First, the wizard part.
Look at these eyebrows and tell me that they don’t look like wizard eyebrows. I wake up to these crazy things every morning. I like to think that they give me character.
Speaking of wizards, I am reminded of the first time that I read the Harry Potter series. DeAnne and I had been dating for maybe a month when she asked if I had ever read Harry Potter. I told her that I had not, that I had no interest in doing so. I was reading books by Kurt Vonnegut, J. R. R. Tolkien, and high-brow (not eyebrow) stuff like that.
“Oh,” said DeAnne. “I’ve read them all multiple times. I really enjoy them.”
“Oh,” I said.
“I think you’d like them if you gave them a chance.”
“Well,” I said, thinking how pretty she was and how stupid I would be if I made her stop liking me because I was unwilling to read the books that she enjoyed simply because I thought that they were below me, “okay.”
And so I read them. And I loved them. And I had to admit to DeAnne that she was right and that I was wrong (the first of many times).
You see, I am a book snob. If a book is popular, I have a tendency to believe that it is probably popular for bad reasons. Either it is poorly-written but pulls at some teenage emotional need (ahem, Twilight), or the media has created a frenzy (ahem, Fifty Shades of Grey), or I simply think it is below me. But there are times when my reflex to discount certain successes in the book world leads me astray. Such was the case with Harry Potter.
I am so glad that my wife introduced me to the world of Hogwarts if for no other reason than it started me on the path of recovery for my book-snobbish ways. (Though I am still not going to read Twilight.)
Josh Mosey 
I’m a recovering book snob, too. And, I have to admit, I have yet to read Harry Potter. It’s not because I don’t think they’ll be good. I’m just reading so many other things. And I want to read Harry with my daughter when she’s old enough.
I tried to read Twilight. I couldn’t do it. I can never get the 10 minutes back that I wasted on that book. Ugh. Gag. Barf.
LOL! Im not the kind to judge a book by a trend, but if it appeals to me I’ll go for it.
Nice try, but I still have no interest in Harry Potter. My husband and I read a few selections of book one once to get a flavor of the writing and were not terribly impressed. Too many other books I actually want to read calling my name. 🙂 And I hear you with the resistance. I refuse to watch Titanic or Shrek simply because people talked to much about them and too many people insisted I watch them. I’m just a snob all around. 🙂
I agree that you shouldn’t waste time on bad books (even if I disagree with you about your definition of bad books as it pertains to Harry Potter). As to movies that I have refused to see based on popularity, I am proud to remain a Grease virgin.
So, Mr. Mosey, how do you rate the books on a Jesus scale of appropriateness? We’ve talked it over with our daughter several times, but I don’t have the emotional strength to attack that many pages of writing just to see if she can read it. How much witchcraft/Satan/evil is in there? Or is it more on the Lord of the Rings level, which Eric loves and finds no problem with?
I’ve suggested to Eric that HE could start reading them and then tell Audrey if she can, but he’s stuck in the middle of that last Jordan book. We might have to bury him with it.
I know many people who have read/enjoyed the Harry Potter series and I don’t know any of them who now worship the devil. The plot is a basic good vs. evil with main characters who don’t always make the best decisions, but those bad decisions are never praised. I think there is much to be said for Christians reading and engaging with secular books, especially since I know that you and Eric would be there to lend your moral opinions. As to the use of magic/spells, every fantasy book has to answer the question of how magic works. Gandalf tends to mutter and use it without any real effort. Wizards in Harry Potter use wands and words, no demons involved.
We agree to the point about Christians engaging with secular books. Frankly, I don’t appreciate how many Christian books try to sanitize the world. Christ called us to be IN the world, while not of the world. But I always get nervous when we start to tiptoe around the wizards and spells. I’ll give your input to Eric; thanks!