O Brave New World...

So far the only author you've mentioned that I've actually read is Rowling. I read the first HP book on a plane trip to Melbourne and decided there and then that I would not be reading any more of them. I guess if you look at this sort of stuff from the point of view of a teacher or a parent whose trying to interest kids in ideas... I have a colleague who read all of them and claims they are feminist because of Hermione (well if so why not make Hermione the main character?) Basically, I was bored shitless - but then (a) I'm not interested in magic and (b) I read everything else in countless 'school' fiction stories when I was about 12. Sorry, this is a rant, but I actually hated that book.