Anyone who knows me, knows I love Harry Potter. It was destiny when the last and final movie came out on my birthday.. which was July 15 (2011). I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. I’ve even written a letter to JK Rowling herself and got a letter autographed picture back. (Granted, she probably didn’t write the letter or even really sign the picture.. but it was the thought that I counted.. and still counts).
I grew up with Harry Potter. Let me give you the publishing dates and my respective age:
HP & The Sorcerer’s Stone- September 1, 1998 – Age: 12
HP & The Chamber of Secrets- July 2, 1999- Age: 12
HP & The Prisoner of Azkaban- September 8, 1999- Age: 13
HP & The Goblet of Fire- July 8, 2000- Age: 13
HP & The Order of the Phoenix- July 21, 2003- Age: 17
HP & The Half Blood Prince- July 16, 2005- Age: 19
HP & The Deathly Hallows- July 21, 2007- Age: 21
My lovely mom bought the first book. She had said at the time that she saw it on Good Morning America (back before the Fox News era) and it had good reviews. At the impressionable age of becoming a teenager, I was definitely more interested in the teen romance novels—not some fluffy magic stuff where the character is at the age of 11. I read the back cover and put it on the piano to sit for awhile. I somehow eventually got around to it… I was a big reader back then (and still am). Now, I don’t think I was 12 when I read the books because I don’t remember having to wait for the first three books to come out. But, I do remember reading them in the 8th grade… so that would put me at the age of 13… first year of junior high.
I loved them. I read the first & second books over and over again. I’ve never been a huge fan of the third installment and it was definitely the one I read the least. I remember just waiting and waiting for the fourth one to come out. I even entered into a contest with Scholastic magazine and I won! The prize was getting the 4th book sent to your house for free on the day it was released. And sure enough, my parents were having a garage sale with the neighbors and when I woke up the book was there. Best wake-up present ever. I immediately ran over to the garage sale and even remember my mom being impressed that the book was already there.
So yes, I was addicted to Harry Potter. I remember several teens reading them at school as well. It was never uncool to be seen reading Harry Potter.
I think that is what I love most about these books: Harry Potter will always be cool. You don’t have to be female to love the books (aka Twilight series) and the story line is so purely good vs evil that it will never go out of style.
JK Rowling has developed a set of books that will carry on for forever. I know, that I will certainly set my children upon them as soon as they are old enough to read. It doesn’t matter that Harry and friends start out at the age of 11. The books are about friendship and battling good vs evil. There’s little romance and lots of suspense.
I still have all my original Harry Potter books. The first book is so worn, that you can barely read the words on the pages inside. But, I’ll definitely keep it for, forever.
For a person who didn’t have that many friends growing up or always felt a little different, Harry Potter was my world that I could escape to. I dreamed about him and his friends and read the books over and over again. Every once in a while, a magical word like “Loomis” (light) will pop into my head as though I used it every day. I’ll never look at broomsticks the same way either. JK Rowling’s books are so well written that you picture everything and feel like you are right there with them.
It was until the movies started coming out that I realized I was pronouncing some names wrong (aka Hermione was always Herimone to me). I almost didn’t like the movies because the books are so much better!! But, I learned you just take the movies for entertainment.. nothing more, nothing less. If you want to discover the real wizarding world of Harry Potter you have to read the books. Promise.
What brought on this blog? Well, I bought the last movie over the weekend and watched it while Robert slept. Just watching it brings on a sense of melancholy and a little depression. It’s my childhood in one final 2 ½ hour movie. 10 years built up into the epic finale. He was my world and now its no longer. I will always love Harry Potter, but I always get a little sad knowing his story is complete. Though, I will make it to the Harry Potter theme park one day, I swear!!!!
When Dumbledore died in the 6th book, I cried like a baby. My mom asked me what the heck was wrong. I felt like I had just lost my best friend. Cried in the last book and the last movie, too. These characters are more than that.. they are my friends. Harry Potter is a dream world, and unfortunately.. we can only visit it. But, by golly.. it’s one heck of a world that I definitely spent a lot of time in. Thanks, JK Rowling and Harry Potter.. you probably changed my life over these books… and if you didn’t change it… you definitely brightened it.
No comments:
Post a Comment