In fact, I usually would re-read the entire series that was available just before the next book would launch, and even after reading the first three books, oh, 5 or 6 times so far, I’m still finding little tidbits that I’d missed the other half dozen times through. Even though the tension from the first read through is gone, it’s just as interesting seeing all the clues that have been worked in so subtly- you can only see them after you know the conclusion.

Can you tell that I’m a fan?

Chantelle,
Thanks for your comment on the Twilight series — I think my issue with it is how the protagonist seems so one-dimensional; she gets obsessed with a guy and ends up married and having a child just barely out of high school. Otherwise the story seems imaginative, and I like a good vampire story as well as anyone else. And it’s not the fact she falls in love with a vampire that makes her a bad role model. I could see giving the movies a view, but…

r4i,
I haven’t seen the latest movie yet, but I can imagine it being difficult to get HBP down to movie-length and still get in all the plot updates that set up the final novel. And it’s gotta end on a downer note in keeping with the book, so probably won’t be the best HP movie to stand on its own.

I was instantly hooked and greedily devoured the first three books in the series. The wait for the fourth book, The Goblet of Fire, felt unbearably long and the rest of the series there after even more so. My friends became Potter fanatics with me (am to this day happily blamed for “converting” them to the HP-side) and we often found ourselves (even now 10 years down the line) in heated discussion about the series, the characters, the majority of events, and now more than then, the issues addressed by J.K. Rowling.

In my teenage years Harry Potter was my escape from the dreary world of body issues, boys with hormones and girls with nasty streaks. When ever I felt overwhelmed by school, issues with friends or school mates, or my family I would grab a Harry Potter book and emerge at the end of it feeling positive, motivated and ready to dare to take on my meagre problems head on. Because, if Harry could face Lord Voldemort and cope with growing up, why should I not be able to face my own obstacles?

I am now 24 and still a happy HP-addict. It is my fix, my drug of choice, my “personal brand of heroin” (if I may be so bold as to quote an over popular sparkling vampire). Harry Potter is my steady book companion through out life, whether I am bored, miserable, happy, or simply looking for a fun-filled diversion. I will make sure that my children read Harry Potter one day, and my grandchildren after that, because if nothing else, Harry Potter is a wonderful story you can loose yourself in and make almost all of your dreams come to life on a page.

(PS. The Twilight series is over rated in my humble opinion. It really simply is a teenage romance set in a supernatural world. Not to mention that the supporting characters are better developed than the two main characters, almost no character development takes place throughout the series and the forth book is a complete waste of paper.)

Thanks for writing this post so that i don’t have to…I can just link to yours!

Costco finally came out with the whole set of 7 books in a paperback box set, so I bought them this July and my three sons and I read through them all (my youngest and I for the first time…the older boys have read them many times already).

My youngest, only 8 1/2, was a little intimidated by the books, so I checked out each book in CD form from our local library. That was a wonderful thing — and many of the rest of us listened to the books being read, as well … so we could hear how words and names were supposed to be pronounced….

Anyway, I was absoluted absorbed and simultaneoused outraged at those who have made such a fuss about Harry Potter. AAUGH!

It has been the single most important catalyst for interaction between me and my three sons over the summer and into the fall. We even got the Wii game of Half Blood Prince … which is a blast. I think that will be your best chance at Quidditch….

I hadn’t had time to look up what happened between the end of the book and the epilogue, so thanks for that. Aurors … so they got their wish, after all!

Would love to listen in on the portraits of the headmasters with Albus and Severus next to each other….

Don’t worry about being Voldemort/INTP … you have plenty of good company (my husband among them) who did not give in to the dark side (not meaning to mix my fantasy, of course ;^))

Abi gives two purple thumbs way up for Rowling and the Harry Potter series. And an extra bit for taking a significant hit in her share of the movie profits so that she could retain significant artistic control. It shows….