05 January 2013

Harry Potter Readalong: Post the First


I'm a day late (and more than a few dollars short) for the Harry Potter Readalong introductory post. Alice over at Reading Rambo is sponsoring it and it's going to be the readalong against which all future ones will be measured and found lacking.  If you don't already know her blog, please check it out, posthaste. Anyhoo, we're going to be reading the entire series and blogging about it every Friday for the next several ones.

So...Harry Potter.  When Harry Potter and the Sorceror's-not-Philosopher's-because-American-audiences-won't-read-a-book-about-philosophy Stone was published in the US, I was the average age of the readalongers currently participating. Which makes me comparatively ancient to the rest of y'all, but I also think it gave my first reading of the series a different slant because I was not a child when first encountering it.  I was a bookseller, so I knew about the books as they were published, but the first two times I tried to read HPSS, I couldn't get past the first few chapters. Didn't care for the story or the writing or the characters.  'Tevs. (I cared so little that I couldn't even be bothered to use the duosyllabic "whatevs.")  But basically that means that I never made it past Privet Drive, so of course I didn't like it. Nobody told me to keep reading until the bizarrely dressed giant showed up.  So that's my advice for the two people doing the readalong who've not already read HP: keep reading until the bizarrely dressed giant shows up.

Over time, though, enough people whose reading taste I respected kept urging me to give it another try, so I bought the audio version and listened to it in my car. As a captive audience, I was still tempted to turn off the first tape (ha! it wasn't even on CD), but Jim Dale's narration held my attention where the prose did not. When I arrived home at the end of the book, right when Harry finds his way to the Stone and finds the "wrong" professor there, I sat in the driveway for a moment to finish it, but then decided to turn around immediately to drive to the closest bookstore to purchase Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 

Books I-IV had been published at the time I started reading HPSS, so I had a breathless and manic few days reading them all. It was at that time that I discovered the joys of Harry Potter fanfiction, and I read it pretty intensely to fill in the lonely time before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released. I loved the series so much, and my then-fiancee loved me so much that he pre-ordered a copy from Scholastic to be Fed-Exed to me on Saturday, June 21, 2003 to the island of Antigua.  We got married there, you see, and I came very close to changing our wedding plans when I learned that the release date of the HPOP coincided with our wedding. You don't want to know what it costs to overnight a book from the US to a small island in the West Indies for a Saturday delivery.

I've since read books 3-7 probably in the neighborhood of 10-15 times each, and I've listened to all of the books on audio multiple times, too.  I know these books.  They are familiar to me in a way that sometimes my own family is not. Whenever I am currently reading or listening to the books, the stories haunt my dreams and my waking moments. I recognized the vanishing cabinet and I knew who R. A. B. was before I turned the page. I never doubted Severus Snape since the end of book one, when I realized what little fools that Harry and I both were. Believe me when I say that I have all the feels.

I've seen the film franchise, and I think they're just fine. Not amazing. Not awful.  Just fine. I think that books (and films) I and II are the weakest in the series and that's why I've read (and watched) them far fewer times than the other books.

I've read so much fanfiction that I've begun to conflate canon with fanon, and I'm okay with that.  Rowling has created a world so engrossing that I want to keep living in it, but I take serious issue with many things that she does over the course of the series (most of them having to do with her portrayal of 25% of the wizarding population), so in many cases I actually prefer the fanon to the canon.


I am a self-identified SlytherClaw who was sorted into Slytherin at Pottermore, but I probably admire the house of Hufflepuff more than any other. I am a staunch defender of Severus Snape;  I have little love for the Marauders, with the exception of grown Lupin in books 3-6; I think Minerva McGonagall and Luna Lovegood are extraordinary creations;  I love Hermione, as I think she is one of the most interesting and fully drawn characters in the series, but I'm amazed that most people tend to gloss over her ruthlessness--of all of the characters, I think she fairly equally embodies traits of all four houses; I think Bellatrix Lestrange and Dolores Umbridge are the true villains of the series, moreso than Voldemort; I find myself drawn to the twins for the humor and creativity,yet repelled by their bullying. I think Neville is hug-worthy and Ginny is a Mary Sue.

I reckon that's probably enough to be going on with, at least for now.


23 comments:

  1. Yay I'm glad you're joining in on this AND that mug is awesome (even if Slytherin is not).

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    1. A-ha! I shall have the chance to convince you (and apparently everybody else) otherwise. But yes, the mug, which was a gift from my friend Melanie, is fairly neato. Fun for [butter]beer!

