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*

s_bukley / Shutterstock.com 

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?