The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Hello Fellow Book Addicts!

I started rolling some bookish questions at the beginning of 2023 while preparing for the yearly UNO Challenge, and I thought: why just keep these questions to the former participants, let's extend the circle to all members who would be interested to answer these bookish questions.

The idea came partly from an interview with Neil Gaiman in the Guardian. I am sharing the link, in case you are interested in his answers. 😊
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...


I am going to list the questions in the next post and you are welcome to reply to all of them or cherry-pick a few, whatever your mood. No strings attached and no time pressure. 😊

You are also welcome to list your special questions that I will add to the original Q-posts.

BOOKISH QUESTIONS


📘 My earliest reading memory
📗 My favourite book growing up
📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
📕 The book I came back to
📘The book I could never read again
📗 The book I discovered later in life
📒The book I am currently reading
📕 My comfort read
📘 Favorite Fictional Relationship (Romantic or Otherwise)
📗 A book(s) everyone (including friends) seems to love, but you ended up disliking (hating) it
📒 A Book(s) You Feel Guilty About Liking
📕 Any books/authors that you feel you should really try, but have never got round to reading yet
📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?
📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?
📒Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?
📕 Favourite book covers?
Books you love despite the terrible cover?
And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?

Res

Res

To start the ball rolling, here are my replies to a few of the questions:

📘 My earliest reading memory:
and (HU folklore tales. Loved them.)

📗 My favourite book growing up:
, (The Parent Trap) (The Gift of the Wondrous Fig Tree), ,

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager


📕 The book I came back to
There are lots of them (childhood/teenager favourites included), I keep re-reading my favourite books.

📘The book I could never read again


📗 The book I discovered later in life
Like Sonia, I was in my late 20s when I read the HP books. 😊
And in my late 30s when I came across Ilona Andrews.
Also books by D.E. Stevenson, Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Rosamunde Pilcher, Dorothy Dunnett and I am happy to say there are still many books I am waiting to discover (including the ones I find while reading your posts).

📒The book I am currently reading:


📕 My comfort read
Anything by Jane Austen (maybe NOT Mansfield Park), The City Watch books from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, plus

Fun, Melinda!

📘 My earliest reading memory


📗 My favourite book growing up
I don't know that I had a favorite book. I loved and . I read Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley High.

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
I started reading Stephen King as a teenager. I remember a friend's mom reading one of his books and telling me I wasn't old enough for it, so of course I had to read it. lol I can't recall which book it was now.

📘The book I could never read again
hated it. Hated.

📗 The book I discovered later in life
Loads of books. lol I was older when I found Goodreads and that opened up my world to so many books and authors that I never heard of before.

📒The book I am currently reading


📘 Favorite Fictional Relationship (Romantic or Otherwise)
Katsa & Po 💙

📕 Any books/authors that you feel you should really try, but have never got round to reading yet
Again, loads. I've never read and my bookclub is going to read it this year because of me. lol

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?
Maybe the cloak of invisibility from Harry Potter? It might be the perfect reading spot!

📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?


📕 Favourite book covers?
Books you love despite the terrible cover?
And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?
- loved the cover, not so much the book.

Kristie,

I have tried to read Lord of the Flies when I was younger, but abandoned it. No book chemistry between us. 😊

I read and used to love Little Women because of the movie version with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder, but when I reread it a few years ago, while still liking it, I realised I found it a bit too didactic for my grown-up tastes. :)

I used to hate Notre-Dame de Paris as a teenager and novels by Henry James while I had to read them for univerity studies, but my current book anathema is Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. I simply loathed it.
I read another book by Marillier some years ago (Wildwood Dancing) and was far from captivated, but I wanted to give her another try. It was a huge mistake on my part.
I know that she is a very popular author, but I found both books highly problematic, so I am steering away from her books entirely in the future. She is clearly not for me.

My face-to-face book club is reading Little Women in November and when we get together we are going to watch the movie version with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder. I'm not sure where they're getting it from, but I think they feel they need to educate me a bit. lol It was a deal they made that if they were all re-reading they also wanted to watch the movie and since I also haven't seen that one they decided it had to be done.

I find that a lot of books that I had to read for school were books that I didn't like. I'm not sure if it's because they were assigned or just that I don't tend to enjoy classics. Probably a combination of the two.

