How Rowling eclipses Meyer

First, an admission, then some thoughts.

The admission: despite the fact that I swore I would stop reading the twilight books after number two, new moon, I found myself in the Owl's Nest in Fredericton last week dropping five bucks on a used copy of eclipse, which of course is book three. I guess I'm a little bit hooked. And, surprisingly, it seems to have been the movies that did it, not the books themselves. I was impressed with the first two film adaptations and then felt I had to read books three and four before watching the films made of them.

Some thoughts: One of the great advantages that I think the J.K. Rowling series has over the Stephenie Meyer series is that Rowling adapts her style of writing to her maturing audience with each new book in the series. Meyers' books are all written for the same, young teen audience.

I can understand why Meyer would choose to do this, to be consistent in her style so that her readers would know what they're getting.

But I have a huge admiration for Rowling's realisation that her readers are themselves maturing in the interim period between the publication of her books. A reader who was thirteen when The Philosopher's Stone first came out would be 14 or so when The Chamber of Secrets was released, 15 to 16 when The Prisoner of Azkaban was published, and so on.

Rowling clearly understood that fact and made sure that the level and sophistication of each new book matched the level and sophistication of her reader. It's quite brilliant in its conception and really impressive in its execution.

Even now, I can enjoy the differing charms and attractions of each novel in the series. With Meyer, I find myself bemoaning the fact that each book offers the same tone, the same level of diction, the same sophistication of characterization and plot.

For example, the Bella Swan who works so well in twilight as a 16-year-old is less convincing in new moon as a 17-year-old and, as I'm finding out now, comes across almost embarrassingly infantile as an 18-year-old in eclipse. And the writing style doesn't mature either.

All of that being said, Meyer must be doing something right because I'm still reading.

Harry Potter at Beauxbatons?

I've recently come upon the idea of trying to improve my French by reading my favourite books in their French-language translations. Imagine my surprise (and pleasure) at finding the first two Harry Potter novels, in French, at our local used book store, the Owl's Nest, for about a third of the cover price!

And in perfect condition, I might add.

I snapped them up. Both Harry Potter a l'ecole des sorciers and Harry Potter et la chambre des secrets are translated by Jean-Francois Menard and published by Gallimard Jeunesse. Each features a really neat cover painting by Jean-Claude Gotting, as you can see in the photo.

Now I can enjoy Harry Potter in numerous different forms: the books in English, the movies in English, the books in English on CD and the books in French. I'll have to see if my Blu-Ray copies of the movies have French soundtracks too.

But don't worry, from what I can see, the French version of the books don't have Harry and his friends attending Beauxbatons! It's still Hogwarts all the way.