on the heels of the last one

[slammerkinbabe]

But oo oo oo, I have a more interesting poll! That is to say, it's more interesting to me. That is to say... oh, hell with it.

It's the battle of the children's books! And Lord of the Rings. Um, so most of these are fantasy novels, but some are not; most are series, but some are not; most are at least somewhat specific (i.e., a specific novel or series) but sometimes it's a question about an author's general body of work. I don't know, do the best you can. It's not a perfect survey, as if one were to get nitpicky one could argue that it's hard to evaluate an author's body of work as if it were all of a piece, as it is often not. But none of you are going to get nitpicky, right? Because you love me. And because this is a stupid poll.

I never claimed to be... anything, really. In the last five minutes, anyway, and that's about the expiration date on any of my sentences, as I am flighty and whimsical and - damn! I just claimed to be flighty and whimsical.

Um, never mind? Vote in the poll? I'ma go hide now.

ETA: OMG how did I forget Madeleine L'Engle? I must go die of shame now. You can tell me which you prefer in the comments if you want.

[Poll #533240]

Comments

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Madeleine L'Engle is better than Harry Potter, though "better" only as defined by plotting and depth of, er, thoughts provoked. Harry Potter has better characters, I think, and that's the real gift; the stories, while delightful, don't have layers and layers of contemplative depth like L'Engle.

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I have some issues with the characterizations in HP. Mostly that JKR seems to grab one character trait and run with it. So Harry's our brave hero; Hermione's the smart one; Ron's... actually, it doesn't entirely hold true for Ron, except that he's basically the trusty-rusty sidekick. McGonagall's the severe good-hearted one and Dumbledore, at least until Book 5, was the all-seeing all-knowing wise one (5 did complicate his character in rather interesting ways...) Draco's evil, his sidekicks are stupid and evil. So on and so forth. There are a lot of stock characters running around, when you think about it. The most interesting one is Snape, and that's only because we keep being told that he's good even though he consistently acts freakin' evil. Black was very interesting, actually, but then Rowling killed him.

I'm not sure what the point of this comment was.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

True. And yet, it's the quirks of speech and reaction that make them *more* than stock characters, if that makes sense. They're all very vividly drawn, for all that they really are each variations on a single theme.

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

This is true... I was trying to figure out a way to express that, but then I gave up because it wasn't central to my main point and the phone was ringing. You got it. :)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

oh, good. :) I didn't think we really disagreed by much!

...I should reread Wrinkle In Time, etc. It's been too long.

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

My favorite is A Swiftly Tilting Planet, in truth.

[halfacricket.livejournal.com]

For good reason. That was my absolute favorite book for a long time. I still re-read it whenever I can.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

well, that was included in the "etc." :) As I recall, that one was my favorite, too.

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

See, I agree with this (and that there are a LOT of stereotypes in the books). Fat people in Rowling are never good--they're always bumbling and/or evil. And once characters are defined, they're defined (except for the Dumbledore exception you mentioned).

Whereas, Madeleine L'Engle's characters are REAL--they make mistakes, they do stupid things, are awkward, wonderful, quixotic...complex. Diana Wynne Jones's magical world (at least in the Chrestomanci books) is just as interesting as HP, but again doesn't get the press.

A friend of mine suggests that the mania for HP is based around modern society's need for culturally significant major events...ie that we need connection and community and don't find it in our everyday compartmentalized lives, so must seek it out in Big Moments like the release of a book, or outpourings of grief over a person we've never met.