If I had to choose between these two book series, easily I would have hands down have said the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. How could I not chose this, after all it is my literary love. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone was the book that started my love of reading.
As my brothers could attest, I never liked reading. Even I am surprised that I survived high school. I think with a couple of exceptions (like Hiroshima and A Farewell to Arms (which by the way, I really had to slog through that to even finish)) I don't think I ever read a novel all the way through. I mostly relied on the movie version to get through tests. As an aside, I remember when I used to work at a video store, I would always laugh as I saw high schoolers come in to rent Hamlet, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as I knew that they were only watching those because that is what they were studying at the time.
But back to the issue at hand, as soon as I read the first Harry Potter book, I became hooked on his tale. At first, I didn’t want to read Harry Potter because I thought they were children's books but there was so much hype about it that I was curious but didn't want to fall for the hype. However, I joined an online book club and they recommended the first Harry Potter. After all, this same book club recommended The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery and I really loved that book. So I gave them the benefit of the doubt and walked into a book store to buy Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
I couldn't put the book down. What surprised me the most was that it didn't read as a children's novel. Adults could totally get into it and I loved the fact that it wasn’t predictable as most kids books are. You think one person is the villain throughout but then Rowling puts in a twist you don't see coming.
This became the same thing through books 2 to 7. And as the books grew in size and became darker, it was evident that Harry Potter could be enjoyed by all ages. I love the suspense that Rowling created as the series progressed. I wanted to know the outcome of the saga. I read Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (the last book in series) in 24 hours. The fastest I have read any book. I wanted to read it fast so I wouldn't be spoiled by people talking about in the streets or the Internet. I needed to know how it all ended. I was on tenderhooks and worried throughout. It didn’t help that Rowling said that at least two characters would die and I didn't put it past her that one of the two could have been one of the trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Reading Harry Potter lead me to read more and more. Since May 2008, I've read almost 10 books. I think the most I've ever read in one year.
Four of those books where the Twilight Saga. And if it wasn't for Harry Potter, I would have never read Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga. I was so biased for Harry Potter that when I saw a local bookshop having a midnight release party for Breaking Dawn the last in the Twilight series, I wanted to see if it was to the grand scale as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows midnight release party. This is the same bookshop that held that party at Van Dusen Gardens and not at the store. I went to a midnight release party in Toronto for HP7 and it was an awesome experience. Anyways, I went there at around 11:45pm and saw that the line-up wasn't large and I laughed and knew there would be no line-ups that stretched a good portion of West Broadway and knew that Harry Potter would always be more popular than Twilight, which still holds true today.
This was all before I even read the Twilight Saga. As with Harry Potter, I was curious to see why teenage girls and their moms loved this story about the love story between a human teenager and a vampire. And since the movie was coming out soon (taking over Harry Potter and the Half –Blood Prince's old release spot) I decided to borrow the book from the library.
And I do have a literary policy. I seem to read books knowing that a movie version is coming. I did that with Atonement, Howard's End, Remains of the Day, The Lovely Bones, etc…
So I read the first book in the Twilight Saga and as I was reading it, I did get a sense of why people love it. The reason why I didn't want to read it at first was because a) it was for teenage girls and I haven't been a teenager in a long time and b) it was a horror story and I don't do horror.
But how wrong I was, the elements of horror weren't scary at all and the appeal of it is the love story. And I am a romantic and I really love a great love story especially the one that Meyer depicted in Twilight.
As my brothers could attest, I never liked reading. Even I am surprised that I survived high school. I think with a couple of exceptions (like Hiroshima and A Farewell to Arms (which by the way, I really had to slog through that to even finish)) I don't think I ever read a novel all the way through. I mostly relied on the movie version to get through tests. As an aside, I remember when I used to work at a video store, I would always laugh as I saw high schoolers come in to rent Hamlet, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as I knew that they were only watching those because that is what they were studying at the time.
But back to the issue at hand, as soon as I read the first Harry Potter book, I became hooked on his tale. At first, I didn’t want to read Harry Potter because I thought they were children's books but there was so much hype about it that I was curious but didn't want to fall for the hype. However, I joined an online book club and they recommended the first Harry Potter. After all, this same book club recommended The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery and I really loved that book. So I gave them the benefit of the doubt and walked into a book store to buy Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
I couldn't put the book down. What surprised me the most was that it didn't read as a children's novel. Adults could totally get into it and I loved the fact that it wasn’t predictable as most kids books are. You think one person is the villain throughout but then Rowling puts in a twist you don't see coming.
