Harry Potter & The Thread for People Who've Read It!!!

[Andrew Curnow]

1, What did you think of the series as a whole?
Very enjoyable. It's a definite page-turner.

2, Would you recommend the series to someone who's never read any of them?
I don't know that I'd recommend "the series" but I'd certainly recommend anybody to read the first book. That's probably the sharpest, most-polished book in the range and has such a freshness to it.

3, Does the series now make sense to you?
More or less (although, as Tim points out above) I did get confused at the end). I'm still not quite sure how Dumbledore managed to pop up near the end.

4, Are you left with any niggling questions about what happens?
Do we ever find out what happens to Luna's Dad? I don't think we do, which is a shame.

5, Did you enjoy the series enough to go through it again now knowing the outcome? Have you already done so?
Not sure. Much of its appeal was the old Terry Nation page-turner thing, in that you just want to know what happens next. I've only ever re-read them because Little Miss wanted to hear them again, but we've only ever read the last one once. Whether it would have as much impact when you know what happens, I don't know.

6, What was your highlight of the series?
The creation of Mr Weasley. Mark Williams is good in the films, but hasn't quite nailed it (IMHO). The character in the books, from his first appearance early in book 2, is easily my favourite.

7, What was your low light?
The Gringotts bit in the last book seemed to drag a lot.

8, What are your thoughts of J.K Rowling's writing style?
She seems to use rather long sentences with a lot of sub-clauses, certainly in the later books. HST, it's probably more noticeable when reading it out loud which is why I've picked up on it. But it's generally an easy-going style, which doesn't feel too forced. "Alas earwax" is well-judged as the punchline without being over-cluttered by other narrative (late in book 1) so she does know what she's doing. I suspect the later books may have suffered from not having as much editorial input as the first one, though.

It'll be interesting to see if she can adapt to writing something else.

[enzo1701]

Just to pick up on something mentioned earlier in the thread... and a bit of "dating" fun. Harry's second year at Hogwarts begins in 1992. In Goblet of Fire (presumably set in 1994), Dudley throws his PlayStation out the window.

The PlayStation didn't get released until 1995.

Yeah I know it's not real.

[Dirk Gently]

Yeah, the game mentioned doesn't exist either!

[enzo1701]

Good point

[Mr BHT]

Brilliant. Just finished it yesterday. I loved it all, even the scenes in the tent.

The sequences in Bathilda's house, the Malfoys, and the battle in Hogwarts, and Harry's 'out of body' scene are the stand outs, and at one point I thought JK was going to do a Blakes' 7 and kill everyone off by the end.

Hopefully if I can find time one of these I will read the whole lot again. I don't know which book I liked best. I suppose I would have to say I like the epic feeling of the 'whole.'

Killing Hedwig was just unnecessary though.