What's fun about the HPs? (was: Request for new topics)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 152866

 
> SSSusan:

> 
> Am I in a small minority of people who still actually LIKES Harry 
> himself?  ::huffs on D'oH shield and glances at it sentimentally::  
> 
> How 'bout we -- without succumbing to a series of just one-liners --
 
> talk about what we LOVE about the books? what we find FUN about 
> them, even after all this time?
> 
Potioncat:
First, I'd like to thank SSSusan for starting this fun thread (and 
its spinoffs) about what's fun about the HPs.

 The HP experience is more than reading a book. None of us have read 
the book, thought how good it was and just set it down. there has 
been so much more.

Researching the clues has been one of the fun activities. In the past 
there have been threads that have had many list members brushing up 
on mythology and folklore, or history, or various meanings of words 
and names, studying geograhy and maps of England or learning more 
about animals for animagus clues. For Merlin's sake, I was even tied 
up in knots looking for a clue to Theodore Nott (there is such a 
thing as a Theodore Knot aka Fiodore Knot)Looking for such knowledge--
OK--trivia, has been fun. 

Some of the word play or clues are based on something else.Getting it 
the first time has been a real thrill...or I think it would be if I 
ever did...

Another series that has some these same qualities is the "Series of 
Unfortunate Events." I've read it to my son, and it's really funny. 
Sometimes he has to wait for me to stop laughing so I can explain the 
joke to him. It really is very similar to HP. But I wouldn't be 
reading it if my son wasn't interested in it. I'm not spending any 
time discussing it with other adults. HP has something more to it.

I think one of the very fun parts is that JKR is true to her 
characters. In "children's books" the adults are often cardboard or 
cartoonish in their inadeqacies. The WW may need Harry to rescue 
them, but the adults are quite powerful in themselves. There are a 
set of incredible posts about the Crouch family. Very interesting 
obsevations about these individuals, gleaned from the few lines of 
prose in the books. JKR packs a lot in. She makes even the very minor 
characters full. I think, in to their credit, the movie makers have 
followed her lead by choosing carefully for the adult cast.

A friend of mine recently said that she didn't like the Trio in HBP. 
She came up with all sorts of reasons, she was sad it was true, but 
it was. Then in dawned on me that the Trio are teenagers. You know, 
sometimes I don't like my teenagers and the feeling is mutual, I'm 
sure. It makes perfectly good sense that, at times, the Trio would 
not be likable. (Which doesn't mean that I or my fellow reader 
doesn't LIKE the trio overall.) 

I discovered the books about the Mysteries of HP after I started 
finding little clues in the books. It was great reading things I'd 
picked up, and fun discovering--or being told--there were even more. 
But you can't talk to a book and something made me look for a 
community of others.

So the fun of HP dosn't stop with the reading, but is expanded by the 
opportunity to discuss it and hash it over and make jokes with others 
about the different interpretations that are possible. I'm not in any 
hurry for the party to end.