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  2. I love your assessment of the characters - I think I agree with each and every statement, though I have to admit that I did doubt Snape. But I too figured out who RAB was pretty much immediately. This is going to be such fun!

    I was sorted into Gryffindor, which doesn't make much sense to me because I'm far more studious than brave, but I am rather loyal, so maybe?

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    1. How easy was the RAB thing? I remember getting it, and then thinking I must be wrong because I caught on so quick!

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    2. I know, right? But I was always puzzled by people on HP boards who were buzzing about who it could be. Not to mention the characters themselves.

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    3. We're clearly just amazing people.

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  3. I thought it was hufflepuff who were hardworking and loyal? gah. maybe i'm remembering wrong.

    i'd be just as happy if it were all snape, all the time.

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  4. The first few chapters of the Philosopher's Stone DO suck. BUT I re-read them today (obvs) and I was like 'eeeeee, I love you!' because once you know all the characters and everything, it's like 'oooh, I know what's about to happen to you, Harry, and I am SO happy about it!' etc. So there's that.

    Also... BOO Slytherin. Obviously.

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    1. yes, that's why i'm looking forward to re-reading SS/PS--revisiting beloved characters makes all the difference in a case like this.

      More like Yabba Dabba DOO, Slytherin! :)

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  5. The first two books are totally the weakest. Probably partly because they were aimed at such a young audience, but I also think it's because I saw the first two movies a million times so it just kind of got old after a while.

    And awwwww your husband is pretty awesome. It's hilarious you almost changed the wedding date so it didn't interfere with your HP reading :-p

    And man, people really don't like the Marauders. I may be in the minority there, cause I like them a lot - except Pettigrew of course, who sucks.

    Sooooo excited to start reading!

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    1. Do you happen to like the twins, too? Usually folks who like one set tend to like the other...just curious.

      Can't wait for everybody's first post!

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  6. I waited to read these, too. I waited until all the books had been published and then I read them all, one after the other.

    Enjoy!

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    1. That would be the sane way of doing it--that way you didn't have to agonize over the wait in between books!

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  7. That is a very great intro post! I have to agree with what you said about the twins - they're hilarious and friendly, but they were also terrible when they were at their worst.

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    1. i know! that whole "oh, we just stuffed somebody in a vanishing cabinet. who knows when or where he'll turn up--isn't that great fun" attitude makes me seethe--because among the gryffindors it's only hermione who ever calls them on their bullying.

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  8. HEY it's your post!

    "You don't want to know what it costs to overnight a book from the US to a small island in the West Indies for a Saturday delivery."

    That. Is. Amazing. I am thoroughly impressed by your PotterDevotion. Also I hope you'll offer up some Slytherin defense, because I haven't read much, but yeah, I agree that they were given a bad rap in the books.

    Referring to one of the other comments, I hate the Marauders and love the twins. So. There's that.

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    1. Yes, it was pretty much the best wedding present in the history of wedding presents.

      But do you love the twins despite yourself, or do you just full on love them?

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  9. I'm so glad to find out that I wasn't the only person to have issues with getting into HP originally (although I just skipped ahead and was immediately hooked) and I flippin' hated the second book for a long time but now I'm ok with it, if not in love with it.

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    1. So true. But now that I'm re-reading for Friday's post I'm rather enjoying all of it, even the Dursley bits. Reading something retroactively that was yucky the first time around but the second time is an interesting phenomenon.

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    2. Yeah I find that I return to those first few chapters with love, mostly because they're the start of a series I adore - so I can't ever really dislike them.

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  10. Were we separated at birth? Are we mind-twins?? I too, am a Slytherin-leaning Slytherclaw.

    I feel like I could have written this post myself!

    Well, except for one major distinction. I had heard vague rumblings of a super-popular book in England - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I wasn't initially very excited because, I guess I lumped it together with Horrible Harry. Remember those? Anyway, I was working as a bookseller. And when I read it - wow. I'm not even sure I can put it into words. I was instantly entranced. I remember thinking (and telling my bemused and somewhat skeptical bookstore manager) "This is the book that is going to change all of our lives!"

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    1. That's too funny! I wish I could say that I loved it from the get-go, but alas. It's so nifty that read it from the start AND loved it and intuited its influence (which frankly is hard to overstate).

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  11. This was really fun to read. I like your points about Hermoine. She is quite determined to achieve the things she wants and she is not going to let anyone or anything stand in her way.

    I have to admit that I was very late to the Harry Potter party. I only read them after much cajoling from my sisters and friends. I've read the series once at this point, but I'm looking forward to sharing it with my son when he gets older.

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Please, sir, may I have some more? (Comments, that is!)