for fun, have you read Harry Potter

[AnnieW625]

I started reading the first book about 12 yrs. ago, but I never finished it. I just couldn't get into it. DH has read all seven of them. Maybe I'll finally read them when DD1 starts reading them in a year or two. I started #1 when I was 22 or 23. DH started reading it at the same time so he was 27 and I believe he finished #7 around the time he was 33 or 34 (he read it not long after it was released).

My mom has my brother's copies of the British versions of 1-4 or 5 at her house so I have always thought I should just try that one, but I keep forgetting to get it.

[Katigre]

Yes, I loved them!

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[specialp]

Read 1/2 of the first book in 2001 or 2002 and could not get into it. DH couldn't either.

[AnnieW625]

Read 1/2 of the first book in 2001 or 2002 and could not get into it. DH couldn't either.

You beat me by about 100 pages, I think I got to page 50.

[Philly Mom]

So many times I cannot even count. Just reread number 7 this week. After the first 3, which were already out when I started, I read each new book within 48-72 hours of the book being released. For 7, I went at midnight and almost didn't sleep until I finished.

[bisous]

I've read them twice and do think they are wonderful. My DS1 is not yet 10 and has read them 5 times!! Yes, the whole series. He'll be 10 in a few weeks.

[Pennylane]

Yes, I loved them!!

Ann


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[smilequeen]

I read them. I was over 20 when they came out. Pretty sure I was around 30 when the last one came out? Not sure.

DH has not read them, but he enjoyed the movies.

DS1 has read a bit of the first one, but didn't really like it. It's not his style (he doesn't like the Percy Jackson books either). He was 7.5 when he tried reading it.

DS2 LOVES HP. He can't read them yet, but I started reading book 1 to him. I LOVED them, so I'm glad he is into this stuff. He's my kid who likes fantasy I guess. Loves HP, loves Star Wars, etc.

[georgiegirl]

I read them. I started a few months before either book 3 or 4 came out. I loved them!

DD is at the right level, but she gets scared easily, so we need to wait a few years.

[ArizonaGirl]

A Big :yeahthat:

[lhafer]

I have them all, and have read them all - several times!! And I love the movies!

[queenmama]

As I said in the Fairy party thread, I've read them dozens of times. I lost count when I started reading them continuously one year.

I didn't read them until 2001, at which point the first four were already in paperback. The last three books I bought at midnight on their respective release days and stayed up til dawn to finish them.

Henry started reading them around age 8 and is currently on his fourth or fifth go. DH has seen all of the movies but will not read the books.

Lara

[kdeunc]

I read each new book within 48-72 hours of the book being released. For 7, I went at midnight and almost didn't sleep until I finished.

:yeahthat: Love the books. Got the first one in London and completed it on the plane ride home. DS1 has started them and is on book 5. He loves them as well. I won't let him watch the movies until he reads the books.

[sariana]

I have read all seven books, some multiple times. I have written fanfiction (one complete, one WIP). I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I am not a fan of the movies.

DH has seen the movies (reluctantly) but refuses to read the books.

DH will not let me read the books to DC; he says they have to read them on their own. (DD is not yet reading.) DS started to read Book 1 but did not like it. (It is a bit slow at first.) Neither my mom nor my sister was able to get into them.

I originally started the series because I was teaching middle school language arts. One of my students did a report on Book 1, and it intrigued me.

[carolinacool]

Haven't read the books. Haven't seen any of the movies. Still not feeling very inclined to do either.:bag

[SnuggleBuggles]

Of course! I plowed through books 1-3 a few years after they were out. Read through 4 while nursing ds1. Waited impatiently for UPS to deliver book 5 and took turns reading chapters with dh. I took my niece and nephew to a midnight release of book 6. I read 7 while pg with ds2- read it in a weekend. I remember he kept kicking my belly, where I had the book resting. :). I've reread them plenty. Read 1-6 out loud to ds1 too.

