Saint Anselm College Great Books

23 responses so far ↓

• 1 LOTR // May 12, 2009 at 8:29 pm

  Wha– ?!?!
  ARE YOU SERIOUS???
  How could you even compare the two?!?!
  The Lord of the Rings Movies are 92174239874983274% (and more) better then harry potter!
  THE LORD OF THE RINGS MOVIES ARE AMAZING.

• 2 HP triumphs! // Jun 20, 2009 at 3:43 pm

  It’s not about the movies! It’s the books! The movies could never portray all that the books bring to life in your innermost fantasies of your mind! And, although I have not yet finished reading Lord of the Rings, I am willing to bet that Harry Potter is much more exciting and engaging than Lord of the Rings. The craze over these stories has little to do with cinema and everything to do with novels! However, I will say I love Lord of the Rings, but Harry Potter will never be overshadowed in my mind. HP FOREVER!!!

• 3 HPHPHPHPHP // Sep 26, 2009 at 12:26 am

  Obviously, its the HP books that make it fascinating! LOTr suks! Although the movies of HP suk more than LOTr, HP books are defeinitely better than the LOTr books! HP rawks! ROAR! EXPELLIARMUS!

• 4 kevin // Nov 8, 2009 at 3:21 pm

  Uhm , ya maybe if your a tween you would consider HP better than LOTR. HP is frankly a kids book. Everything in it is watered down drivel. The whole concept of Muggles vs the magic world is just contrived and difficult, and really makes the whole story line stupid. Ok, so ya, there is a magic world that the “muggle” world has no clue about… and these people with power don’t bother taking over the muddle world? Or making human their slaves? or making humanity a better place? seriously, it doesn’t make any sense.

• 5 JASON_LOTR BETTER THAN HP!!!!!!! // Nov 28, 2009 at 2:59 am

  OH YEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

  A message for this stupid HPHPHPHPH :

  I think you haven’t read yet The Lord of the Rings. Please finish first the books that you are criticizing before saying that its sucks!

  For me, they are both great works of imagination but The Lord of the Rings could not be compare to Harry Potter! It is far more better aaaaandddd GREATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 6 Tomas Peverell // Dec 6, 2009 at 1:47 pm

  Now lets see,kids.

  Boy-who-lived versus the Lord of the Rings:

  Whinny kid who is crying throwout the series about his parents being dead,kid who can’t stand up for him self ’till he’s like seventeen,but others do it instead of him,and a lot else versus the greatest and noblest hobbit of all time,who confronted the greatest dark maia of all time despite the fact that he lost Gandalf long time ago.Even though he’s parents died very early and he has one of the most annoying cousins of all time he doesn’t even mention it,unlike Harry.

  Winner:Frodo Baggins

  Other Characters:

  Noble companions:
  Ronald Billius Weasley versus Samwise Gamgee
  Ron is also a winny bitch,living in his best friend’s shadow,jealous(Goblet of Fire,Deathly Hallows),poor and extremly stupid versus the brave,noble,wise(samWISE),companion Samwise The Brave

  winner:Sam

  Sirius Black versus Aragorn,son of Arathorn

  Now,despite the fact that he needs to act like a parent and guardian,he shows completely different behaviour and rushes to danger trying to convince Harry to do the same thing,Sirius acts very inappropriate for his age.Aragorn,Strider,Elessar,Dunedain,the ranger of the North,the King of the South,the keeper of the Narsil/Anduril,the slayer of orcs and beasts,Gandalf’s companion,proud and wise Aragorn is supreme character here.

  winner:Aragorn

  Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore versus Gandalf the Gray/the White/Mithrandir

  Many fans call this a close call.They’re two of my favourite characters,but I’ll have to be objective:

  Albus,equiped with his Elder’s Wand and 140 years of knowlege versus a descendent of Angels(Valas)a Maia himself,equiped with centuries of knowlege and a mighty staff,servant of the Secret Fire,Balrog-killer Mithrandir.

  It’s clear:Gandalf

  And now the villains

  Tom Riddle/Lord Voldy versus Gorthaur/Sauron

  There’s no need for explanation.All who read HP books and The Sillmarilion know who’s the supreme

  winner:Sauron

  Now the outcome:
  LORD OF THE RINGS RULES!!!

