I think it was Ursula LeGuin who described the Harry Potter novels as having "mean morals", and I think that's why I couldn't really get into them. I resisted reading Harry Potter novels for as long as possible; once I did read them, I felt underwhelmed, and disappointed, and irritated with Rowling's style. She's a good storyteller, but boy, does she need an editor.

I feel you on the not reading for enjoyment - I mean, I became an English major because I wanted an excuse to buy more books, but then it turned into exercise and work and papers. His Dark Materials are the first books to have inspired the little kid feeling I used to have in a long time. Narnia, which I read after college, didn't really do it for me as much, probably because I read them as an adult, and I couldn't get past the stereotypical Arab imagery and the Christian allegory. The hippie hate was funny, though.