According to this story on Slashdot, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” has won the Hugo award for best sci-fi/fantasy novel this year. The nerds are, as expected, up in arms. Everything popular must be derided. “Lord of the Rings” didn’t win, so no other fantasy book ever should win. Whatever.
2 responses
I’d rather Harry Potter win than Lord of the Rings, and I’m a nerd! I thought LotR was extremely dull and awfully pointless. Even though Harry Potter is also in the fantasy crowd, at least it is accessible to children and has proven to be a modern cultural phonemenon.
I agree. Personally, I just find it amazing that kids are actually excited about reading in this day and age. Anything that leads them to the printed page is good in my book. I’ve read LOTR twice, and unfortunately it just fails to do it for me. I can understand why people like it, but personally (as a female) I don’t feel like there’s a lot I can relate to in it. (I don’t, though, agree with making Arwen into some kind of warrior princess in the film. Updating a text to be politically correct is worse than leaving it alone.)