• 7 hp 4 eva!!! // Dec 23, 2009 at 11:12 pm

  how can you compare lotr to hp? really? hp rocks! obviously some ppl here havent read the hp books cus its not about muggles vs. wizards…its about defeating the dark lord…besides i have read both and lotr is just soooo boring i mean its so predictable!!! hp on the other hand has a magical world that is full of adventure, danger and magic spells! besides if you think hp is a kids book then you need to read the book cus there is nothing childish about it, see ya later lotr looooooserrrss!! haha

• 8 anonymous // Jan 13, 2010 at 9:44 am

  LORD OF THE RINGS IS PREDICTABLE? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR F***ING MIND?
  It is far better written than HP. Much more mature, much more thought provoking…Harry Potter is for little kids who don’t have the IQ to handle a serious book. You probably will never be able to read War and Peace or Les Miserables or Mill on the Floss either if you can’t even handle LotR. Enough said.
  YOU are calling LOTR fans LOSERS? LotR fans have the intelligence to handle a long, detailed book, which you HP fans obviously cannot.
  So you can just push off and go read your little childish book about flying broomsticks in a corner. Get back when you can handle more mature content.

• 9 anon // Jan 31, 2010 at 5:58 pm

  I think that to even have this discussion is stupid.
  I also think those two series are directed at two different audiences and having read both series I think I can say that 11-17 year olds would appreciate the HP series and more mature and definitely patient adults would enjoy the LotR series. I loved both. But face it HP lovers, Tolkien is the superior writer and anyone who says otherwise should get some sense bitch slapped into them.

  zing

• 10 archie // Feb 3, 2010 at 3:13 pm

  The only problem when addressing such problem and provoking comparison is that people always pick a side and become a real fanboi. Where’s the objective viewing and discussing.
  Tomas Peverell, in his comment, was trying to compare, but you can clearly see whose fanboi community he belongs to.

  One other thing is, that people tend to think about Harry Potter as kids book. And keep in mind that those people probably didn’t read after first 2-3 books of the whole series, which become more mature and darker with each additional book.
  It kinda bother me and also insults the Geek community when it’s considered OK to talk about LotR, but immature and childish when people have serious discussion about HP world, character analysis or plot/story.

  I really enjoyed both, but can’t decide for only one. As I said, it’s hard to decide when you can’t held a non biased discussion with other people.

• 11 Jasper! // Feb 11, 2010 at 6:21 am

  HARRY POTTER

  HP is better than LOTR. The story is just sooo unpredictable and new conflicts are presented in every book. We can’t deny the fact that JK Rowling writes in a way that will never bore you.

  When you read HP, you can really feel the atmosphere… It just like watching a 3d movie… You can’t stop thinking of it… It’s addicting. I can still remember how i reacted when I first read HP. I was so obsessed with it that my classmates thought i was mad. I only started reading it early this year (i was only a movie fan before) but i felt like i lived with it…

• 12 Kia // Feb 28, 2010 at 4:44 am

  You must keep in mind the fact that Harry Potter just came out in 1997. Lord of the Rings has been around since 1953. The very fact that it still has such dedicated fans says a lot. We’ll see if HP survives the test of time.
  For me, Lord of the Rings wins all.

• 13 Edward // Mar 7, 2010 at 1:17 am

  As much as I like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings takes the cake. I mean, some of the stuff in Harry Potter was even INSPIRED by LOTR. Harry Potter just doesn’t have the ancient powers and history as Tolkien’s works, no questions asked. The ancient powers of darkness would’ve corrupted Harry Potter’s world before even Voldemort could blink. Arguable yes, but not without good reason as it took great magics to finally end darkness in Middle-earth forever. Magics Harry Potter could never conjour up.

• 14 HarryP // Mar 15, 2010 at 3:17 pm

  Harry Potter is much better than LOTr , when you read it you feel like you know Harry like you grew up with him

• 15 name // Mar 19, 2010 at 5:42 pm

  these are probabley the 2 best books ever writen, they both to me are equill but i would have to say i think it was harder to write the hp novels then the lotr ones, J.K.Rowlings was completely new, J.R.R Tolkiens outshined any other medievil fantasy book ever but it wasnt new, i have to say they are both awsome hp books are better tho lotr movies are better

• 16 pr.Simon.B.Heitz // Mar 23, 2010 at 2:00 pm

  I share the opinnion of the proffesional critics and those are;the form and composition of pr.Josephs writing are extremly difficult whitch results in phrases that only those who know how to understand really does pay attention to the beauty of selfsustaining teatrical core,and comparing such form with vocabulary that is so much more than a pure but studyed language…you get the amazing impression that is just a simple reflection of a world that pr.Joseph created and witch we will never completely understand.I think there is no need for me to talk about Harry Potter.

  Utulien ore,auta lome,I say to the J.K.Rowling!

• 17 Koen Scholten // Apr 9, 2010 at 12:56 pm

  I honestly can’t see why al lot of people think Lotr is superior to HP. @ Tomas peverell you’re comparison is clearly prejudiced. How you portrait Ron and Harry as stupid little whining kids which is nonsense. I could write that kind of comparison in 5 min but I won’t since it’s no use for my opinion.