Funny how some authors just don't mesh with us, isn't it? I have a few authors that many people love and I either don't care for them or think they're just ok and I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

Kristie wrote: "Funny how some authors just don't mesh with us, isn't it? I have a few authors that many people love and I either don't care for them or think they're just ok and I'm not sure what all the fuss is about."

LOL, yes. I say to this: as with partners, so with books - one's love boat may be another's Titanic. 🤭

Melindam wrote: "...I say to this: as with partners, so with books - one's love boat may be another's Titanic. 🤭"

I love this! 😆

I know my not-favorites can be a bit controversial... lol

One series I think is over-hyped is The Dresden Files. I know everyone loves it and tells me it gets better, but I just don't love it. I feel it's just an ok series. I may give it a try again some day, but I'm not drawn to it.

I also thought The Martian was just ok. I liked the storyline, but there was too much math pulling me out of the story, so I just never found it really engaging.

And I like Neil Gaiman's work, but I don't understand the obsession there. He's like a 3 star author for me.

Kristie wrote: "I know my not-favorites can be a bit controversial... lol

One series I think is over-hyped is The Dresden Files. I know everyone loves it and tells me it gets better, but I just don't love it. I f..."

I know where you're coming from. Everyone gets so excited when a new Taylor Jenkins Reid comes out, but I have yet to rate one higher than 3 stars.

Kristie wrote: "One series I think is over-hyped is The Dresden Files."

I listened to Book 1 a month ago or so because Karen told me about James Marsters as narrator. And yes, he was great, but I disliked everything else about the story unfortunately. 🤭

Kirsten wrote: "I know where you're coming from. Everyone gets so excited when a new Taylor Jenkins Reid comes out, but I have yet to rate one higher than 3 stars"

Yes, the ratings for TJR are all over the place. I found Evelyn Hugo absolutely bland and uninteresting and Malibu Rising was pretty meh for me, so I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Carrie Soto this year. I gave that one 4 stars.

Melindam wrote: "Kristie wrote: "One series I think is over-hyped is The Dresden Files."

I listened to Book 1 a month ago or so because I was told that James Marsters is great at narrating the story. And yes, he w..."

See! And if I'm honest, Marsters sounded a little... juicy in that one. I recall there being a lot of mouth sounds and it being a little distracting.

Melindam wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "I know where you're coming from. Everyone gets so excited when a new Taylor Jenkins Reid comes out, but I have yet to rate one higher than 3 stars"

Yes, the ratings for TJR are all..."

I really enjoy TJR more than I thought I would. I still haven't read Carrie Soto because I didn't love her character in Malibu Rising and I'm not a big tennis fan, but everyone seems to enjoy that one regardless of the sports theme.

Kristie wrote: "I still haven't read Carrie Soto because I didn't love her character in Malibu Rising and I'm not a big tennis fan, but everyone seems to enjoy that one regardless of the sports theme."

Honestly, while I remembered her name from Malibu Rising, that was pretty much it. And her "role" there is hardly mentioned by TJR in Carrie Soto, it's like she herself lost interest in that particular plotline after Malibu Rising.

I know next to nothing about tennis, but there was something about the dynamics in this novel that really kept me going.

I am planning on listening to the full cast audio version for this book some time, I am curious how they adapted it.

Thanks, Melinda. I plan to read it at some point. I also didn't want to read Daisy Jones because it didn't sound interesting to me at all. A friend said I had to read it, so I did and I really enjoyed it. I have to say that the audio is the way to go with that one. I don't think I would have liked it half as much if I had read it instead of listening.

Kristie wrote: "TI don't think I would have liked it half as much if I had read it instead of listening"

Yes, sometimes great narration makes a lot of difference. There are a few books where I was aware that had I read them in print/on kinlde, I wouldn't have enjoyed them as much. :)

If I decide to read Daisy Jones, I'll definitely go for the audio version. :)

My earliest reading memory is Archie comic books. The earliest book I can remember other than the golden books is Charlotte's Web

I was a bit wild as teen though I did read The Amityville Horror. The books that had me hooked on reading again The Clan of the Cave Bear byJean M. Auel and To Dance With Kings: A Novel of Versailles by Rosalind Laker

Tammy wrote: "My earliest reading memory is Archie comic books. The earliest book I can remember other than the golden books is Charlotte's Web"

I have never read this book, Tammie. Is it still worth trying as an adult? 😊

Tammy wrote: "I was a bit wild as teen though I did read The Amityville Horror. The books that had me hooked on reading again The Clan of the Cave Bear..."</i>


[book:To Dance with Kings sounds also interesting, I may check it out. :)

Melindam wrote: "Kristie,

I have tried to read Lord of the Flies when I was younger, but abandoned it. No book chemistry between us. 😊

I think we had to read this in High School. I hated the story but it has stayed in my mind.

