Harry Potter

[houseelf]

Ohhh!!!! I'm sooo excited.

But we are still in Book Four reading a single chapter a night out loud. We started about 6 months ago and it is getting harder to not read ahead by myself.

No spoilers PLEASE!

But tell me that it is awesome, o.k?

Kelly

[Sheherezade]

It's good. Much better IMHO than OoTP - too complex and too political for my kids, just - bleh- to me. I like it as much as GoF (my favorite) and I don't think it is quite as dark. She definitely hit the right tone and level for our family (read aloud and alone!) My 9 year old wants me to read it straight through to him. My 6 year old is sitting patiently for entire chapters. My husband tried to steal the book from me on Sunday morning when I was loading the dishwasher. (That didn't go over well!) You will love it. Book 5 (OoTP) is the most difficult for sharing with kids I think. You might want to read that yourself and decide how to edit to share it with your son. (Not that the subject matter is dark or bad, just not something kids find very interesting. Politics, teenage dating....and of course some sadness near the end.)

Ok, I'm done and I'm sulking. Wasn't happy with how things turned out--I was hoping for things to take a different course...won't spoil anything, but I'm in that post HP-completion phase where I'm now desperately wanting to read the next book, even though I know it's not even near done yet! How on earth will we feel when we finish #7???

[Rapunzel]

OK, I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books I am embarrassed to admit. My kids and husband who are all Potter freaks are giving me a hard time so I will read the entire series so far from start to this last book beginning tomorrow.

Jennifer

[Sheherezade]

Great. Pure escapism. Perfect for nursing!! I hope you like them.

I was happy to see that the HP book sales made more money this weekend than both box office leaders combined. Let's here it for books!!! (Although I'd love to read with Johnny Depp sometime.... )

So far, so good. I need to read it quickly before Madison comes back from horseback riding camp. I will never get it back. Of course, having a very needy 11 month old doesn't speed up the process....




Miranda

[samssugarmomma]

We're only on chapter 3.....I wish we had more time to read it together!

[Vanquisher]

I was a bit disappointed in the book. It didn't have a lot of build up for the climax, and then resolved a little quickly. It seemed to me like this book was mostly filler, giving information, but not a lot else. I liked it, but it wasn't as good, nearly as PoA or GoF, which I really liked. OotP was also really good, in my opinion.

I liked it, but I am already anxious for the next one!

Anyone want to do a chat about the book?

You guys have me convinced. I've never read a single HP book (assumed they were for wee ones), but hearing your rantings made me want to give it a try. I'm going to pick up #1 and get started! I'll have a bit to overcome since I did see the movie (and I hate it when someone else's vision is in my head), but it sounds like the books are enough to overcome it.

Plus, I've been DYING for a good book! I've been desperate lately and devoured the only good things I'd laid my hands on so quickly that I was still starving.

[SuzySunshine]

I started mine last night, I'm about 1/2 way through!

I've never read a single HP book (assumed they were for wee ones), but hearing your rantings made me want to give it a try

Me too. :!

[Auspicious]

I confess that I have read 1-4 but not 5 (or the new 6). The problem is that my leisure reading is done on the subway and that book 5 is just too freaking huge to slip into my bag! Or to pull out and read with one hand while crammed in with my fellow commuters. I need it divided into a Book 5A and Book 5B. Or I need the Penguin Classics version with tiny print (guess they don't do that with children's books ). I mean, I managed to read Anna Karenina on the subway, you'd think I wouldn't find HP to be a roadblock!

I'm going to have to break down and read it at home, but I usually feel guilty doing that because there's usually some freelance proofreading project I'm neglecting in order to read for my own pleasure. Book publishing can be a great business if you like to read books, but a bad business if you want to actually choose which books you read.

[Sheherezade]

Really Heidi? I couldn't stand OoTP. I threw it across the room regularly. I was so dissapointed. I thought it was wordy and off the plot. This book did fill in a lot of info. For me, that is important. I'm always looking for the plot line and clues to the mystery. I thought some of the trips with D in the "way back" machine were a little silly, but I didn't feel I was plodding through extraneous stuff. PoA had the greatest plot twists. GoF the most dramatic scenes and a change of pace. I don't think this is the best, but at least it was back on track.

[houseelf]

fingers in ears "La la la la". Don't talk about #5, I'm still on number four!

I'm totally geeked up about Harry. I think that the longer you read, the more that you get into the characters. I know that people get annoyed with some of the characters and their actions, but this is what I love about JK's writing. These characters are complex, fragile, flawed, and protagonists/antagonists all at the same time...just like real life. I imagine myself re-reading the HP series to DS and DD in a few years and talk to them about this exact point. We're all insecure, we all make mistakes, and we all can be classified as "walking wounded". I love that Hermione is rigid, Ron struggles with classism and socioeconomic differences, Fred and George's zest for life, although untraditional sucess, is a success all on its own, and ...well ALL of Harry's internal struggles. (Sorry for the serious run-on sentence, but I'm wacko about HP!)

Oh, wait, there I go overanalyzing what could be considered just a great read for the plot alone.

Hey, can HP be our next "book club" selection? I could talk about HP for ever. (I can hear you all scream "DORK"! in collective unison. )

Kelly

[Sheherezade]

Actually I had to restrain myself from posting about HP under the Karl Rove debate thread. I am the true dork around here, Kelly. You can't compete.

The point I was itching to make is that HP demonstrates so many different versions of "evil". It makes for an interesting discussion. "Bad/evil" can take so many different forms - both terrible and benign. (Contrast Voldemort, the Dursleys, Dudley, Draco, Fred/George, Umbridge, Filch, Snape, even James/Sirius) I suppose that is true for good as well, although I haven't noticed it as much in the books. I would discuss Harry as well anytime, chat or thread.