Harry Potter

[anjilinjones]

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the eponymous adolescent wizard Harry Potter, together with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, his friends from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The central story arc concerns Harry's struggle against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents in his quest to conquer the wizarding world and subjugate non-magical people to his rule.
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jones

[Ashleigh]

I've read all 7 at least once; and I've probably read books 1 to 4 about three times. Currently my set is hidden by another row of books - owing to lack of bookshelf space!

Anyway, I always liked Hermione the best - maybe because she reminded me of me with all her reading, and I can definitely recommend these to anyone.

[giselle]

thanks jones, you summed up the story line of 7 novels in one sentence, well done. you also taught me a new word, eponymous, had to look that one up. we've had harry potter books around our place for years and they have been read over and over till the covers fell off.


giselle

[realiz]

What is so interesting about this series is the universal appeal. What started out as a children's novel, which the very first of the series was more so than subsequent books, turned into something that captivated readers of all ages.
Fantasy is not something I ususally read, but my kids have loved it and we read together almost all of the series and Rowlings has such a writing gift that I found myself as excited to find out what would happen next as the rest of the family.
Now reading this post and one other one on here about these books I have realized that I have never read the final book in the series. I guess that when this book was released in the summer of 2007 I had no one to call my attention to it and I was busy with other things in my life.
I think there will be something sad about reading this book to myself after reading the rest of the series aloud and sharing the story with a captive audience. Actually, I think by book number six my audience had dwindled to one.
I just read that the last book is not set at Hogwarts. I don't want to know anymore, but perhaps I am good a shutting out what I don't want to know because how else is it that I am not aware of how this famous series ends? I must live in a bubble.

[bohemian_girl]

I'm so obsessed with this series at the moment!
My friend convinced me to read them this year and I'm about half way through book 6 already. I love them so much.

[Ashleigh]

Wooohoo, go BG! They're so good! One day I'll re-read them all. The last three for the first time cause I haven't had a chance to re-read those yet.

[Interbane]

Very good series! It must be depressing for JK Rowling to have finished them. I wonder if or what she'll write next.

[MaryLupin]

You know I read a lot of "high brow" stuff. I mean, I read Heidegger for fun. I have come across several accounts whose authors had "wearied" of Potter and his rages. I know there are a number of critics who pooh-pooh the Potter books for similar reasons but I think they are just being snobs. While it is true that Rowling does not write as well as Edith Wharton, Rowling has done something Wharton could not. She has reached many millions of people and got them to examine what it means to be angry, to be "fatherless," to have to make choices about how we are going to behave in a world that really wasn't made just for us. That is quite an achievement and, I would have thought, one major point of literature.

So literature (in the critical sense) these books may not be, but they do the job. Given my predilection for practicality, I applaud.

[Robert Tulip]

I mean, I read Heidegger for fun.

Me too!
http://www.geocities.com/rtulip2005/Tulip_Heidegger_MA/

[Ophelia]

On those days when the world is grey, thank God we have Harry Potter!
In so many ways it is an extraordinary feat, for example it is one of those rare moments when the world of adults and the world of children/teenagers can meet with enthusiasm.