Harry Potter

[Ken Gargett]

i'm speaking of the books, rather than the films, but if anyone has thought son them, happy for them as well. 

wondering if any other fans of the series? i had read them before, some a couple of times, but not for ages and never all seven in a row. so over the break, did that. came away even more impressed than before. i know it can be pigeon-holed as a kids' series but so much more to it. she has done an utterly amazing job. there was only one time, about a third into the 6th, when i started to wonder if it was a slog, but that changed very quickly and i ended up reading almost all of the 7th at a sitting. 

the way she has clues/hints/red herrings etc in one that are revived and become important, sometimes several books later, is amazing. love to know if all set out and deliberately planned or if she went back and found things and then worked them in. she tells a great story and they are so easy to read. 

one of the really great series for me. 

i'd love to do the same and read game of thrones right through - i did that for all he has published so far - but he needs to finish it. asap. 

[1fastmach1]

Huge fan of the Harry Potter series myself.  Read all the books and watched all the movies.  Universal Studios in Orlando Florida has a wonder Harry Potter themed portion of the theme park.  It is just stunning.  Almost like walking through the movie.  Getting on the train at platform 9 and 3/4...  Walking through the wall (an illusion with mirrors) and the whole bit to get on the platform.  The Harry potter rides are amazing as well.  

Standing on the platform:

 

Inside the Gringotts bank (ride):

Outside one of the 3D Rides:

 

[Ken Gargett]

Just now, KKFF said:

Huge fan of the Harry Potter series myself.  Read all the books and watched all the movies.  Universal Studios in Orlando Florida has a wonder Harry Potter themed portion of the theme park.  It is just stunning.  Almost like walking through the movie.  Getting on the train at platform 9 and 3/4...  Walking through the wall (an illusion with mirrors) and the whole bit to get on the platform.  The Harry potter rides are amazing as well.  

Standing on the platform:

 

Inside the Gringotts bank (ride):

Outside one of the 3D Rides:

 

i had no idea. thanks for posting that. if i ever get over there, it is on the bucketlist. 

[rabidraccoon]

Hell yeah, huge fan of the series. And you are absolutely right about the little detail/clues that circle back to become very significant later. Like in the goblet of fire how many scenes mention a small insect or beetle being present and the reader thinks nothing of it until the revelation at the end. Also agree with the above post, Harry Potter world in Universal is incredible. Here’s a picture from diagon alley at around 1 am during Halloween Horror Nights. Amazing walking around with the place to myself drinking some of that excellent Red Ale they sell in HP world. 

[Ken Gargett]

Just now, rabidraccoon said:

Hell yeah, huge fan of the series. And you are absolutely right about the little detail/clues that circle back to become very significant later. Like in the goblet of fire how many scenes mention a small insect or beetle being present and the reader thinks nothing of it until the revelation at the end. Also agree with the above post, Harry Potter world in Universal is incredible. Here’s a picture from diagon alley at around 1 am during Halloween Horror Nights. Amazing walking around with the place to myself drinking some of that excellent Red Ale they sell in HP world. 

the one that got me was that in book one in his first class, one of three questions snape asks of harry to embarrass him was about bezor - little stones from goats' guts i think, which are an antidote to poisons. the merest brief reference and yet, about five books later, harry remembers that to save ron. now, given that when writing book one, should could have had no concept of the increedible success the books would have, i have to believe that she did not plan that. rather, went back and found things like that to use. 

that diagon alley looks brilliant.

the other thing about her that has always blown me away is the names she gives people, wizards, places, all manner of things. she has an incredible gift for that. is there a more perfect name than harry potter himself? dumbledore, snape, voldemort and so many more. they just seem brilliant. 

[Corylax18]

Big fan of the books. I read them all in a row as they came out initially, but its been years since I have picked one up. I wasn't as big a fan of the movies, only saw the first couple. 

I agree that they are greatly underrated though. I think mostly because of the subject matter, and the fact the JK Rowling was a nobody before she wrote them, she came completely out of the blue. 

[HDGSN]

H. Upmann is a very Harry Potter world name for the tobacconist version of Olivander’s wands

[zeedubbya]

Huge fan.  Have read all of them at least 4 times.  Some books more than 4.  When I started reading them was right before The Prisoner of Azkaban came out around 2000 I think it was.  Started reading #1 and #2 for a college literature class. I was shocked to be reading a kids book in a college class, and then I waited in line on day 1 for each of the remainder of the series to come out.  I am a fairly prolific reader and the series is in my personal top 3 fiction list and it might very well be at the top.  She has a special gift.  My favorite is The Goblet of Fire.  I had already planned to begin reading them again soon—might start this week.  

[Bucky McSwensen]

Went to the Harry Potter world in Hollywood and it was great.  Really want to do the Orlando one sometime.  Heading to the cursed child play next week. I've only heard good things.  Some argue it's not canon but I say its fan fiction by the author so I'm excited.

Bit of a stretch but if any of you are big Harry Potter fans and will be near San Francisco over thanksgiving, I got a few extra tickets to the cursed child play and would gladly unload them on anyone interested.

[BuzzArd]

Huge at our house.  Book 1 released about 5 years after our first child.   Read each in succession to them starting around y2K.   Timing was perfect.  By the time 6-7 came out they favored reading on their own, but they were wonderful books to grow through...

[Subcomandante]

I had to read the first one for my children’s literature class when it first came out well before the movie. I thought it was a decent book. Perhaps because it was a required read I treated it more as work. Never bothered reading or watching any of the movies. Not necessarily my type of book but you FOH’ers and a few of my younger friends might convince me to give the books another shot. 

*sidenote I watched my first Star Wars movie last year and I’m 40. 

[dowjr1]

My wife is crazy over the books and resort...drags me there every year.  The kids have fun and I am somewhat desensitized to it now.  If it makes them all happy then great.  At least three of the four have fun on the trips there. LOL

[earthson]

You have successfully disproven one of my theories - that Harry Potter is a millennial thing that just wasn't for me.  Apparently, it's not just for kids?  I never dug it, but my (younger) wife loves it all.

[WaffleHouse]

I've never "read" them, but I'm working my way through the audiobook series and they are spectacular. The narrator, Jim Dale (I guess Stephen Fry did the UK Version - haven't heard his version), brought the whole series to life. As much as I like reading physical books, I love the audiobook version of this series.