Ok, I'll start with these:

📘 My earliest reading memory
. I would read my grandmothers books from when she was a child (she was born in the early 1920s). I still own the books
📗 My favourite book growing up
Truly! I didn't have a lot of choice - just my grandmothers books. haha. As I got older I also remember loving which hasn't aged well :o
📒 The book that changed me as a teenager

My first 'naughty' book. haha!

Melindam wrote: "To start the ball rolling, here are my replies to a few of the questions:
..."

Why not ? I'm not sure I'd read it again due to the size but I did enjoy it so curious as to why it is on your list ;)

Kristie wrote: "Fun, Melinda!
..."

Oh you just reminded me of Little Women.!
Another book I read so many times as a child. I could never understand Jo's choice back then (I do now I'm much older!)

Tammy wrote: "The books that had me hooked on reading again [book:The Clan of the Cave Bear..."

I absolutely loved those books in the 90s!

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Kristie wrote: "Fun, Melinda!
..."

Oh you just reminded me of Little Women.!
Another book I read so many times as a child. I could never understand Jo's choice back then (I do now I'm much older!)"

Yes, getting more mature does that to us, doesn't it? lol


Although I saw the movie first in my early 20s and had a crush on Gabriel Byrne, which helped to accept Jo's choice.
I only read the book afterwards.

I also remember the shock at the ending when at 15 I read Sense and Sensibility. It took Alan Rickman to reconcile me to it as well as the fact that a former boyfriend did a kind of Willoughby on me. ... Experience ... 😅

Haha
I agree that seeing Gabriel Byrne was the first time I was comfortable with the decision!!!

And ditto with Alan Rickman.

Boo @ Willoughby 😭😂

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Melindam wrote: "To start the ball rolling, here are my replies to a few of the questions:
..."

Why not ? I'm not sure I'd read it again due to the size but I did enjoy it so curious as to why it is on your list ;)"

It was a very long time ago, but lack of book chemistry is the best I can come up with and hate at first read - it happens ;).
I was super bored and/or frustrated by the plot and had no patience with the "clever" heroines reduced to doing stupid things that felt like all the time as a way to move it forward. And at the end thought: had I really plowed my way through this doorstopper for this poor resolution?!

Not happy memories! 😅

BTW, I found Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights among my granny's books, too (as well as Sense and Sensibility). 🥰
She bought them for my mum, but mum was never a fan of any of them.

Oo, I'm definitely game for this -

📘 My earliest reading memory

Where's Spot? - those flaps were so exciting!!

📗 My favourite book growing up
Now that's a tough question - I loved so many:
- The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
- The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis (this one really stands out for me!)
- All the Roald Dahl's including Mr Bliss
- How could I not mention Enid Blyton?
and many many more...

📒 The book that changed me as a teenager
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

📕 The book I came back to
If this is DNF books that I later enjoyed, I don't have any in mind.
But books I just like to read again and again? The Harry Potter's - just love them!

📘The book I could never read again
A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara - I loved it and hated it when I read it. I struck me as brilliant, although, as a reader you're taken hostage by your own feelings. Ever since, I've not enjoyed any "torture/poverty porn" books - they all strike me as unnecessarily tragic and I certainly would not subject myself to this again - it was TORTUROUS!

📗 The book I discovered later in life
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, brilliant, wish I'd read it sooner.

📒The book I am currently reading
I've got a few on the go right now:
- Set boundaries find peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
- The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
- Mon cerveau est HYPER by Cathy Assenheim
- Je suis épuisé.e by Cathy Assenheim
- Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone by JK Rowling
- Summer Lightning by PG Wodehouse

📕 My comfort read
Fairy tales, The Secret Garden, The Wind in the Willows and... well, Harry Potter (sorry folks).

📘 Favorite Fictional Relationship (Romantic or Otherwise)
I'd say the friendship between Rat and Mole in The Wind in the Willows (I distinctly remember being asked this question during this year's UNO and wonder whether I didn't reply the same thing, lol).

