Harry Potter
It was a full weekend of reading for us. We bought two Harry Potter books on Saturday and started reading that afternoon. I had too many interruptions with dinner and bedtime routines to get more than about halfway before bed and finished last night. But Blake stayed up until the wee hours of Sunday morning to finish. He was a little anxious for me to get through it yesterday. I won’t give any spoilers at this time but I have to say I was happy to be proven right about my theories. I have decided that I need to go back and re-read books five and six again because there was a lot that came up in this one that I couldn’t quite remember.
We also took in the most recent Potter movie while on vacation. It was everything I expected and I enjoyed it. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of the Weasley twin’s mischief but you simply can’t fit much more than they did into the time window for a movie. It’s so fun to go back and see some of the early shows when the trio were so young. It’s always kind of weird to watch actors grow up with a series. It’s also interesting to see what it does to your reading experience once you have an actor’s rendition of a character in your head. Pre-movie was a time when you had to create the image of the characters in your mind but with the movies coming out during the book series it flip flopped - at least for me. In the later books I could see and hear the actors like Snape and Rita Skeeter in my head as I read about them.
It’s been such a fun and interesting journey with Harry Potter. There was so much hype about it when they first came out that I had no interest in reading it whatsoever. But then about a week before the movie came out both my husband and I decided maybe we’d read it as we’d already heard so much speculation about what they’d have to cut out to make it a movie. There was a book sitting at his mom’s and I picked it up to start reading. I didn’t put it back down until I was finished. It was a fast and engaging read and we were both really glad we’d read the book just days before the movie came out so we’d understand more what was going on. After that it was easy to want to read the next book installments even though they continually got longer and longer.
As we talked about it yesterday a little my husband pointed out something very important. It was that these were written as children/youth books. Therefore some of the storyline and developments were more basic than I may have liked, or at least as my imagination flourished, as the series progressed, but to keep it in perspective I think it was right on. The fact that it could engage so many adult readers is a tribute to the style of writing and story in my mind. For more fun reveiws visit Blake. *wink*
Anyone else out there a Harry Potter fan? What has your experience been?
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hiiiiii thanks for visiting me!! i guess u said it all in ur review of the movie… its hard to make a movie out of such a complex book!! soo many characters and stories! still for me the books r better!! but as u said u got to put faces on the idea of those characters!!
You’re welcome. Thank in return for dropping by my corner and commenting. I like the books better too but any entertainment is enjoyable and usually most welcome.
Comment by confessing7girl — July 23, 2007 @ 1:28 pm
I have never read Harry Potter or seen the movies, but I wonder if the hype of the Harry Potter book, has caused people, especially young people to read more, or was it just being caught up in the hype, and then back to status quo?
It’s a good question. I think it may very well be somewhere in the middle. Some people/kids will only have read to keep up with the hype - but I figure at least they were reading! Others may have found that reading can be wonderfully enjoyable when you find something you’re really interested in. I wouldn’t mind setting a few of JK’s records.
Comment by Larry — July 23, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
When my children are older, I am going to read all of the books. I’ve enjoyed watching all of the movies. My oldest daughter has read all the books, and said the same thing, that she would have liked to have seen more of the plot in the movie, with the twins’ hijinxs with Prof. Umbridge. I agree reading is an enjoyment, that the reader can use their imagination, which movies I feel take the place of our imagination and instead is the imagination of the producers and directors, if that makes sense. And if all the hype of reading Harry Potter has helped our children become more interested in reading I’m with you….that’s a good thing!!
It is a great thing to cause such a stir and excitement about reading. I had to laugh yesterday as I surfed the net to see how many people had done reviews on bogus manuscripts before the release. What a silly thing to assume that what you’d read was the real thing. But that by itself says a lot about the level of anticipation over the release of the final book too. Wondrous really.
Comment by Christine — July 23, 2007 @ 7:47 pm
I’ve seen the first four Potter movies, but have not read any of the books. I will eventually — probably when my daughter is old enough to read the books too. That would be a lot of fun.
Reading with your kids is so much fun. I’ve read some of the original Nancy Drew books with my daughter for a couple years now. She’s dying to see the movie and it was fun for me to see her recognize it as soon as it came up.
Comment by Daddy Forever — July 23, 2007 @ 8:13 pm
I got the Harry Potter book this weekend too! I loved it, and now J is reading it. Btw, I tagged you for a meme if you’d like to play.
Cool - I’ll go check it out.
Comment by Angel — July 24, 2007 @ 2:16 pm