I Finally Read Harry Potter*
Due to baby-induced nausea, I spent much of July trying to be as immobile as possible. So, I decided it was a good time to tackle a project I have long debated undertaking: reading Harry Potter.
And I did. All seven.
…in three weeks.
Everyone I know is a Harry Potter fanatic. Not in a bad sense, but they all seem to be crazy about the books. I have lonnnnnng been encouraged to read them, but they just never appealed to me. When I gave that response in regards to Harry Potter and why I hadn’t read them, the inevitable question follows:
“So, what do you like to read then?”
I never really know how to answer that. I love to read everything.
…except fantasy.
If I had to pick a favourite genre, it would probably be historical fiction. Yes, that probably makes me a nerd, but so be it.
I LIKE IT.
Anyway. Harry Potter. As I read the first three books, I thought that they were “cute”. I wasn’t in love with them, but I was interested enough to keep reading. The fourth book was definitely darker and more well written, but the fifth was terrible. It took everything in me to push through and finish. I liked books six and seven, though I found the ending to be completely predictable and a little boring.
So, the consensus? I liked them, but I didn’t love them.
It’s not a series that I’d read again, and it certainly hasn’t made me want to foray any further into the genre. It’s funny, but I almost feel like I’m blaspheming by saying that I didn’t love the books. People are so passionate about the series and the characters, but I just couldn’t get into it.
I started watching the movies, but they keep straying from the storyline of the book and leaving plot points out and, well, we all know how I feel about that.
(FAIL.)
Am I alone here? Did anyone else read Harry Potter and not fall wildly in love?
5 Comments
Teacher Girl
Sorry, I am completely and utterly in love with Harry Potter and I think I always will be. Read my first book at age 11 and never looked back. My heart was captured forever. I find it hard to believe that you predicted the ending, especially given how complicated it was, but I can accept that not everyone likes the series. That’s what is great about literature, there is something out there for everyone!
Shop Girl*
You know, I do wonder if I would have liked it more if i had started reading them at an earlier age… but I did actually read the first one years ago and I wasn’t enthralled then either. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me!
As for the ending, I obviously didn’t predict all of it word for word, but I guessed most of the key elements. I knew that some of the supporting characters would die, I knew that Snape was good and had killed dumbledore at his request, I knew the romances, I knew Harry would kill Voldemort and it would be connected to the wand, etc.
It just wasn’t for me… I can appreciate how people can get into them though, and I think it’s great they they seem to motivate kids to read. I’m sure that I have books that I love and swear by that other people wouldn’t get too–that’s the beauty of books. :)
Date Girl
normally we have a good amount in common, but I have to disagree with you hear dearheart. I LOVED the HP books. Though I do agree some of later books dragged. Still all in all I loved them and I can’t wait to introduce them to my kids.
Shop Girl*
Haha… that’s okay! You’re allowed to disagree with me, and I expected it with this announcement. I would still encourage my kids to read them if they were interested, I just didn’t personally adore the series the way everyone told me I would.
Karen Peterson
I think those of us who are passionate about the series were with it from very early on. I think there’s been so much build up and love for the boy wizard that reading it now would probably be a bit of a let down.
But I LOVE the books. They are some of my favorites.