that churches and such were suggesting their congregations ignore the books, and Pullman complained that religious groups didn't think he was evil.

Pullman had an obvious axe to grind, it wasn't even a unique or interesting axe, and he used a highly contrived children's story to do it. It was the absolute definition of didactic.

*SPOILERS*




It was supposed to be a direct parallel to the Chronicles of Narnia. The religion depicted in the book doesn't even exist, and it wasn't actually God they defeated, anway.

HDM was full of philosophy, and I liked the way in which it was written.

And, besides, the story presented was just so awesome that you can disregard it's faults.

And in all fairness, Harry Potter is also tedious.