Thursday, July 21, 2011

Potter & Dragons: 'Reading' Movies and 'Viewing' Books

Shelf Awareness

"If people are in some sense increasingly 'reading' movies and 'viewing' books, what does that mean for books intended only for reading and movies intended only for viewing?... Maybe no one can fully explain the explosion of the Harry Potter and Ice and Fire franchises, but fans can quite easily explain to themselves why they are fans: it's because of the books. Having the physical incarnation of a phenomenon sitting on a shelf isn't just exciting--it’s reassuring. The next time I am asked 'What’s the deal with George R.R. Martin?' I'm going to direct the person to the bookstore and leave it at that."
--Macy Halford in a post at the New Yorker's Book Bench blog headlined "Harry Potter and A Dance with Dragons: Breaking Records, Boggling Minds."

2 comments:

Mark Hubbard said...

Just love the Pedant's note, first comment, at the bottom of linked article.

(And Pedant is not me.)

JaJo said...

I agree, and totally understand what you're saying. By the way, the HP7 movie was great, and George R.R. Martin is one of my favourite authors!