📗 A book(s) everyone (including friends) seems to love, but you ended up disliking (hating) it
11.22.63 - well, not hating it, but really not enjoying it or the fact, the author made believe it would be about 11.22.63 when truly, it isn't.

📒 A Book(s) You Feel Guilty About Liking
Can't think of any to be honest :/

📕 Any books/authors that you feel you should really try, but have never got round to reading yet
My current list is:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, because I've heard it's slightly misleading about the prohibition era - it's made me really curious (a) about the prohibition itself (I was taught it at school, but there's nothing like a book to bring things to life, right?) and (b) it's such an absolute classic, I'm ashamed I haven't read it yet
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, I want to know more about that time (Great Depression/Dust Bowl) and it's just such a classic
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, again a classic, and I feel I should know more about Maya Angelou
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - I've read two of her books but they were so different to each other, I'm curious to know what the others have to deliver, some authors are so prolific I feel the need to read another and another (I've done this with Colleen Hoover too, don't ask me why!)

I'd also like to read more of the classics: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, ...

The list is never-ending and one of the challenges I've set myself recently is to read some of the books that have been banned from US libraries.

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?
I'd love to be able to fly and play Quidditch, but more generally speaking, in today's world, I'd probably go for being able to have lots of money - not for myself but to invest in good causes and have more time to do meaningful things.

📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?

Aunt Lydia from The Testaments, she is such a schemer, but she toyed with my mind and I loved her for it! (I've made the whole thing sound really creepy, it's not!)

📒Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?
Want to read: 645
of which _considering: 386
Read: 421

📕 Favourite book covers?
(In my recent reads...)
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley - stunning
TJ Klune books often have great covers

📘 Books you love despite the terrible cover?
I'm drawing a blank here to be honest.

📗And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but felt let down by their content?
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros

Elinor,

How do you like Summer Lightning?

I read it when I was 14 as my 1st PG Wodehouse and it is still one of my favourites. 😊

📘 Favorite Fictional Relationship (Romantic or Otherwise):
Otherwise:
- Samuel Vimes & Lord Vetinari from Discworld without a doubt!

Romantic:
- earliest: Darcy & Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice, Nynaeve & Lan from The Wheel of Time series
- Classics: Bettina Vanderpoel & Fergus Mount Dunstan from The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett deserve
a place in the Hall of Fame for Literary Couples
- Fantasy: Zoe Lalindar & Darien Serlast from Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn
- latest favourite: Francis Crawford and Philippa Sommerville from The Lymond Chronicles


📗 A book(s) everyone (including friends) seems to love, but you ended up disliking (hating) it
- I love Harry Potter books 1-4, but "hate" or at least strongly dislike books 5-7
- My current book anathema: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

There are some other "overhyped" books I did not necessarily hate, but was kind of unimpressed:
- Shadow and Bone
- Cruel Beauty
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series (oh OK, I hated these books a little or at least I was super annoyed with them.)

📒 A Book(s) You Feel Guilty About Liking:
The Ruthshire Chronicles by Jilly Cooper. The best of UN-PC, sexist literary trash! I love Books 1-5/6 (Don't care much about the rest of them.)

Also, I guess I have a GR shelf called "guilty pleasures" for a reason. :)

📕 Any books/authors that you feel you should really try, but have never got round to reading yet
- Nicholas Nickleby and Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens
- The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov
- the last book Sword and Pen from Rachel Caine's The Great Library series
- the books I have not yet read by Georgette Heyer
- There are loads of books I should get round to reading, but would take too long to list. :)

📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?

- Number 1 skill would be bookjumping from the Thursday Next series. I would love that.

- I would also love to own a house like Gerturde Hunt Inn in the Innkeeper series by Ilona Andrews. I mean a house that keeps itself clean, can redecorate and rearrange itself and its gardens according to needs or the owner's mood: UTTER BLISS. 🥰


📗Any characters you like/love despite their displaying less than stellar qualities? Or the other way round? Goodie characters you dislike?
- The Wizard Howl is a character that delights my soul in print and would drive me crazy in real life.
- I am sorry to say that I cannot stand Fanny Price or Edmund Bertram from Mansfield Park and really like Henry Crawford.

