Harry Potter'd

Debbie and I watched the DVDs of HP 4 and 5 last week - 5 broken between pre and post Dominic watching, I think. I enjoyed both of them, and would say that as a series of movies they are getting better. Debbie's midwife asked whether we'd read any of the books, and I confessed that I had not. More than that, I had made a conscious decision not to. I couldn't really explain why at the time. She suggested it might have been because they were 'too cool', which is a possibility. Certainly the wave of merchandise that accompanied the first film did place the series in the 'very commercial and popular' category. But then, I enjoyed the Pirates of the Carribean movies, so commercialism alone wouldn't put me off. I think, on reflection, it was the length and unfinished (at the time) nature of the series that put me off. I like books that are between 150 and 300 pages. I think my 'sweet spot' for books is around the 200 page mark. Kurt Vonnegut, John Brunner, William Burroughs, some of my favourite authors write shorter novels. Of course I also enjoy longer books - though I read few series of books these days. I used to read Dragonlance novels, and have read Lord of the Rings a few times, but I tend to avoid long series of books. I think the opportunity cost is a factor - if I'm going to read 7 books, I could read quite a variety of interesting authors and different set-ups, or I could read Harry Potter for 7 books. The HP may be excellent, but it currently struggles to win over the other books on the 'to read' pile.