| Too Much Harry Potter |
[Nov. 25th, 2007|06:41 am] |
Since July until about a week ago, Harry Potter and his friends have been on my mind pretty much on a daily basis.
First it started with the latest movie (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) that premiered in mid-July. After watching the movie I got out the DVD for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I didn't bother watching the other three movies because I'd seen them plenty of times and, frankly, I'm tired of them.
A week later the 7th and last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out. In preparation for that event, I decided to start rereading the books starting with the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (I didn't start reading the first three books for the same reasons stated above for the movies). I started way too late on this rereading project and I only got about 100 pages into the book before I bought the latest HP book (I bought it several days after it was released. As I expected there were plenty of copies available and I didn't have to fight the crowds). Besides my heart really wasn't into it as I knew I'd stop reading the 4th book as soon as I got my hands on the 7th book.
My reading of the seventh book was interrupted by my trip to Las Vegas for CGE. I tried reading the book before bed each night in Vegas, but I think I read a total of 30 pages during the whole trip. Too busy having fun to spend time reading.
After the trip, it took me about 10 days to finish the book. Not a super fast reading pace but still a respectable 60 or 70 pages a day. When I was done with the book I had a lot of questions. Questions I knew could only be answered by rereading the other books. Since it had been a good two years since I last read a Harry Potter book (except for the 50 or 60 pages I read of the 4th book), and I was bound to forget some details. So, I resumed my reading of the 4th book and didn't stop until I reread all the subsequent books (including rereading the 7th book that I just finished).
Last week, after about three months and about 3000 pages, I finally finished my massive rereading project. Most of my questions have been answered but there are still a few still nagging at my mind. Most of the unanswered questions had to do with the brief epilogue Rowling posted at the end of book seven. Questions like:
SPOILERS AHEAD
- Who did Draco Malfoy marry?
- Why did he name his son Scorpius? Because, I got to tell you, I keep picturing his son looking like a miniature version of this guy:
- Is Kreacher still alive, 19 years later, and does he still faithfully serve his master?
- Where does Harry Potter and family live? Sirius Black's old house or did Harry rebuild his parents old house?
and so on.
None of the questions are really important but, after three months of reading HP books on a daily basis, they tend to stick around. Most of my questions really have more to do with the fate of many of the characters not mentioned in the epilogue. Fortunately, Wikipedia and various Google searches have answered most of those questions. J.K. Rowling mentioned publishing a Harry Potter encyclopedia in a few years and I expect the majority of my questions will be answered (although I expect it will be several years before the encyclopedia is published and I'll end up having to reread the books all over again).
END SPOILERS
Shortly after I finished reading the 7th book a second time, I briefly considered sending the books off to a used book store or Goodwill. However, since there are still two more movies to be released, I figured it would be best to hang on to the books in case I get more questions or would want to compare the movies to the books (I'm not quite a Harry Potter nerd but I get close sometimes).
I think it goes without saying that I enjoyed reading the Harry Potter books. It's not great literature by any measure but it is very enjoyable nevertheless. The books have a great deal of depth: lots of characters, back story, plots and so on. I don't think there is any great philosophy buried in the books, no matter how hard you look. The intended audience, after all, is the youth market. Nevertheless, the Harry Potter universe is fascinating and I'm glad I've taken the time to explore it.
Now, with all that behind me, I need to cleanse my reading palette. Perhaps some science fiction or a programming book or two?
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| Comments: |
I'm sorry, but I think my friend Rhiannon is a bigger HP nerd, to this point. She had a child back in June. Little Davey's about five months old now. A couple weeks ago (while she was still working on finishing the last book, as she also chose to re-read the preceeding ones), she woke up to find herself standing over little Davey's crib, yelling loud enough to wake her husband. Apparently, she was having a dream that Voldemort was after the baby :)
Wow. That's scary! I hope she doesn't have any more dreams like that.
Like I said, I'm not much of a Harry Potter nerd nor do I wish to be one. My only claim is that I read all the books (twice). I probably wouldn't last five minutes in a conversation with a true HP nerd (but then again, he wouldn't last 2 minutes with me. I'd get bored and leave to get a refill of punch). | |
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