I seriously don't know how HP got popular. When it first came out I was like, "AHH ITS ABOUT A WITCH! SATAN BOOK!" (/exaggeration) When the third one came out, however, I started to read sorcerers stone. Great story flow. The storyline is great, even if it turns off those religious fanatics. I really got turned on by the length. Always a challenge. I read the 1st in 4 days, 2nd in 3, 3rd in 3, 4th in 5, and the 5th in 2. I CANT WAIT FOR THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.
When The harry potter series came out I had just finished reading the Republic by Plato... so I wasn't too keen on reading about a wizard kid... I didn't read the series untill order of the pheonix came out.... I started from the beggining and finished all five books in one week over the summer. I loved how every book picks up right where the last one left off and your reunited with people who become somewhat real to you... you know? Familiar faces. Although J.K rowling did spend entirely too much time in book five reitorating what happened in prior books. Just when the book got good it was over because she had spent soo much time just retelling the first four books. The way I figure it is that anyone who picks up a book five into the series is a dumbass anyway....why lay everything out for them?
Little different from me. I fell asleep reading the first part of book 1 and decided to give it one more chance. If I fall asleep reading a book not at night it's usually not worth my time. I did and thank God. I admire JK Rowling for her extensive knowledge of History and Mythology and finding ways to work them in, oh yah, and her mad characterization skills.
YAY I love the series...they are my favorite books (well...and The Grapes of Wrath) and I can't wait for the next one to come out. It's less than 100 days? YES!!! I hear it's going to be shorter than the fifth book...dissapionting. I LOVE long reads...(TGOW was very, very long but great).
And I think after the series is over J.K.R. should release all of her notes and stuff she didn't use and just slosh it all together in one big messy compilation and sell it...I know I'd buy it.
I am dying to read all of the books again before #6 comes out. I read them all (all 5!) two summers ago (I think?) for the first time ever. I had resisted the pull of Harry Potter for so many years while being surrounded by people who couldn't stop talking about it. Luckily I didn't care what they were blathering on about at the time, or I would have had many plot developments ruined for me.
I used to work at a library and one day, for no good reason, #1 was lying there in front of me as I was shelving and I picked it up and started flipping through it. Why not? I figured, and I took it home and read it. By #2 I was completely hooked. #5 is my favourite so far. I know a lot of people didn't like that one, but it just seemed like so much was happening! It was exciting.
even when I read #4, which seemed to me to have a dull story, I was very happy to just be spending time with the characters. I am used to liking characters in a story, or even loving them (in the way you love fictional characters), but I have never before felt like any character in a story was my friend, until this point.
if nothing else, Rowling has a gift at making her characters realistic and lovable.
I liked #4 and didnt think it was dull at all...in there you got to get more into the personalities and psyche of the characters which made them seem more vivid and real and I felt drawn into the book as if I was standing right there next to them, much like in the sims 2. the way it does that makes me lose sense of reality and that's one of the most wonderful things that can happen. harry potter enables escapism and I applaud that. #4 was like...the freudian book of the series.
though of all of them I don't know which would be my favorite...but it would probably be #4 or #5...
JKR definitely deserves a really high award for this series.
by the way am i the only one that is REALLY digging the smell of the pages?
Well, the Harry Potter series is awesome. Despite the fact that at times JKR's writing style gets repetitive at times (can you guess how many times she used the word said in Book Five!?) it doesn't really matter that much because of how it drags you in. It's one of the reasons there are so fanfictions of the series. The movies stayed pretty true to the books in that sense, though they did indeed change things.
A neat series, but like all the seires I seem to be reading, it is slowing down as the books progress. Still trying to maintain childlike lightheartedness, but the kid is getting older. Oh well,
In regards to the long fingers bit.....good pick on finding that....but for some reason, anytime I hear "long fingers" I am reminded of crappy softcore smut.
I read the books for the first time this past summer. I finished the third one the day before the third movie came out. I have all the books in paperback up until the 5th one, I couldn't wait that long, so I got it in hardback. I'm rereading them all now because they're just that good. I wish it wasn't so long until the 6th book comes out and I'm mad that they're already teasing us with frames from the 4th movie when it's not coming out until November.
I've noticed that she also really likes the number 7. I discovered this while taking this quiz (http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=4266 [my top score is 251, yeah, I'm a loser]). Examples are: obviously there are 7 books, there are 7 Weasley children, Mad Eye had 7 locks on his trunk (and he was in the 7th one)... the list goes on and on.
Well, I'm off to read... guess what? You got it, Harry Potter.
Oh....and is it just me or does anyone else like to read all of the books in order again before reading the new one?
You're not the only one. 3-4 days before I get the next copy, I re-read the entire series. 1 and 2 usually take up the 1st day, and sometimes I can get the beginning of the 3rd in before I pass out. I read the 3rd on day 2 and begin the 4th, and I usually finish the 4th on day 3. This time around, I got to add an extra day for the 5th book. So I estimate I have to start re-reading the series 5 days before The Half-Blood Prince comes out (with that extra day--the 5th day--as leeway in case I am busier than I had planned).
Oh, trust me, I love these books. I've had to buy paperback copies, because my hardcover ones have pages flying out. If you dropped my Harry Potter copies onto the floor, I swear, there'd be a huge pile of pages covering the floor. Prisoner of Azkaban is in the worst condition of my books. But, yeah, I enjoy them a lot.
