A non-guilty pleasure

 

I am not ashamed.

I never finished reading the Harry Potter series back in the day when my sons were Potterheads.  I plowed through the early books and quite enjoyed them.  But as my sons became the standard-issue hormonal teenagers and I had to deal with the real life teenagers, I stopped reading them or watching the movies (#’s 4 through 7) because the books pretty accurately portrayed the angsty/self absorption that is bog standard for that age grouping.  I had enough of that shit in my real life.

So, I did buy an “all in one” e-book copy of the series a couple years ago but I was still working and the electrons remained frozen on silicon until last week.  

So I decided to see what happened in the books.

First, I really think that Ms. Rowling knows how to spin a yarn.  I think that this is a solid piece of writing.  I can understand why the kids liked it, but what I find interesting is how much I enjoyed it.  I am definitely not the demographic it was written for.

So I decided this morning that I need to do a slow read and pull out the now passé methodology of literature outlines and criticism taught by Lavon Lake at Clearfield High School a long time ago.

What I am finding interesting is peering in on the still passionate foofooraw of the factions within the fan base.  People study these books closely and spend as much (probably more) time as folks currently studying the Iliad.  

I am going to do a slow-re-read, and maybe watch the movies.  Not because it is great literature, but because I want to figure out just why it is so enjoyable.  I will probably fail.

I have to consider the simple idea that it is like chocolate ice cream.  It is pleasing in a manner that defies description, it doesn’t hurt anything, and sometimes, when the mood suits you, a person can obsess on it for a brief period of time.