Tag Archives: Harry Potter

Book of the Decade

Much like most of you, I assume, I’ve been reading a lot of, “best of the decade” lists. My general reaction to most of these lists is that I can’t believe that something happened so long ago. (Seriously, Memento was released ten years ago? How is that possible?) Generally, I agree with some of the picks and some I don’t. To my mind it is impossible to say what is “best” or ”worst” though, because that is essentially a question of taste.  The London Times released its, “100 Best Books of the Decade” list and I was quite happy to see that the excellent graphic novel Persepolis was ranked number two but how does one quantify how good a book is and then rank it? I understand that this is a promotional device intended to sell newspapers and start conversations about books but ranking seems to me to be a fool’s errand. While in high school and in college for my bachelor’s degree, I worked nights at a local St. Louis grocery store. For a time I worked in the produce department and certain fruit like oranges and apples was organized by size and grade. Grading fruit (or student papers) is often more art than science and an utterly subjective process. One cannot grade something without engaging one’s own favoritism and prejudices. I’m not saying that grading is inherently unfair, as long as one applies the same transparent standards to every item then the system is just. What I am saying is that it is almost impossible in practice to match my standards to your standards. Anyone that has ever graded anything (like apples or papers) with a large group of people knows this. While working on my Ph.D. as Michigan State University, I TAed for four years and my contract required that I attend weekly mentoring meetings with other TAs. Our group of eight TAs and one mentor would often read freshmen papers en masse then each of us would assign a faux grade. Although most grades were comparable, I cannot remember the nine of us ever agreeing on a single grade in the numerous semesters that I attended. To my mind, grading is opinion wrapped in pedagogy. Sizing is a much easier and less biased process. It is measuring something to determine how large it is. While measuring a book’s impact is far from scientific, and is just as subjective as grading in many ways, I believe that ranking books by “most important” rather than “best” is more enlightening because the reviewer must describe his/ her criterium. To declare something “best” is to say that I like it but to state that something is “most important” means I must tell you why.

This has all been a long-winded introduction for my pick of “the most important book of the decade.”  My sole criteria is that it is the book that I believe has most changed the world. Although reading is a deeply personal activity and no one can claim to know how a given book affects its reader, I am judging change as a mass movement made of up millions of readers. My book of the decade is, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and last of the Harry Potter series. In my opinion, it could be nothing else. It’s the conclusion to a series of books that enticed millions of children, young adults, and adults to read. It started the practice of children and teenagers waiting in lines for bookstores to open at midnight. It potentially changed millions of people’s reading habits. If 10% of Harry Potter readers continue to read throughout their lives, then these books have provided society with a foundation of literacy that cannot be overestimated. I enjoyed all of the Harry Potter books and I believe that J.K. Rowling is a wonderful writer but that isn’t the point. The point is that hopefully Harry Potter will be a literary gateway drug for many and maybe society will become more literate. Creating a book that everyone wants to read is a great start and that’s why J.K. Rowling wins my vote for “the most important book of the decade.”