Jea Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 So I admit this poll is a little weird but it's linked with my research. Not very interesting in itself, but please humour me, as it will indicate to me whether or not more complex polls on the subject would be productive for my thesis. If you are currently reading one you can count is as read of course. Link to post Share on other sites
OrangesAndLemons Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 I feel like the book thief should be more popular than Harry Potter tbh Link to post Share on other sites
deltaX Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 I've read both! Link to post Share on other sites
Kelpie Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 2 hours ago, OrangesAndLemons said: I feel like the book thief should be more popular than Harry Potter tbh You can certainly learn a lot from the book but it's also very sad and depressing. I can see why people rather read Harry Potter, although sad things happen there in the end good wins out and it's not super duper depressing like the Book Thief >_> I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVED the Book Thief. But it's hard to read. Link to post Share on other sites
OverwhelmedA Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Both are brilliant books-I adore them! But if I had to choose, I'd go with....The Book Thief. While Harry Potter is responsible for my childhood, The Book Thief was the first book that hit me hard and never let me forget Himmel Street and the boy with hair the color of lemons. Great, now I made myself sad. Link to post Share on other sites
Grumpy Alien Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 I've read both. While The Book Thief is good and very well written, it didn't draw me in like a lot of other books. Harry Potter is my favorite and always has been. Link to post Share on other sites
Doctor13 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 I've read most of the Harry Potter books, but not the Book Thief yet. It's on my list, though! The movie was amazing, and I know the book will be too Link to post Share on other sites
Wolf27 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 I've read Harry Potter but not The Book Thief. However it is definitely on my list to read. Link to post Share on other sites
Lia Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Never read Book Thief, but it's on my "to read" list. I don't think anyone has to ask me about Harry Potter Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 I have read Harry Potter and enjoyed the books (and movies). I have not read The Book Thief, and probably own't if it's so depressing. I'm not a fan of depressing books. Link to post Share on other sites
Gentle Giant Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 I've read and loved the Harry Potter books. Haven't read the Book Thief yet. The later Harry Potter books were rather dark and depressing too. I much prefer the earliest ones. Link to post Share on other sites
SpaceDustbin Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Have read HP, but not the Book Thief. I'd been following HP since I read the first one in 1998/1999, so picked the new ones up along the way, but The Book Thief probably slipped under the radar for me, because around that time I had to read loads of lit for Dutch, English, German, and French class, which killed my love for reading for some years - and then there were many other books that had to be read afterwards Link to post Share on other sites
Jea Posted August 21, 2017 Author Share Posted August 21, 2017 Thank you all for voting On 20/08/2017 at 2:47 PM, OrangesAndLemons said: I feel like the book thief should be more popular than Harry Potter tbh I definitely think The Book Thief is more literary than HP, the writing is more poetic and original. But I guess popularity is not based only on that, and HP does have a lot of attractive qualities. 22 hours ago, Kelpie said: it's also very sad and depressing. I can see why people rather read Harry Potter, although sad things happen there in the end good wins out and it's not super duper depressing like the Book Thief >_> I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVED the Book Thief. But it's hard to read. 19 hours ago, daveb said: probably won't if it's so depressing I don't really agree with that. I mean, the story itself is very sad and the ending is rather dark, but the writing itself is so humorous, I believe I laughed more than I cried, all things considered. Some passages are really dark, but it's always counterbalanced by the narrator's light tone. So in the end, it is definitely an emotional roller-coaster, but more in the same way as John Green's books, the writing is full of humour. That's how I felt it anyway. Link to post Share on other sites
Just Me! Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 I thought The Book Thief would be some obscure spin-off of Harry Potter, then remembered it as I hit Submit... Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 2 hours ago, Findus said: more literary I know some people like that, but it's more likely to turn me off. I prefer a good story. (I'm not saying you can't have both nor that The Book Thief isn't a good story) Link to post Share on other sites
fuzzipueo Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 I have read and enjoyed Harry Potter, but have not read The Book Thief. To be honest, I don't think you can compare the two stories by any real means since their plots and their intent are so different. One is fantasy, the other historical fiction. One about a boy wizard, the other about a little girl trying to survive one of the worst wars in recent history. Harry doesn't rely on stolen books but magic and artifacts. Lisle is trying to eek out a living and bring home some joy. Both can be and ought to be enjoyed for different reasons, but there really isn't much to compare here, so it makes me curious about the OP's thesis... Just wondering ... I doubt I'll be reading The Book Thief any time soon, it sounds rather depressing and I read for escape and enjoyment. Literary books tend to be downers a lot of the time, even the "humorous" ones. Give me a good piece of genre fiction any day. Link to post Share on other sites
Amathy Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 I read Harry Potter for enjoyment. I read the Book Thief for class. This is very indicative of what I thought of them. Harry potter was enjoying to read. The Book Thief was a chore to read. Link to post Share on other sites
Jea Posted August 22, 2017 Author Share Posted August 22, 2017 16 hours ago, fuzzipueo said: Both can be and ought to be enjoyed for different reasons, but there really isn't much to compare here, so it makes me curious about the OP's thesis... Just wondering ... My thesis isn't about comparing them at all in fact. I work in the field of narrative theory, on The Book Thief and on other similar books, but not on Harry Potter. What I was wondering was how much the unusual narration affected the reader. Of course this would require a very complicated poll with tons of question and a more neutral audience than AVEN. I was discussing this with my supervisor not so long ago and she suggested I compare it with a book that has a similar audience, but a very basic narrative situation. So I thought of Harry Potter and she agreed, as the narrative technique is quite ordinary and it has a very large audience, which would add to my chances of finding people who had read both. The actual poll would be more in depth, with The Book Thief as my actual object of study and Harry Potter as a point of reference, to compare not the action but the readers' reaction to some techniques used. I haven't thought of the questions themselves in depth, although I have an idea of which aspects I would like to analyse. I'm not even sure I will, this is the second and last year of my MA thesis, and I need to go more in depth about one aspect. I though going into readers' reaction might be a way, but I have other ideas as well. So yeah, this poll was just to see whether anything might be productive in this direction. Link to post Share on other sites
fuzzipueo Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 5 hours ago, Findus said: My thesis isn't about comparing them at all in fact. I work in the field of narrative theory, on The Book Thief and on other similar books, but not on Harry Potter. What I was wondering was how much the unusual narration affected the reader. Of course this would require a very complicated poll with tons of question and a more neutral audience than AVEN. I was discussing this with my supervisor not so long ago and she suggested I compare it with a book that has a similar audience, but a very basic narrative situation. So I thought of Harry Potter and she agreed, as the narrative technique is quite ordinary and it has a very large audience, which would add to my chances of finding people who had read both. The actual poll would be more in depth, with The Book Thief as my actual object of study and Harry Potter as a point of reference, to compare not the action but the readers' reaction to some techniques used. I haven't thought of the questions themselves in depth, although I have an idea of which aspects I would like to analyse. I'm not even sure I will, this is the second and last year of my MA thesis, and I need to go more in depth about one aspect. I though going into readers' reaction might be a way, but I have other ideas as well. So yeah, this poll was just to see whether anything might be productive in this direction. Interesting idea. I hope your research and thesis turn out well! Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.