[babystuffbuff]

I plowed through books 1-3 a few years after they were out.

Me, too. Then I read each of the others as soon as I could get my hands on them. Probably my favorite series of all time. I also love the audio versions narrated by Jeeves-I mean, Stephen Fry. ;)

I'm a bit 'meh' on the movies. I've seen all of them and even bought the 8-DVD set when it was on Amazon a while ago for something silly like $30. They're entertaining, but they don't hold a candle to the books; I even prefer the audio to the movies. But I'll have to watch them again now that I've been to the studios in London and done the tour. The details were pretty amazing. Loved the Olivander's set with the wand boxes individually labeled with the name of someone who worked on the movies.

[AngB]

Haven't read the books. Haven't seen any of the movies. Still not feeling very inclined to do either.:bag

:yeahthat:

I'll admit now that I can read what I want (as opposed to when I was getting my English degree), the rare time I get to read, 95% of it has to have sex in it. The few exceptions have been a couple of Jodi Piccoult books (meh, not impressed) and Stephanie Plum (which still has have sex but not really like the smut I typically read :)). I require happily ever after's. I have read too many depressing books and HP seems too depressing and also the fantasy/magic aspect of it does not appeal to me at all. I will probably have to read it when our kids are older but not going to do it on my own.

[boogiemomz]

DH and I both read them all.

[anamika]

I read them all once - that was enough!

[BDKmom]

I read the first book when it came out in paperback. I thought it was the most imaginative thing I had ever read. The rest I either bought in paperback or checked out at the library. Reading the last book, I found myself holding my breath and trying to read as quickly as humanly possible to get to the next page. I have seen bits of a few of the movies, but I wanted to keep picturing things how I imagined them when reading, not how the movie showed them, so I'm not really interested in watching the movies.

My DH has not read the books or seen the movies. My children are too young, but hope they read and enjoy the books when they are old enough.

[ahisma]

I've read them all. I started when book 3 or 4 was out and tore through them in hospital waiting rooms when my mom had multiple surgeries. By the time book 7 was out we were buying 3 copies at a time on release night because DH, DD and I would fight over them (extras were donated to his school library after we read them).

DD has read them dozens of times. We've had to replace almost all of them because, even though she is careful with books, she's read them so many times that they have literally fallen apart.

Our dogs were both named after HP characters (Tonks and Dobby). DS1 is named Harry, but most definitely not after HP. It's a family name.

[StantonHyde]

I am not that interested in fantasy books so I never read them. I did LOVE the movies though and I can't wait till they open Harry Potter world at Universal California. I have read portions of the books to my kids for bed time reading. The writing is quite good--much better than other books in that genre that I have tried to read. I think they are great books!

[123LuckyMom]

Yup. I read them all!

[megs4413]

FWIW, I couldn't get into the first one either when I first picked it up when i was like 18 or 19. Then, DH and I got hooked on the movies when they started coming out and I walked out of the 5th movie hearing all about how so much was left out from the book and decided that I wanted to know what I'd missed! the 5th book was awesome and I couldn't put it down, so after I finished it, i started the series over...The first couple books really aren't as good as the rest, IMO. I have read the last 3 books so many times I couldn't possibly even estimate. I pick them up and read them randomly when i want something to read and am between books.

DD started the series this year at 8yo. Both of my kids have seen all the movies, though.

[citymama]

Heck yeah, I've read all of the books! I've also seen all the movies.

I read them as they came out (perhaps a bit late to the first one), so over the course of my 20s and 30s I guess.

DH has read some but not all the books - probably 5 of them.

Kids are little so haven't read them yet. DD1 could read them but is easily scared so we'll wait a couple more years!

[american_mama]

I'm the lone vote for read them at 41+. I was in no hurry to read them, since I don't normally like magic or fantasy, but I knew sometime in life I'd probably read them. The time came earlier this year while we were living abroad and I had deliberately brought the series with us as a nice stash of English books. DD1 started reading them when she was 10. DD2 read them all while we were abroad and she's 8. I had a conversation with a librarian this week and wonder if DD2 was "too young" to have read them all, if she didn't understand it all,etc. But she didn't seem to have much trouble with the writing or plot, although I am sure there are many subtleties she didn't get.

