The date is July 21st, 2007. Bookstores all over are preparing for the release of Rowling’s seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, the Deathly Hallows. Book stores like Borders had launch costume parties that Friday night and the literary world experienced one of the most looked forward to events in recent history.
The date is July 22nd, 2007. What I like to call the “Ohh no there are no more Harry Potter books left” syndrome sets in. I’m sure something of the sort was felt almost all over where Harry Potter fans resided, but here in the New York area it was taken to the extremes. It was quite hilarious to me; maybe you were a victim, in which case I am truly sorry. Please read on and I hope I’ll be able to give you some hope that it’s still worth living.
Articles were published on how to combat the sinking feeling of being lost, often quoting some psychiatrist or the other on how to battle your woes. After all if people are not depressed about something or the other how will they make their money? Thus emerged a list of terminology created specifically for post potter depression syndrome. So nice of them to reach out to all the needy people and lend a helping hand, err ear I mean. Just remember to bring your check book with you.
Don’t get me wrong, I waited with bated breath for the release of the book and spent the entire opening weekend reading the book. I am a huge potter fan, but I also know that as history has proven itself over and over again there will always be something to read and something to look forward to. Don’t fall into the commercialization trap of the modern age. You are NOT suffering from depression. It’s perfectly normal to miss looking forward to a book you loved, but there are lots of other equally interesting books out there. Take this as an opportunity to reach out and pick up another book, let me suggest a few.
- Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S Lewis is a must read classic for all children
- Discworld Novels by Terry Pratchett is another amazing series of books that all youngsters should read
- The Redwall series by Brian Jacques
And a whole bunch of other books are waiting for you to come and pick them up, so if reading the Harry Potter series has awoken an interest in reading feed it and keep it alight with other exciting titles.
Don’t forget Phillip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials! By far oneof the best, innovative fantasy series’ that I have read…never heard of Redwall, must look into it…
This article @ the Time magazine website was a gold mine for me
“Curing Harry Potter Withdrawal”
oh now i am waiting for dan browns next installment..i heard hes working on it for a while now…hopefully its even more better and does not follow the same pattern of his earlier books…anyways harry potter series was a great read! enjoyed it thoroughly
@ N: Hmmm very strange, i dont think i’ve read Phillip Pullman before.. i’m going to have to rectify this grave mistake
Any suggestions for fantasy books for adults?
Jim, the Time magazine article (“Curing Harry Potter Withdrawal”) had Fantasy books for every age and taste.
N & Yusufali: I just got the “His Dark Materials” Trilogy from British Council Library this morning. And i have to say its brilliant. and ive only gone through the first chapters still. I didnt find Redwall though
The British council library in Colombo had the Redwall series, thats where i first read 1 or 2 books many years ago, and then recently I saw and picked up another 2 books in the series somewhere in California when i was visiting. it was still a great read.
You know is very strange, i always figured myself an avid reader but have never heard any of the books in the time magazine list. I can see i have alot of serious reading coming up
Here are some other very interesting adult oriented fantasy authors i love.
1. Raymond E. Feist: He was the first author that i really really loved, and really captured my fantasy imagination. He takes an era and time and stages 3 sets of books that intermingle with each other, amazingly well. Wikipedia has a great page for him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_E._Feist
2. Robert Jordan and the Wheel of time series is another amazing read, which will keep you glued to its pages. the wiki entry is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan also read his web page at http://www.tor.com/jordan/
I have more that i cannot think of right now but will come back to it
By far the best
I’ve read Jordan, Feist, but yet to go through the children’s stuff i.e. narnia, potter etc. By far the best fantasy series I’ve read is Malazan book of the fallen series by Steven Erikson. Amazing books with a style and lack of repetitiveness (which unfortunately is a hallmark of most book series) such that once you read this series all others pale in comparison. Christopher Stasheff’s wizard series makes for good light reading; so does Dave Duncan’s Man’s Word series. So many other good series, but the names aren’t readily coming to mind. Goodkind’s books are too brutal and violent, but nevertheless worth going through, though it gets repetitive like Jordan. As you guys say, there are so many good books out there, perhaps it would be impossible to go through all of them in one lifetime lol.
Regards
@ Raingod: I think we might find a fair share of readers taking offense to you calling potter a children’s read hehe
Thanks for bringing up the RedWall series – I love those books and I feel they are often overlooked
You can learn more about Redwall at the Redwall Wiki, http://redwall.wikia.com
This year is the 20th anniversary of Redwall, the newest book, Eulalia!, comes out in October.
20 years is it.. wow.. thats a long time.. i cant wait to read the new book when it comes out..
I have to mention another author here, Terry Brooks, who has a couple of very fun light reading