This became the same thing through books 2 to 7. And as the books grew in size and became darker, it was evident that Harry Potter could be enjoyed by all ages. I love the suspense that Rowling created as the series progressed. I wanted to know the outcome of the saga. I read Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (the last book in series) in 24 hours. The fastest I have read any book. I wanted to read it fast so I wouldn't be spoiled by people talking about in the streets or the Internet. I needed to know how it all ended. I was on tenderhooks and worried throughout. It didn’t help that Rowling said that at least two characters would die and I didn't put it past her that one of the two could have been one of the trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Reading Harry Potter lead me to read more and more. Since May 2008, I've read almost 10 books. I think the most I've ever read in one year.
Four of those books where the Twilight Saga. And if it wasn't for Harry Potter, I would have never read Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga. I was so biased for Harry Potter that when I saw a local bookshop having a midnight release party for Breaking Dawn the last in the Twilight series, I wanted to see if it was to the grand scale as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows midnight release party. This is the same bookshop that held that party at Van Dusen Gardens and not at the store. I went to a midnight release party in Toronto for HP7 and it was an awesome experience. Anyways, I went there at around 11:45pm and saw that the line-up wasn't large and I laughed and knew there would be no line-ups that stretched a good portion of West Broadway and knew that Harry Potter would always be more popular than Twilight, which still holds true today.
This was all before I even read the Twilight Saga. As with Harry Potter, I was curious to see why teenage girls and their moms loved this story about the love story between a human teenager and a vampire. And since the movie was coming out soon (taking over Harry Potter and the Half –Blood Prince's old release spot) I decided to borrow the book from the library.
And I do have a literary policy. I seem to read books knowing that a movie version is coming. I did that with Atonement, Howard's End, Remains of the Day, The Lovely Bones, etc…
So I read the first book in the Twilight Saga and as I was reading it, I did get a sense of why people love it. The reason why I didn't want to read it at first was because a) it was for teenage girls and I haven't been a teenager in a long time and b) it was a horror story and I don't do horror.
But how wrong I was, the elements of horror weren't scary at all and the appeal of it is the love story. And I am a romantic and I really love a great love story especially the one that Meyer depicted in Twilight.
Twilight does remind me a lot about Jane Eyre (my classic literary love) and I read that one of the influence's of Twilight is Jane Eyre and I can see that. Bella sees herself as ordinary while Jane calls hers "small, obscure, plain and little." The Edwards that they love are handsome, beautiful and rich. Both women don't think that their Edwards could ever love them in return as they love them. The Edwards on the other hand see themselves as monsters, damaged good, unworthy of Bella's and Jane's love.
If you ever read the first 12 chapters of Midnight Sun, the retelling of Twilight from Edward Cullen's perspective, you see that Bella and Edward were totally in synch with each other in terms of their feelings. Both pretty much fell in love with each other at the same time, felt the same insecurities until they were finally able to profess their love in the meadow. It actually melts my heart as I write this.
I also thought it was romantic that it was the first love for both and considering that Edward is a 108 year old vampire, it is quite sweet. And I love that sometimes the first love you feel for that person is the ONE.
While Harry Potter has elements of romance in it, it wasn't the overriding dominant theme. After all, it was all about defeating Voldemort. But I loved that Rowling brought together Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione and I really loved the epilogue as we got to see a happy ending happen to these couples. I was less thrilled that she killed off my other favourite couple in the series: Tonks and Lupin. No good Rowling, not good at all.
But those romances don't hold a candle to the intense love that Bella and Edward feel for each other and as you continue reading the other books in the series New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn you can feel their love grow (just ignore the Jacob parts) and you get to see them live and be a couple. Another influence of Meyer was the Anne of Green Gables series because you get to see Anne and Gilbert's life after getting married. Breaking Dawn, while ridiculous in places, really showed what I wanted to see in the Saga: Bella and Edward after they got married. To me, it seemed that their love story got more complete and even hotter. However, unlike HP7, I wasn't on tenderhooks because I somehow knew there would be a happy ending while the ending to Deathly Hallows was mixed with joy and sadness. It was a more of a bittersweet ending.
So I can I chose which I love better? I think I can and that would be Harry Potter. As I said, if there was no Harry Potter, there would be no Twilight. I remember after HP7, I was telling a friend while we debriefed over HP7 that I would never read again. Harry Potter got me into reading and didn't see any books that interested me but she said I should give Twilight a try, A year and half later, I am glad that the old adage of never say never is true.
What do I read next? I don't know. I am waiting for Midnight Sun to actually get published and then after that, who knows.
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