I was very surprised at how much I liked them.

BTW I don't know that the English and American versions are that different except for the title of Book 1. We visited a British friend while living abroad and a casual glance through one of the books looked the same as our American version. Ironically, DD1 asked me what a word from the book was (plus-fours). I had no idea, but figured it was British English. It is, but my British friend had no idea what they were either! We had to google it. Turns out it means knickers or short pants; literally, shorts plus four inches.

[sariana]

I'm the lone vote for read them at 41+. I was in no hurry to read them, since I don't normally like magic or fantasy, but I knew sometime in life I'd probably read them. The time came earlier this year while we were living abroad and I had deliberately brought the series with us as a nice stash of English books. DD1 started reading them when she was 10. DD2 read them all while we were abroad and she's 8. I had a conversation with a librarian this week and wonder if DD2 was "too young" to have read them all, if she didn't understand it all,etc. But she didn't seem to have much trouble with the writing or plot, although I am sure there are many subtleties she didn't get.

I was very surprised at how much I liked them.

BTW I don't know that the English and American versions are that different except for the title of Book 1. We visited a British friend while living abroad and a casual glance through one of the books looked the same as our American version. Ironically, DD1 asked me what a word from the book was (plus-fours). I had no idea, but figured it was British English. It is, but my British friend had no idea what they were either! We had to google it. Turns out it means knickers or short pants; literally, shorts plus four inches.

I have the American editions of all 7 and the British editions of 1 and 6. There are a few differences, some more significant than others. The first 2 or 3 books have quite a few linguistic differences besides the title, but as the series continued, the editors made fewer and fewer of those types of changes. (For example, Americans may not know what "jumpers" and "trainers" are, but we can figure it out in context. Also, by Book 6 the American editions were using the extra verb after the auxiliary--thus "We couldn't have done!" vs. the American "We couldn't have!")

There are a few editorial changes in Book 1. The only one I remember is that in the American version, Dean is described as "a tall, Black boy." The British edition omits that description (or at least the word Black).

The most significant difference I noticed was in Book 6, when DD is talking to Draco.

***SPOILERS FOLLOW***

In the American version DD gives some long, drawn-out speech that sounds as if it was written by George Lucas. "Come to the side of the Light." "We can hide you more thoroughly than you can possibly imagine." Stuff like that. That speech is drastically cut in the British version. I noticed it because I had read more into the speech than was intended (apparently), thinking some character was going to show up in Book 7 who had been long believed to be dead. Didn't happen. British editors evidently thought it sounded like George Lucas, too--everyone knows he writes cheeseball dialogue.

[mommyp]

Yes, all of them! So has DH, we both love them. I was in my 20s when I started and 30s when Deathly Hallows came out.
We think DD is still too young but are looking forward to reading them with her.

[pomegranate]

Yes! I read them all, one right after another when I was 30-31 (?). Didn't think they were my type of books, but my co-workers were all huge fans so I started Book 1 and couldn't put them down until I was done with all of them. I'm looking forward to when DS and I can start reading them together.

[BabyBearsMom]

Yes. I've read them several times. I've probably read books 1-3 a dozen times, book 4 seven ish times, book 5 four or five times, book six three times and book 7 twice.

[klwa]

I started reading the books when 4 or 5 came out. I was 31 when the last one came out, so I started in my 20s & ended in my 30s.

When DH & I went to see the 7th movie, we left & DH asked what was going to happen in the last part. So, I walked in the house, opened the book to where 7 had ended & told him if he wanted to know, he could read it himself. (I was willing to explain things that weren't explained well in the movie, but not to tell what would happen.) He read that part & then went back & read the whole series. So, he was in his 30s.