  I like both but what some Lotr fans don’t seem to understand is that Lotr is not the only great fantasy world. HP and Lotr worlds are whole different. HP takes place in the real world Lotr does not. Also HP does have very intruiging story lines. Frodo is not per se better than Harry as a hero. Same with some other comparisons. I really love both books. But as i have to choose i choose HP because that was the one who tickled my fantasy and because of HP i started writing myself. J.K Rowling has done a amazing job writing this world which’s co-excist with the real world. If you aren’t a fan you don’t understand the attraction of the HP books / world. Also the film of Lotr is better than HP but not that much.

• 18 Md. Imbesat // Apr 19, 2010 at 5:43 pm

  HI all. seems a great discussions going on over here. I dont want to have prejudices. I love HP forever. I mean seriously. When I was starting to be drawn in the world of harry potter I asked for more books, preferably of fantasy genre. I came to know about LOTR then, my friends and a teacher suggested me about it. okay, yeah, so I got a pdf version of it and started reading it but it just cant be finished. I mean, I couldn’t feel myself getting into it, while the wizarding world of HP provided me that.
  Seriously people, thats the thing which matters. Driving yourself into what you are reading. If you cant do it then whats the point. It has nothing to do with whether HP is a kids book or not. Of course its not. People who say so just dont want to seriously consider it. There are hell lot of young and adult people reading HP and appreciating it around me. They are not only engaged in it but also in other books like those of Paulo Coelho and even other genres.
  I think you are getting the point. Do not just try avoiding HP you LOTR folks. It will surely stand the test of time.

• 19 aa // Apr 22, 2010 at 2:07 pm

  HP fans seems to admit that LOTR movie is better than HP movie.
  what they didn’t know is that LOTR books are indeed far better
  and had more depth than their movie subjective interpretations.

  Tolkien is a Professor of linguistic, a phylologist which many of
  his professional writings are becoming academic literature for many decades.
  LOTR itself actually is a compilation of 30 years ongoing bed-story
  dedicated for his beloved children. it is a manifestation of love.
  meanwhile, HP was written simply for money (I guess).

• 20 HP. // Jun 25, 2010 at 1:20 pm

  guys it doesnt matter what was better written or what has lots more to it!! it is about what you enjoyed more what let you escape from the real world and to harry potter did just the thing it let me escape and let me be free. Im not saying lord of the rings is rubbish because i think it great but i always seemed to like harry potter more i just grew with it. And yes HP may be for a younger audience but it does not stop adults from enjoying it i know lots of adults who enjoy harry potter. so i think they are both good but harry potter is more enjoyable and you actually feel for the characters.

• 21 anonymous // Jun 28, 2010 at 10:42 am

  Statements like “Hp/LotR is more enjoyable” MUST NOT BE NOTED. This is a highly subjective manner, and we must analyze the actual substance of both books:

  1.Writing: Sorry, kids, Rowling loses here. Tolkien was a master with words.
  2.Plot:I have to give this one a tie.
  3.Imagination:Tolkien easily. He created an entire HISTORY and not just a secondary world.
  4.Character development:Rowling, I must admit.
  All in all, LotR wins.

• 22 Feanor // Jul 10, 2010 at 1:21 am

  Having been, at different stages in my life, a fan of both books, I understand both sides. when I was fifteen, Harry Potter was a much easier book to relate to that Lord of the Rings. However, once I got older, and became less interested in characters and more interested in story, Tolkien’s books moved me much more.

  That being said, I will have to say I consider Tolkien’s work far superior. It is a much richer world, with much more powerful characters and much more creative language and stories.

  however, I consider Harry Potter an excellent book for children. Tolkien’s work is definitely not written for young people, with the exception of The Hobbit.

  I regards to predictability, which seems to be a problem many people have with Lord of the Rings, I would respond by saying Harry Potter is at least as predictable, if not more. Every book in the series follows the same chain of events, usually concluding with someone other than Harry saving the day, but Harry getting credit for it. At least in Lord of the Rings, not every problem is resolved with duce ex machina.

  Also, I would say that it is hard to fully appreciate Tolkien’s writing without reading The Silmarillion. That is definitely not a book for children. It is a great epic, very similar to the stories of the Volsungs and the Kalevala.

  In short, both books have their worth. However, Harry Potter is a good children’s book, whereas the works of Tolkien are better for adults (excluding The Hobbit). I understand liking both, but I have to say I find the idea of grown men and women that read children’s books (and aren’t reading them allowed to children) a little disturbing.

• 23 Nimloth // Jul 11, 2010 at 7:28 am

  Simply,
  The Lord of the Rings!!

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