One of the upsides I saw to spending some time in the hospital and then recuperating at home, was the all that time I’d have to read. Of course, no such thing happened.
The plan was to read the entire Harry Potter series in those few weeks. And while I dutifully started (and finished the first two) while in the hospital, it only really got serious when I started going back to work. Then, I finished the last three volumes in little more than a week.
I first found out about Harry Potter in 2000, just before the fourth volume came out. I remember reading the first three in quick succession, and then the fourth in a long session after I just moved to Amersfoort. In 2003, when part five came out, I reread the previous ones, planning to do so before every new book, but that never happened. Since then I’ve seen (parts of) the movies so often, that I felt no immediate desire to revisit them.
But I’m glad I did. The books are so much better than the films. Especially the first two.
Now then. Some thoughts about Harry Potter. ‘Cause I’ve got some.
First: Rowling’s portrayal of Potter as an insufferable teenaged git in Order of the Phoenix is magnificent.
Second: each book tries stand on its own. That means that in every book, it is explained that muggles is the wizarding term for non-magical people; that Potter and Snape hate each other’s guts; that catching the snitch will earn you 150 points and end the game; that Snape pale face hides behind a curtain of greasy hair. That kinda gets annoying when you read ‘em all in one go.
Third: the magic itself is another thing I cannot get past. For some weeks now, I’ve been trying to pin down what exactly I don’t like about it, but then it quickly gets too complicated. The gist of it seems to be that the rules are too vague to me. You see, I like magic best when it has a cost. “With great powers …” and all that. In the Potterverse, it’s unclear where magic comes from, and what its rules are–which is kinda funny, as Rowling said she spend five years laying down the rules before she wrote the first book. Happy-go-lucky handwaving wizards are as useless as superheroes to me.
And finally, four: time turners. Time travel as a way to get your heroes out of the corner you wrote them into is daft. Especially when they’ve already got magic.
- Book read
- J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
- First line
- Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
- Book read
- J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- First line
- Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive.
- Book read
- J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- First line
- Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.
- Book read
- J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- First line
- The villagers of Little Hangleton still called it “the Riddle House,” even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there.
- Book read
- J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- First line
- The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.
- Book read
- J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- First line
- It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting along in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind.
- Book read
- J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- First line
- The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane.