Harry Potter mentioned in poll of books you can't pick up

[Goddlefrood]

> Monica Boukhalfa :

> I read the post and I think I missed it. It appears
> that the only comment to that tune was that it was over 
> burdened with teenaged love.
 
Goddlefrood:

Agreeing with Monica Boukhalfa that she missed it, and asking 
that he not be placed on moderation again;), says that it is not 
in the article, at least not the one I read. The link I provided, 
I note, was broken and a different report on the same poll may 
well have appeared elsewhere.

The link I provided took you only to The Telegraph's homepage, 
that is if you clicked on it, I have attempted to fix this, but 
sadly failed :(, if you paste it into a blank url, that is paste 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?
xml=/news/2007/03/12/nbooks12.xml&DCMP=EMC-new_12032007 (the 
whole of this in a single line) into the bar where the page you 
are on appears, or on the same bar on a blank page, it will take 
you there.

I was concerned about this, having seen Monica's comment ;)

> Ali

> The article itself mentions that longer books just don't seem 
> as appealing - a shocking 34% said they wouldn't even buy books 
> over 350 pages.  GoF, is the longest of the HP books (small edit 
> to original) and, from a sheer physical standpoint, the most 
> daunting - I know I haven't slogged through War & Peace for the 
> same superficial reason.

<SNIP>
> There are always exceptions to this rule (the bible tops out 
> pretty much every bestseller list), but just look at the annual 
> yield of the romance novel industry to see that breezy pop
> fiction rules the day.

Goddlefrood:

As an avid reader, it had never really occurred to me that other 
people didn't read lengthy tomes. No matter how busy you are, 
there should always be time for that. Shows what a superficial 
world we are living in.

If a book is well written it should not matter how long it is. It 
will bring pleasure to the reader, as one example I would point 
to Don Quixote, which in the Penguin Classics edition weighs in 
at 982 pages, admittedly having originally been written as two 
separate installments. It is an absolute delight and IMHO could 
never bore anyone.

The Bible is not a fair exception to point to, as even though it 
is the ultimate bestseller, so to speak, it is rare to find 
someone who buys it to read from cover to cover. More of 
something to dip into really, JMO.

No doubt Mills and Boon have a great deal to answer for.

Goddlefrood