Harry Potter, Is Harry Potter series Descriptive

So peeps... what do you think the sixth book will be about?

Obvious innit?
Abilities dinnae tell ye who ye are.
If ye choose tae use yir big pointy wand tae blaw somewans heid aff or make nice flowers grow...
Hmmm.
As tae the next book ah hink it'll hae mair aboot love stories as they're gettin tae that age if ye ken whit ah mean...
Ron so fancies Hermione it's funny

The choices we are given seem to be more a matter of chance. If someone does not have an opportunity presented to make the choice that leads to success then their potential is wasted. If Harry had never been sent to Hogwarts then he would not have had the chance to make Wizardry his choice.

I think you've got it backwards. It's the choices we make that determine our chances. And keep in mind that success is different things to different people. I don't have a lot of money, but I consider myself very successful. I've toured the US and parts of Canada, Mexico and Europe playing music. I got paid to see the world. I have a wonderful wife, a job I like, friends I love, and music inside me. I have all this because of choices I made. Looking back, I can see it could have been very different.

The lucky few never get a chance to join the majority who live lives of quiet desperation trying to find an opportunity to do what they know they have the ability to do. Frustration is a common problem in our society.

Zig Ziglar says that it's our attitude that determines our altitude. I agree. If you want to sit around feeling frustrated, go ahead. It's your choice. I see my glass as half full, not half empty.

Aw, I'll miss Richard's Dumbledore!

I like that line, a LOT really. To me it means that we are perhaps born with certain abilities, but its what we choose to do with those abilities that makes us who we really are: who we become at maturity.
It works in the sense that if you're born with an ability to sing, if you choose to practise you may become opera-quality - personally I think of how I'd still be doing stick figures if I hadn't taken my innate ability to draw and developed it into the obsession its become.
Harry is a gifted wizard, but his choice is this: does he become a good honorable talented wizard like his own parents or even Dumbledore? Or does he go over to the dark side like Malfoy's daddy and become a talented devious wizard?

Ah I am looking forward to the HP movie next month!! Isn't Gary Oldman perfect casting as Sirius?!?

I think the quote can best be desribed with an example. Take 2 kids; one very intelligent and one marginal. Intelligent kid decides to do drugs, etc. Marginal kid studies his/her ass off at school and maybe plays on the soccer team. Marginal kids goes to university through hard work. Intelligent kids goes to detox. Its all about choices and new doors that open with those choices. You can have all the skill in the world but if you don't work it, it is nothing.
The Potter books rock. I have read them all to my 5 yr old daughter. I am waiting for movie 3 to go to the cheap theatre cause hey! I do have Scottish roots lol. The best one I think was The Order of the Phoenix. I think the next book may see McGonnagal helping Harry on his road to becoming an auror as she swore to do in the last book. And personally I think Ron and Hermione will become an item. They squabble like an old married couple already and he gets all choked when she mentions.......good lord what's that quiddich guys name Hermione went to the dance with.......well you all know who I mean. And that is all in my humble opinion.

Love, Awen

My favourite character in this book is Peeves, the poltergeist.

As far as the quotation is concerned, I guess our abilities don't tell us much, the same about choices. It is so because we are too often forced to make choices, they are hardly our own. Abilities are wasted, too. What tells us who we truly are? The way we see the world.

[color=purple

I love this quote. It is my most favorite quote ever! I like this quote because it has such a strong meaning to it. Our talents or abilities to do something does not tell who we are, we are what we choose to be. We are not forced to be anything, we choose to be whatever we are. if that makes sense. I love harry potter. It is such a great series. It's funny, I love this quote so much for a really big reason. I am Roman Catholic and there are a lot of Catholics who hate HArry Potter, they think it is evil. I go to a Catholic college and I have been condemned to hell so many times now it's quite humurous. I find that as long as I (and children) can tell the difference between reality and fantasy then I don't find the books any problem (from a Catholic standpoint, not disrespecting anyone on purpose). This quote is such a Christain quote. When people judge me for reading the books ro watching the movies I just give them this quote, which our religion can totally relate to. Our free will (aka choices) bring us closer or farthar from God, not our talents. It is our choice. If that makes any sense at all...???

Ceciliastar,
I know what you mean by Christians condemning these books. I used to look after this young 9 yr old girl who was in the local Logos program at school (Christian based learning in a public school). Just for the record I am a Christian myself lol. She came home one day saying her teacher said Harry Potter was satanic. I am like whaaaaat! lol. Just about that time the 1st Lord of the Rings movie was coming out and her teacher was all fine with that tho. Her teacher said that because Harry Potter had witches and majick in them that they were satanic. I said there was wizards and majick in Lord of the Rings so what was the difference.......maybe that Tolkien was a Christian it made the subject ok or something. I dunno lol. All I could think was this is too close to the book burnings of Nazi Germany for my comfort so I called the head of the Logos program to complain. Well I met a brick wall but I felt better having vented lol. The girl and I went on to have many conversations around what she heard in school and at church and at her home and mine. So in the end I guess Harry Potter opened a whole new world for her in discussion and debate lol.......not too bad for satanic books eh?! lol

Knowing that Tolkien was a Christian does make the LotR trilogy more approachable for Christians (or it should, anyway) and also the fact that what Tolkien was trying to do was create a grand mythology, a great story if you will... its complexity and sheer scale are awesome to behold! His concern was heritage and inner motivation and what someone does when faced with challenges...

Oops, my love of these tales is beginning to show...

Back to the subject, it may be of legitimate concern that the Potter stories appear to endorse witchcraft and wizardry, because they do... unlike the LotR tale, in Potter's world real kids can become real wizards & witches and it looks fun and exciting and a good way to deal with annoying cousins or nasty aunties. I still like the Potter movies well enough because its a fun fantasy story. And for the record, I have had two genuine witches tell me that the spell-casting is far too unrealistic & inacurate to steer anyone to witchcraft! They say its just story-telling. And I guess they'd know now wouldn't they...

I AM A DEVOUT ATHIEST AND I FIND THE CHRISITIANS ARE BOOK BURNERS FULL STOP THEY SEEM TO OPPRESS CULTURE AND IDEOLOGY THAT DOES NOT CO EXIST WITH THEIR BIBLE ( Rag ) , THE FACT IS THAT BY 2050 THE ONLY PEOPLE MENTALLY IMMATURE AND CHILDISH ENOUGH TO BELIVE IN GOD WILL BE 70 YEAR OLD HERMITS CVASTED OUT TO THE MOUNTAINS FOR THEIR PRIMITIVE BEILEFS

The greatest of abilities are wasted without the proper choices.

We've played the audiobooks of the Potter books on long roadtrips. They are among the best audiobooks out there. The gentleman who reads the books does the greatest voices. He has a unique voice for each character in the books. In one interview, he talked about not having time to read one of the later books through before recording the book. He reusec one of the house elf voices for a new house elf in that book. Later, the two house elfs met. He went back and rerecorded all of the previous dialogue for the new house elf with a different voice. That is dedication.

The entire family read all of the books, as well as listening to the audiobooks.

Whoa - what brought that on?? We were just discussing the Harry Potter movie? Our opinion of it is shaped by our faith (or lack there of)... you're welcome to comment on the subject, but I don't think ranting against people who believe different from you is called for on this forum topic.