Has anyone read the Harry Potter books?

I just started reading books for enjoyment. I read all 4 Twilight Books, The Host, And I am just beginning to read The Sookie Stackhouse series.

I was told I would really enjoy the Harry Potter books.

I have seen all the movies, so would the books be worth reading now?

Are they an easy read and do they move quickly?

Original Post by gi-jane:

That 'translation' business is bizarre.  Most of the time, if you get a book that contains very specific cultural references, they deal with it by means of a footnote.   Can you imagine if they Anglicised an American classic like Catcher In The Rye or Huckleberry Finn? .... it would spark a diplomatic incident!

I've read every single one of the HP series.  The first one was absolutely charming because it was so original and just the right length.  By Book 4 and 5 I think JK's publishers should have had a little more nerve and suggested she edit them down by a few hundred pages.... but that's just semantics.  Set aside the whole day so that you can immerse yourself in the world of Hogwarts.  Dipping into chapters doesn't really work.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned.... His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.  Now that's a truly un-put-down-able and beautifully written trilogy that will have you on the edge of your seat.  Marketed as a children's book but it's a literary tour de force with many references that only adults would truly appreciate.

Also .... The Weirdstone of Brinsingamen by Alan Garner is another classic children's book.  Much darker than HP and quite disturbingly scary in places

And finally... You've got to read The Hobbit by J R R Tolkein. Precursor to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and a book that's very easy to get absorbed in.

i like and have read all those. like harry potter too. the hobbit & the wind in the willows were the first 'big' books i read back when my age only contained 1 digit.

first potter book was soo cute. some people dont like the 5th, but i did, the 6th one i had to read a second time to like it. they are escapism, my 'eye chewing gum' for me since i don't have a tv.

I read them all as they came out. 

As for the question about them being an easy read:  If a 9 year old can pick up books this long and not put it down until it's finished, then there's not a doubt in my mind that you will find it an easy read.

I don't suggest reading one after the other though.  Give it a little time in between or you will OD on HP.

Original Post by merylwhite1:

Original Post by pgeorgian:

 

edit: i didn't answer your questions, did i?  the first three are very quick reads; after #3 they get fatter and more grown-up.  they're easy reads, though; just some british dialect that might take some getting used to.

Most of the British dialect has actually been removed in the American version, only small amounts of what you get in the British versions remain.

 pgeorgian lives in Canada where the local edition of Harry Potter is based on the British original and not the dumbed-down American edition. It's from Raincoast Books.

I started a thread on how the American publisher ruined Harry Potter a couple of years ago.

I love the Harry Potter books :] I cried while reading some of the newer ones lol. I'm a big pansy.

ETA: I loved His Dark Materials, haaaated the Hobbit! It is so slow moving, Tolkein spends like 5 pages describing how hairy the hobbits feet are.. drove me nuts.

If you can manage to read Twilight, you'll probably like HP. It's a super easy read, I actually read the first book in one day... one very slooooow day. The books are pretty good, my favorite is the 3rd... it all kinda goes downhill from there.

I've read them all and I love them.  I'm generally a fan of books that are an "easy read" although I do dabble in more sophisticated literature from time to time. 

The first three books are pretty much the same as the movies and aren't very long.  You could definitely get through them easily.  Books four through seven are fairly long but still entertaining.  There are a lot of things in those books that is altered or left out of the movies because there just wasn't time to include it.  

I've been to the midnight premiere for every movie that's come out AND bought book seven at midnight and stayed up until 7 or 8 the next morning reading until I was done. 

I've never been a fan of fantasy (I especially can't stand Twilight!) but for some reason I really enjoy Harry Potter. 

Loved them! Seen the movies and they were enjoyable, too. But books are always best, IMO.

I've read them all and seen all the movies so far. When the whole Harry Potter craze first started I thought it was LAME, but one day a few summers ago I was bored out of my skull and flipped through one of the books at my friend's house (I think it might've been HBP), and I was hooked. So I read it, and then read the rest of the series. Yes, I read them backwards, haha. Then I went back and flipped through the books in order. Some parts do seem to drag on especially in some of the later books (like 4 & 5), but I love them. She could've cut down a few things. They took me a while to read, but probably because I kept getting distracted. The last one is definitely my favorite, even though the epilogue is cheesy. That one only took me a couple days. I went to the midnight book release just to see (and make fun of, I can't deny it, lol) some of the people who were intensely decked out for it, then just bought the book myself the next day from Sam's Club. But I plan on seeing the rest of the movies at midnight since 6 and 7 were my favorite books of the series.

The movies don't do them justice, IMO (though I like them, too). And I actually hate Twilight. To each his own, I suppose.

oh, and I read that list of the translated terms and only remember some of them being changed in the versions I read, while other English terms still remained. Huh.

total mind candy, i ate them up. fast quick action-packed read.

i read only 1-4 tho. i have been thinking about picking up 5 the blue one...phoenix? because i cant seem to focus enough to finish a book anymore.

i was thinking some harry potter might do the trick, keep me focused til the end. :)

The first book is basic Harry Potter 101. A bit boring, sometimes bland, however still quite catching. As you get deeper into the books you will find that they get more exciting, twisting, creative, and complex. By the seventh book, you will have not eaten for the entire day, and instead read harry potter while your mother thinks you have officially snapped.

Just my experience ;)

Bit of a Potter freak. Debating whether to be truly nerdy and dress up for the movie release at midnight. Sort of want to embarrass my pals.