DS (8) has had the first 4 books read to him, and been allowed to watch those movies after hearing the books. So far, DH has read 1 book a summer to him.

DD1 (5) has seen the first 3 movies, but we haven't read the first book to her yet. (I meant for her to get to hear it this summer.)

[lizzywednesday]

I've read all 7 Harry Potter novels and have seen all 8 films. (I find it interesting to see what elements of the stories they kept and which ones they omitted in the films for brevity, clarity, and what works best for film.)

I started reading them at the recommendation of a coworker in late 2001. This may be why I enjoyed them so much - September 11th had happened in "recent" memory and I just needed some serious escapism. The "Potterverse" fit the bill.

By then, the first 3 had been released ... and I set up my first Amazon pre-order for Goblet of Fire and did the same for Order of the Phoenix.
DH was working for a radio station at the time Half-Blood Prince came out and I worked a bookstore release-party event with him in return for a copy of the book. (I believe he managed it for free, but I don't recall exactly. I'd been prepared to pay for it regardless!)

It was my "tradition" to re-read the previous books in the weeks leading up to each new novel's release so the story would be fresh in my mind before I read the new one. This was a tip I gave my mom once Deathly Hallows came out, due to the numerous loose-ends and back-references I saw in my first read-through.

Now, I re-read them at least once a year.

DD is 3.5 and not patient enough to listen to them yet. She has, however, seen bits & pieces of the 1st film, so she is aware of who Harry, Hermione, and Ron are ... and we named her stuffed snowy owl Hedwig.

[momm]

You need an option for "read them all multiple times" :)

[egoldber]

I started reading them around the time that book 4 came out. I then read them all as they were released, but I didn't feel a need to get them on day 1 or anything. :) DH read them as well, although a bit behind me.

Older DD had no interest in them until third grade. While she was an advanced reader, I think she found the length and the odd language/fantasy words intimidating. But in the middle of third grade, it was like a light bulb went off and then she read all of them in about a month. I think she had to wait for book 7? I can't remember now exactly.

I have to admit, I don't get reading HP to your kids. For me, a lot of the enjoyment of the book was seeing and getting some of the word play. That "Diagon Alley" was a play on diagonally, etc.

So far younger DD has no interest at all.

[BabbyO]

I started reading them after visiting my oldest and his parents during my last year of college. DH (then BF) had already read the first couple. I actually borrowed one of the books from my son! I was in my mid-late 20's when I started reading them and the last couple books came out when I was in my early 30's.

I've read all the books 2-3 times except the last one. DH has read all the books, but I think he's only read them once. We actually saw one of the movies on a GIANT screen in Toronto on our honeymoon!

Our boys are too young to read them. That said, what age would you recommend starting them with your kids?

[KLD313]

I haven't read them and had no interest until Fairy's party post! I guess it wouldn't hurt to try the first book but my attention span is lacking since I've had kids so idk. I'm still trying to get back into Dan Brown's Inferno after reading a few chapters.

[ilfaith]

I read the first one before the first movie came out. While I enjoyed it, and the film, I never got around to reading the rest. I haven't seen any of the other movies either.

DS1 has a boxed set. He read the first three when he was 7-8. I was told that after the first three books, they take a darker turn, so I have held off on letting him read the rest. But he has just finished the Percy Jackson series, and I figure I might as well let him finish up HP now (he's 9).

I am planing to start reading the remaining books myself.

[mommylamb]

I've read them all multiple times. I started reading them right before book 4 was released after BabyBearsMom had been singing their praises. Got hooked immediately. Loved them.

I've read the first 2 books to DS1. He seemed to like them, but wasn't as engaged in book 3, so we've put it away for now. At the moment, he is devouring Roald Dahl books.

[essnce629]

I haven't read any of them and have no desire too. DBF has read them all. DS1 is 10 and read them all in 2nd grade (he's always been an advanced reader) and then re-read them last year in 4th grade.