Friday, August 2, 2013

The Boy Who Lived

My two oldest children have been in a race to finish rereading the entire Harry Potter series before the end of the summer. One of them is even keeping a log of every character introduced in the books and has pages and pages of names. When I mentioned she could probably find a list of all the characters somewhere online she said, "But where's the fun in that?"

Child #2 and #4 getting their read on. 

Okay my nerdy children, this mom is not complaining. Struggling to get my kids to put down their books and clean the dang house is a good problem to have. But I do have a confession...I've never read the Harry Potter series. I read the first one when it came out and thought it was great, but when #2 was released I guess I just never got around to it. And then after the movies, I thought--what's the point? I already know the story. *ducks tomatoes*


Do I feel bad? A little bit. It's kind of a rite of passage in the book world, isn't it? But I thrive on the discovery of reading a shiny new story and will 1) rarely re-read books, 2) put the book down if I guess the ending, and 3) try to read it before seeing the movie otherwise I'm never reading it. Sadly HP falls into category #3.

BUT, I really love the stories, and when the Harry Potter marathon came on TV last weekend I was sucked in along with the rest of my family and endured their comments about how the books have so much more detail and depth (mostly from the hubs ;). Can I be a fan even though I haven't 'earned' my HP reader badge? I hope so.

Do you have any I Haven't Read That confessions? Are you a fan of Harry Potter? Can you read a book after you've seen the movie?

11 comments:

Kellie @ Delightfully Ludicrous said...

I held out on reading the HP novels for so long, but finally caved around the time the fourth one came out. Then I ended up reading the first four in about three days.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

I think my Mom had the same problem regarding getting me to stop reading to clean. Some things never change. :)

I've read all the HP books, and my husband and I watched all the HP movies between Christmas and New Year's. Plus, we've been to HP World at Universal...more than once. :)

I read a lot of classics in school but there's a ton more I haven't read. So many books, so little time. Sigh.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Don't worry - I've not read any of the books, either! I've watched the movies and that was good enough. I also rarely reread books. Like you, I want something new.

Suzi said...

I haven't read HP either. *sigh*

But I plan to someday. Really though, it'd been so long, I just figured, I'm gonna wait til my son is old enough to read it, then I'll read with him. He's close to getting there, but not quite yet. Maybe I should read it now so I'll have it done when he gets there.

jaybird said...

You are not alone. I've never read the HP series through. I've always seemed to have a pile of TBR books waiting and the HPs got pushed to the back.

When my girls were little the HP movies kind of scared them a bit- the little one was seriously freaked out. It took a good long while before she could try and watch it again. But at that point, she kind of was not really into them anymore. We might be the only family in America to admit we never caught the HP bug...

David P. King said...

Yep, I'm a fan. not a huge fan, but I have all the books. That's the staple for a Potter fan, right? :)

Kim Webb Reid said...

I haven't read any HP books. I generally will not read a series because I'm bored of the characters by book 2. To be a good sport, I saw the last HP movie in the series w/ my in-laws for someone's b-day. So I already know how it all ends. I recognize I'm missing out, but can't bring myself to dive into such a long saga. Maybe I'll start reading them out loud to my daughter when she's old enough and get hooked.

Sheena-kay Graham said...

Still haven't finished Throne of Glass though I got it last September. *Hides* You can still be a fan of Harry Potter, but I'll clap when you read the books. Your kids sock!

Anonymous said...

I'm a huge Potter fan. I worked for a number of years on a Potter website and still remember the thrill of each new release.

Michelle D. Argyle said...

I haven't read The Hunger Games and after seeing the first movie, I have no desire to read any of them or see more of the movies. I used to feel guilty about it, but I'm getting more and more comfortable with the fact that everybody likes different stuff. :)

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