By Manda
Well, I'm about to show my cards here but ... I watched all the Harry Potter movies without reading the books first. I KNOW! I'm awful! The first Harry Potter book came out in 1999, and back then I was a too-cool-for-everything college student who was up to her eyeballs in Chaucer (that she only read MOST of, let's face it). What I mean is, it was after my time. Harry Potter wasn't on my radar until the first movie came out in 2001, and even then I didn't see the movie until way, way later ... was it 2004? I have no idea. But when I saw it? I LOVED IT. And even though my husband was teaching a young adult literature class at the time that featured the first novel, and even though I have had books 1-5 sitting on my book shelf for nearly 7 years ... I never read them. What a shame!
I finally read book one when I found out the entire Harry Potter series was featured on the Amazon Prime Kindle free lending library (because let's face it, until I got my Kindle just over a year ago I was not reading enough!). I do not hesitate to say that I have not enjoyed a book that much in a long time! And since I couldn't borrow another book for another month on my Kindle? I got up and walked to my bookshelf and plucked out the second one. And then the third. And now? I'm on book four!
I read a few chapters here and there when I have time, and I really look forward to my reading time. In my opinion as an English major (hey! They hand out diplomas to people who MOSTLY read their Chaucer! Woo!), they are very well-written and very entertaining. And you know what else? Even though I imagine the actors' faces when I think about Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid and Dumbledore, the rest has been easy for my imagination to paint. I don't feel trapped by the fact that I saw the movies, you know (which is probably also a credit to how the movies were made for people who loved the books first!)?
There is something just comforting to me about these stories. Maybe it's that we always break the movies out when the weather turns colder, usually with a cup of hot tea and the Scrabble board. Maybe it's that Harry is so much fun to root for. Maybe it's the holidays at Hogwarts or the butterbeer ... whatever it is, it's magical. Yep. I said it.
What are you enjoying revisiting this fall? Are you a muggle who loves Harry Potter?
(image via Amazon.com)
Harry Potter has been among my favorites since about 2005. I associate certain parts of various volumes with seasons and milestones in my life. And I fell in love with the font Garamond because I first noticed it in Harry Potter. I have all of them on audio, and cycle through them regularly. Okay. I'm going to stop embarrassing myself now.
Posted by: Sheila | October 27, 2012 at 08:46 PM