Two Question Survey - Spoiler Free

About 5 years ago, I came up with a hypothesis about something.  I'm not pushy, but I usually get around to asking the following two questions at one time or another to the people I know or get to know, in order to help me further my research.  Now it's your turn to help:

1. When you were a kid, did you like fairy tales? (i.e. Brothers Grimm type tales, not the Disney knockoffs)

A) Not at All
B) Maybe a Little Bit
C) Liked Some of Them
D) Liked All of Them
E) Loved Them

2. Do you like the Harry Potter books?

A) Not at All
B) Maybe a Little Bit
C) Liked Some of Them
D) Liked All of Them
E) Loved Them

In about 95% of the people I've asked so far (probably survey size of around 300), the people who liked fairy tales as a kid enjoy the Harry Potter novels.  The people who really didn't get into fairy tales tended to feel the same about Rowling's creations.  I'd hesitate to draw firm conclusions as to why this is the case, but so far the connection between the two seems to be holding well.  (There are obvious connections, but the ones I'm really interested in are the not-so-obvious ones that I've discussed with some folks over a pint or two - and let me tell you, nothing whets your appetite for a good lager like the psychoanalytic interpretation of fairy tales vs. Harry Potter).

Anyway - I received the last HP book as an early birthday gift on Saturday from my sister-in-law, who picked it up from a huge stack present at the Harrisburg Costco store.  I didn't get a chance to dig in until last night, where I read about the first 80 pages or so, and then another 120 pages today in fits and starts when I wasn't playing with my daughter or taking my turn behind the wheel on our way home.  I expect I'll make substantial progress tomorrow on the plane to Houston, and have the feeling I'll be up late tomorrow night getting to the end of the Potter saga.

I won't give anything away here now, and probably not for a long while to come (I don't like when people spoil things for me, so I won't spoil in turn).  However, I can say that the writing and dialog seem to combine the best aspects of the 5th and 6th novels without succumbing to the shortcomings that bugged me in each of those two books.  It's definitely on-par with any of the previous novels in terms of how enjoyable it is, although my 11-year-old cousin does report that she's a little bit confused about 20 pages into the story.  It definitely continues the darker, more serious chronicles of Harry Potter, and may be suited to a slightly older audience, for that reason.

This will be my first and last Harry Potter post here on vox - I'm not a fanboy and the people who care are probably busy reading the book themselves.  The people who don't care have probably stopped reading this post by this time, so I'm left with an audience of one (Hi Mom!). 

I'll try to focus on more universal topics in future posts, like why the idiot driving the $50,000 Escalade likes to tailgate my $4,000 used Honda CR-V, even though he's the one that's got everything to lose when I slam on the brakes....