No subject

[sueeeyqbong]

No: HPFGUIDX 71112

I can't help noticing recently that a few posts have been a bit 
negative and snipy in tone, and yesterday this prompted me to send a 
horribly rude reply to one of those posts (off post-in a private 
email) of which I'm really ashamed because it was so rude. Anyhow I 
was amazed at how heated my reaction to that post had been, and 
horrified that I was taking it all so seriously...I came to these 
books, and to this discussion group, for FUN, and here I was, 
getting all het up and offended, and going completely against the 
spirit of the group and losing all track of why I love reading the 
books in the first place.  So I replied to that person again toay, 
to apologise (and I do hope that that person will forgive me for any 
offense I caused) and while I was writing that post, it prompted me 
to think about why I (and perhaps some of you too??) get so heated 
up.  Can I please cut and paste some bits from that reply and run 
them past you , to see if anyone else feels the same?  Thank you.

here's a snipped version of what I wrote then.....

I really do feel that people are taking the books way too seriously 
sometimes, (myself included) and forget that we originally read them 
for fun. And when people get so easily offended, participating in 
this discussion group stops being fun. 
Recently I read a well though out and (I thought) fair post 
criticising certain aspects of the HP books, and OoP in particular. 
I never once felt that she was implying criticism of HP fans when 
she was criticisng the books, though I think that some may have 
taken her comments that way. It led me to wonder why people are so 
quick to assume that because someone is criticising the HP books, 
they are also criticising the many fans who love the books? I am one 
of those people who finds much to criticise in the books, and yet 
loves reading them to bits, and enjoy them immensely. I probably 
enjoy them so much because I don't expect them to live up to high 
literary standards, and therefore I don't feel it a slur on my 
judgement when someone else also finds them lacking.  I for one 
though, am aware of feeling slightly self conscious at being a grown 
up and yet loving to read children's books, and I definitely feel a 
bit defensive/ feel like I need to justify myself.. in front of my 
non HP reading friends. Does anyone else feel this way? I think that 
this embarassment factor may be why a very few people get a bit 
defensive when confronted with criticism of the books - AS Byatt's 
recent opinions (which I thought really were unfair and cruel) 
haven't helped this much, either, but I just wanted to say

please 
don't tar all of us HP criticisers with the same brush - some of us 
may find flaws in the books but still can appreciate the immense 
skill and appeal of JKR's work. And really enjoy participating n 
this discussion group.
------
I know that feeling a bit embarassed at reading HP is silly (I'm 
anticipating getting responses telling me I've nothing to be 
embarrassed about here), and honestly, I KNOW I haven't...know in my 
head, at least. I just can't stop having a slightly embarrassed gut 
feeling about it all. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Thanks for your thoughts,

Sue