Reading HARRY POTTER

First of all, if you aren't a Harry Potter fan or are even slightly offended that I'm writing about it, it's ok if you don't want to read this particular blog.

Secondly, it has taken me a long time to finally read the Harry Potter series. I have always stayed adrift of the series. I have read background information, biographies on J.K. Rowling, articles, and, I have talked to lots of readers of the series. I have been able to talk with many readers of the series about Harry Potter as if I had already read the series.

But, like many Christians, I was hesitant to read it. In the early years of the series, I had at least two people give me copies of Book 1, but each time, my husband found the books and he threw them away. He had heard from other pastor friends of his (he's a pastor himself, in case you didn't know that) that the Harry Potter series was of the devil and that anyone reading it was evil incarnate.

As a reader, I didn't believe the same as he did, but I did find myself hesitant to read it still as a result of the "horrible" stories I'd heard about the series. At heart, though, I honestly wanted to read the series. I didn't want to admit it (especially not to my husband), but I've wanted to read the series for a very long time.

This past Spring semester, my students chose to read/study Book 1, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. (For those of you who don't know, in my literature classes, my students always participate in choosing our readings for the semester.) Secretly, I will admit, I was ecstatic. I would FINALLY be able to read the series and there was NO WAY my husband or anyone else would be able to tell me that I couldn't! After all, I was reading it for school/work!

Then I went in for my reversal surgery to have my bag removed as well as 8-inches of my colon. I just knew that my students would read Harry Potter while I was gone and my chance to read it would be gone....again. It really seemed as if "someone" did not want me to read it. Needless to say, that was disappointing to me, but, just before I went in for surgery, I bought the book so that I could read it during my recovery, just in case. And that's exactly what I did.

And do you know what?

Yes, I LOVED it....Imagine my excitement, then, when I got back to class after my recovery period to find that my students had not read/discussed the book yet! The only disappointment from there, as far as the classroom went, is that, because of time constraints, we had to settle for watching the movie rather than reading the book. The class discussions were based on the movie rather than the book. As you all know, movies are NEVER just like the book. While the movie was definitely good, there were quite a few things that were different, left out, or just plain wrong according to the story. Because of that, I found myself frustrated in the classroom discussions. I wanted to discuss the book as did a few avid Harry Potter fans, but the majority were very happy to settle with the movie.

UGH! I'm the first one to say that movies are AWESOME! I LOVE movies!!!! One of my favorite hobbies (besides scrapbooking, reading, or writing) is to watch movies. But when it comes to the discussion of literature, I'd much rather deal with the book over the movie, any day.

Anyway, now that I've got that off my chest, I can finally move on and talk about what I really want to talk about....the Harry Potter series itself......

So, I guess since this is already pretty long, this is "To Be Continued...."