📒Which 3 of your GR shelves have the most books?
- Classics (366)
- Audiobooks (241)
- Fantasy (200)

📕 Favourite book covers?


Books you love despite the terrible cover?
The Hidden Legacy books 1-3 can boast of some of the most off-putting covers I saw, but the content more than make up for it. Love the books.


And books you were attracted to because of their cover, but
felt let down by their content?
- lovely cover, meh content

@Mel,
Oo Lord of the Rings - attempted to read it but never made it - though I loved The Hobbit.
I love that you so much enjoy Jane Austen. There's something going on there between the two of you (you know what I mean).
I thoroughly enjoyed your reviews of the Juliet Marillier books you read and disliked (the spoiler was pure gold :))
Really curious about that turning point in the Harry Potter series that made you go from enjoy to dislike?
LOL: "one's love boat may be another's Titanic. 🤭" - words of wisdom :)

@Kristie,
Artistocats, I'd forgotten about them - I remember the Disney film, such fun!
So interested about why you hated Lord of the Flies.
Re Little Women - I hope you aren't disappointed because of high expectations. I agree with Mel about reading it as a grown up - I loved it as a young reader, but not sure I'd like it as much now (and I didn't much enjoy the film either).
Also, curious to know why you don't like Orphan X - he's one of my faves.
I've not read The Martian (yet), but I recall the math thing distracting quite a few readers!
Funny you should say about Neil Gaiman, I feel the same way - try as I may, I just don't 'get' it.

@Kirsten,
I love your take on TJR - I've really liked some, and then disliked others. It's really hit and miss for me (at least she's consistently below par for you - you know what to expect lol). And on a side-note, I've rated them pretty much the opposite to Mel - lol again. I didn't enjoy Carrie Soto at all - I think I gave it 2 stars - hope you all like it more!

Melindam wrote: "Elinor,

How do you like Summer Lightning?

I read it when I was 14 as my 1st PG Wodehouse and it is still one of my favourites. 😊"

I love PG Wodehouse humour - I read some his Jeeves books about 20 years ago. My Mum was a great fan of his!

Re Summer Lightning, struck by this passage in the preface (see book hasn't started yet, but I'm already laughing):
"A certain critic - for such men, I regret to say, do exist - made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names'. He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock the phrophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy."

There aren't many authors (or perhaps I'm not reading the right books) who manage to make me laugh in this way.

Melindam wrote: "📘 If you could choose magical skills or objects from books, which ones would they be?

- Number 1 skill would be bookjumping from the Thursday Next series. I would love that.

- I would also love ..."

Both those classics covers (in your favourites) are really great! Mine are pretty dull in comparison!

Elinor wrote: "@Mel,
Really curious about that turning point in the Harry Potter series that made you go from enjoy to dislike? "

Putting this under spoiler, just in case, because I am still passionately disappointed about it even after I don't know how many years...
...

I still haven't got over the shock of reading The Order of the Phoenix and realising that I hated it.

(view spoiler)[
- I hated Harry
- I hated Harry
- I hated Harry :(
- there was too much filler,
- I hated that JRK used the "characters' not talking to each other" trope to move the plot forward to terrible things happening
- I hated that Sirius died because of stupid Harry's stupid stupidity, because he wouldn't listen to people who really knew so much better
- I hated that Sirius Black died b/c of guarding a prophecy whose copy Dumbeldore had had all along... THEN WHAT WAS THE BLOODY POINT OF EVERYONE EITHER GUARDING OR CHASING THE OTHER ONE OVER MORE THAN 700 BLOODY PAGES???!! (hide spoiler)]

Elinor wrote: "@Kirsten, I love your take on TJR - I've really liked some, and then disliked others. It's really hit and miss for me (at least she's consistently below par for you - you know what to expect lol). And on a side-note, I've rated them pretty much the opposite to Mel - lol again. I didn't enjoy Carrie Soto at all - I think I gave it 2 stars - hope you all like it more! "

You see!!?? Love Boat and Titanic, LOL.

Melindam wrote: "Elinor wrote: "@Mel,
Really curious about that turning point in the Harry Potter series that made you go from enjoy to dislike? "

Putting this under spoiler, just in case, because I am still passi..."

