Harry Potter and the ‘Relle of Tears
Oh. Minor Spoilers for HP7 if you’ve not read them. Just sayin’.
I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the third time this afternoon. Yes, only the third time. I got books 1-4 for my 12th birthday, and read them voraciously through many times. I lost count after the twelfth time, but I know it was a couple time more than that. Once I had to wait for numbers 5,6 and 7, though, I’d worn my original enthusiasm down a bit. I only read the Order of the Phoenix half a dozen times, and Half-Blood Prince only got three or four readings. I’ve read and re-read all the books in my bookcase, but in the last couple of years I have to say that I’ve ignored the HP series, and when I did think about reading them I always found something that appealed more before I got around to it. The other day, however, when I was drowning in end-of-the-holidays boredom and hadn’t visited the library in a while, I decided to start all over from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
It was quite enjoyable taking time to slow down and see all the subtle hints and clues hidden in the books – and also notice the things that were never mentioned until they were needed, although it would have made sense to introduce them in an earlier book. It’s interesting how books 1-4 could almost be read independently of each other, and don’t rely on the previous books as much as 5-7 do. I’ve also picked up on my own tendency to skip through action scenes – JKR tends to slow down her writing and give a blow-by-blow account, which I apparently find tedious enough to read the first few sentences of the scene, then skim over til I get to the end of it. After forcing myself to read the whole thing, I can finally say that I know how Hedwig died, and how Harry got Bellatrix Lestrange’s wand! But I failed in one thing – I cried when Harry buried Dobby, and when Fred died (still in denial that JKR killed my favourite character!!) and again when Harry asked his mother to stay close to him as he died. Aw.
Oh, also: I’ve decided to try something that’s been spinning around in my head for a while. Welcome to Self-Portrait Sunday!
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:01 pm
I can’t remember crying in the 7th one at all… Perhaps I should try again? Hmmm. I actually only own number 7! The rest I borrowed from my siblings…
Actually, now that uni has started again I bet I wont get round to reading any novels again for a while… sniff :’(
March 5th, 2010 at 9:08 am
Hmmm I cant remember if I cried or not in number 7… oh no I think I cried when Harry realised that he would have to sacrifice himself and did. When we found out he was a horcrux I also yelled ‘I KNEW IT’
I do remember quite clearly that when Dumbledore died in Half-Blood Prince I literally threw the book across the room (where it hit my bookcase and knocked some books off) and didnt read the final part of the book for the next few weeks!
Its weired to think the seventh one only came out like 2 years ago???? I remember reading it one weekend in Launceston so it must have been when I was at uni! Usually I’m the kind of person that comes to a book series late so they all of the books have already been released but with Harry Potter I had to wait for books to be puclished since the 3rd one!
These days though its not so much waiting for the book to be puclished but waiting to have the money to buy it!
And anna btw that photo is extremely cute!
March 8th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
I loved the series, book 5 is my favourite (which I know a lot of people don’t like it), But I enjoy reading the class scenes… which is why I dislike the 4th book sooo much stupid time spent of a stupid tournament, I mean, just turn harry’s shoe into a portkey and be done with it. She should have stated the ritual could only be done on like the deathday or birthday of the giver of bones, or the blood, or the flesh, it’s a plausible reason why such a ridiculous plan took an entire year! I mean sheesh, Scabbers/Wormtail could have snuck into the Weasley home and portkeyed it up then, he knew harry stayed there over summer… lol, hmm.
Anyway I liked book 7 until the hogwarts battle, and then I rolled my eyes over it. Was probably the first time I was embarrassed I was reading a Harry Potter Book. And I hate that Molly was turned into a murderer, everyone thinks that scene is cool, it’s when I went “urgh”. Three cheers for the “good guys” using the Unforgivable Curses (which used to be a lifetime sentence in Azkaban) being murderers. I wish book six and seven were better
Still loved the series though, I read them too many times to count*
March 14th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
I liked the entire series apart from book seven. However unlike you enthusiasts I’ve only ever read the books once. Well actually I didn’t even read book 2. I never got into Harry Potter initially, I can remember mum and Liam really liked them and I stubbornly refused to read them.
Then when Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone the film came out, I went to see it and thoroughly enjoyed the film. I had watched the Chamber and Secrets until I started reading the book Prisoner of Azkaban before the film came out. I progressively read the sequels.
I have thought about reading book seven again, maybe if I went back and read the book I’d enjoy it.