Monday, March 23, 2015

On Disliking Books

I've decided to stop reading Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. I got to Chapter 52 out of 122.
I'm kinda sad that I don't like it, because the premise is so cool. Harry Potter is going to Hogwarts, but was raised by scientists. It doesn't sound like you can go wrong.
And the book is good, I guess. I like the experiments Harry enacts. I like what he does and doesn't discover. I like that the spells really do need you to say things just the right was for them to work. I like how the characters react to Harry the Scientist. I like the battle games.
The problem I have is simple. I don't like any of the characters. There isn't a single character that, looking in from the outside, I would want to be friends with. This is why Harry Potter and the Methots of Rationality is the fourth book I have ever disliked.
The first book I disliked was The Borrowers, because it was boring, but the concept was okay. The second was Great Expectations, which was also boring, but at least we had Joe. The third was The Life of the Cosmos, because it was boring, but it doesn't have characters to dislike. This makes HPMOR (an acronym for the Potter book) the first book I have disliked that wasn't boring.
Textbooks and workbooks don't count to me because they do a different thing. Even nonfiction books have to engage the reader, and many do, whether or not they have a narrative. At least they are engaging enough to keep them on the "meh" list and off the dislike list.
No textbooks, workbooks, or schoolbooks will ever be on that list. To me, talking about disliking textbooks along with other books is like saying you aren't good friends with ceiling fans, or that alarm clocks are your least favorite drink. It doesn't make sense, that's not what they're supposed to do.
Anyways, enough about that. I need to sleep. Good night!

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