Oo that's interesting, #5 was my favourite because I felt it gave such a detailed description of the wizarding world. But I do get your points in the spoiler section, I'll keep them in mind during my next re-read to see how they resonate. Sorry it didn't work for you :-/

Elinor wrote: "Melindam wrote: "Elinor wrote: "@Mel,
Really curious about that turning point in the Harry Potter series that made you go from enjoy to dislike? "

Putting this under spoiler, just in case, because...

Oo that's interesting, #5 was my favourite because I felt it gave such a detailed description of the wizarding world. But I do get your points in the spoiler section, I'll keep them in mind during my next re-read to see how they resonate. Sorry it didn't work for you :-/"

I am glad it worked for you!! I am trying to pretend I am noble and magnanimous and grown-up about it. 🤭

Elinor - I also love the Harry Potter books and they're part of the few books I reread.

I refuse to read A Little Life because I hate the cover so much. I've heard other people have a similar response to you, so I'm glad I never picked it up.

I really should read more classics too. Thy don't tend to be my favorites. I am hoping Little Women is at least ok for me.

I don't hate Orphan X! I love him. Evan was my character that I like/love that has 'less than stellar' qualities. I mean, he was raised to be a killer. Probably not the type of guy one should love, but I just think he's fantastic. :) One of my favorite series.

That PG Wodehouse quote also made me laugh. I love witty people whether the author or the characters they write. Witty banter just gets me.

Melinda - Thank you for putting your book thoughts behind a spoiler. A pet peeve of mine is when people think that 'everyone' has already read the book so they don't bother. Not that I think you'd do that. lol I'm just always appreciative of it after reading several book spoilers.

Also, I had to laugh out loud at your first 3 reasons. I do think that (view spoiler)[ the books got longer and darker. By the end it almost didn't feel like the same series. However, I liked that the writing and content seemed to grow and mature with many of the readers of the series. Kind of brilliant really if you're basically writing a middle grade book and knowing those children will be young adults by the time the series ends.

I feel like a lot of the issues can be explained by Harry just being a stupid teenager.
- I remember having fights with friends when I was younger and not talking to them for a while. Although, yes it was used to move it along and if I had something life threatening going on, I'm sure I would have spoken to them.
- Harry has preconceived notions of Snape and thinks he knows it all. He saw just enough to support that too. I think watching some of the things people will believe and be unable to adjust their beliefs even in the face of evidence makes me believe that a teenager would certainly do this.
- Based on Harry's upbringing, he really wouldn't know how to communicate his feelings well or trust people.

And, yes, Harry was dumb.

Now that you mention the prophecy and people trying to protect it while Dumbledore has it I'm thinking... wait, what? I think I need to read that one again. lol I haven't read through the whole series in forever.
(hide spoiler)]

Melindam wrote: "Elinor wrote: "@Kirsten, I love your take on TJR - I've really liked some, and then disliked others. It's really hit and miss for me (at least she's consistently below par for you - you know what t..."

Spot on lol.

Kristie

(view spoiler)[
I was also a stupid teenager, so maybe that's why I lost my patience with Harry in the 1st place, but also by the time Book 5 was published, I was 28 and guess I was done with stupid teenagers or even reading about them, lol. Also, YA is very much a hit/miss, but mostly miss for me.

As it was a long time ago, things are very hazy, but I seem to remember Dumbledore telling Harry about it at the end of the book, after Sirius died, that Trelawney made another prophecy about it when she came for an interview to Hogwarts or sth along that line and it totally drove me mad. (hide spoiler)]

Kristie wrote: "Elinor - I also love the Harry Potter books and they're part of the few books I reread.

I refuse to read A Little Life because I hate the cover so much. I've heard other people have a similar res..."

I agree about A Little Life and books that are similarly tragic - I did read Shuggie Bain last year, but it just didn't cut it. It was horribly sad - I struggled to finish it, and I'm afraid I won't be reading any more Douglas Stuart, unless he changes tack (esp. with Shuggie Bain being dubbed 'autobiographical'). But these books have an audience and like you I'm deciding to no longer be part of it! There are so many great books out there - that are balanced (like life). It's all a question of balance.

Oh, yes (woooops) you're right - do you know I just realised I love Orphan X so much, that I forgot being a trained assassin was a 'less than stellar quality', lol. What did you think of Dark Horse? I was a little disappointed with that one. But then Gregg Hurwitz turned it around again in the next book, so all is well (phew!). Can't wait for the next one - Feb 2024!!