harry potter book sales

[wur1]

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]
Are there many other non-reading gamers like me out there?

[/QUOTE]

Critic, yes, there are many non-reading gamers.  Go into a Gamestop, and find a kid wearing Fubu or Tommy Hilfiger, who is oogling the latest sequel to "187: Ride or Die".  There you go, a non-reading gamer.

[qubit]

I have finished Deathly Hallows.  Imperfect as a book (but very very close), but absolutely perfect as an ending to the series.

MASSIVE SPOILER BELOW!!!!!!!!!
































I cannot see how J.K. Rowling could even consider killing Harry after reading the canonical ending.  The epilogue was disappointing (I had expected a wrapup of ALL the characters) but it was beautiful for what it was.  Take a bow, J.K.  You deserve every cent of the billions you make on this book.

[Steerforth]

^ lol, good one, mr. wur.

I read a fair amount, it goes in spurts. I'll buy 3 or 4 used books on EBAY for nothing, read them in a couple of weaks and get more in a couple of weeks. I only like the Classics, I don't read anything 'modern', except newspaper which I read evey day. Mostly I hate modern litetature/TV/movies because they load it up with stupid, sensless swearing, to no real purpose, just that is cool to swear. I have read nearly every book by Steinbeck, and I can only remember one passage that had a true cuss word, in the book "In Dubious Battle" at a critical, very emotional point in the book. Everything today is so overdone in pop culture it rings false at every note. There is no better bang for your buck, not to mention constructive entertainment than reading. Videogames suck in comparision, but we all have our vices.

Critic, you sound like my brother. He said that when he reads to my 2 year old, it is so slow, she gets bored, leaves for a while, he skips ahead, and when she comes back they resume.

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=wur]

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]
Are there many other non-reading gamers like me out there?

[/QUOTE]

Critic, yes, there are many non-reading gamers.  Go into a Gamestop, and find a kid wearing Fubu or Tommy Hilfiger, who is oogling the latest sequel to "187: Ride or Die".  There you go, a non-reading gamer.

[/QUOTE]

I would guess that many, many gamers don't read.  I've met some who honestly brag about it.  It's like "I don'tz ever getz ma read on!  I'm all about the P S to da triple!  Whoop di whoop."  Then I turn around and leave the EB to head to a flea market.

Honestly, the sad part is that although the language was a little exaggerated, I have actually met several people lately who really did brag about not ever reading a novel outside of highschool, eight years ago!  it's fine enough not to read if it isn't your thing, but bragging about it?  When there are many people in the world who would flat out kill to be allowed to or able to learn to read anything?  We have more books at our fingertips for free than any royalty in any previous generation and we hardly ever make use of it.  I hardly feel like bragging about that. 

[snakeboy1]

[QUOTE=Atarifever]I've met some who honestly brag about it.  It's like "I don'tz ever getz ma read on!  I'm all about the P S to da triple!  Whoop di whoop."   that. 
[/QUOTE]

That was you who I said that to?!

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=Steerforth]because they load it up with stupid, sensless swearing, to no real purpose, just that is cool to swear. I have read nearly every book by Steinbeck, and I can only remember one passage that had a true cuss word, in the book "In Dubious Battle" at a critical, very emotional point in the book.

[/QUOTE]

I'm reading "A Tale of Two Cities" right now, and Dickens actually writes "D--n!" when people curse.  That isn't me cleaning it up to pass the profanity filter (although it may have been what Dickens was doing considering the time he was writing).  Even then the cursing is incredibly infrequent. 

As a side note, I can't reccomend this book enough.  I got it and "Banana Republicans" new from Chapters for $4 total on clearance.  Good luck getting that much bang for your buck with videogames.     

[feilong801]

Ah, Dickens. I agree with Steerforth on some aspects of classical literature. It can occasionally be tough to parse, such as an attempt I made to read Conrad once, but it can also be very rewarding.

In any event, I'm not terribly surprised that a book such as Banana Republicans could be found on the discount rack.

-Rob

[wur1]

yeah, Feilong, unlike books by Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, which are eternal and forever.  They'll go down as brilliant political tracts for the ages, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with such classics as Aristotle's Politics, Plato's Republic, More's Utopia and the Federalist Letters, fitting right in with the rest of Western canon.


BTW, are there any Russkie lit fans here?  I remember one of my first messages here was a proposal for an FPS based on Tolstoy's "War and Peace", but Dave must have deleted it some time ago.  

One the last things I read was a compilation of stories by Gorky, which was pretty good.  (Even though he was a friend of Stalin later in life, and became his mouthpiece.)  Also, I read some Chekhov recently as well... if anyone has a short attention span but wants to read some classic Russian lit, I'd recommend these guys; most of their stories are under 40 pages.

[Steerforth]

---

yeah, Feilong, unlike books by Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, which are eternal and forever.  They'll go down as brilliant political tracts for the ages, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with such classics as Aristotle's Politics, Plato's Republic, More's Utopia and the Federalist Letters, fitting right in with the rest of Western canon.
 


Now add Rosie O'donnel, Michael Moore, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'reily to the mix. These people have all done so much for themselv-, I mean, their countries, I say we redo Mt. Rushmore in their honour. Just imagine where our country would be today without the excellent, nonbiased, prudent and selfless journalism and commentary we are so lucky to have. I shudder to think. Without their hardwork and courage, the national dialogue would sink to the level of message boards!

[JustLikeHeaven1]

I find it sad that less and less people enjoy reading.  I actually prefer reading to any other medium of entertainment.  Very few things are enjoyable as a good book.

Anybody that enjoys Harry Potter would probably love the warped tales from the mind of Christopher Moore.  His books are laugh out loud funny, endearing and never boring.  They almost always include things from fantasty yet remain based in a real world setting making them stand out.

If you are interested in Christopher Moore I recommend checking out his first book, "Practical Demonkeeping".  Its a short read (less than 300 pages) and its a great way to get introduced to this fantastic author.  While its not his best book, its certainly worth the $10 it cost.  Also it introduces many characters that he uses throughout all of his books.  So it makes sense to start at the beginning.

Here is a link to the book at Amazon.com.  Check out some of the reader reviews for even more detailed info.

http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Demonkeeping-Christopher-Moore/dp/0060735422/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-3025863-4382339?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185200158&sr=8-2