The HP Reading Challenge
With the much anticipated release of the 7th and final Harry Potter book looming on the horizon, I have finally taken up the task I have indented pretty much all year–to re-read the entire series again before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released on July 21st. Ambitious, yes, but after plowing through Script Frenzy, I have decided it can be done.
I started off immediately after my success with Script Frenzy (because I had the time) and got through my copy of the British edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (that’s Sorcerer’s Stone to us Yanks) in two days. Not a record considering that my first experience with The Boy Who Lived ended up with me blazing through Sorcerer’s Stone in about four hours back in early 2000. Ah, such innocent times they were, before the movies, when I had only an inkling of the hype, and before I even knew how wrapped up in these characters I would be.
I got through Chamber of Secrets easily last week, and this week I have more carefully been going through Prisoner of Azkaban, which I have nearly finished and have decided may be my favorite of the books. It is certainly my favorite of the first three before J.K. Rowling got more verbose. Not that there is anything necessarily wrong with verbosity, but I’ll get into that more as I get to Goblet of Fire. But Azkaban was the book where Rowling got serious, deepened the mythology and really propelled the series into what it has become rather than the simplicity of giving Harry just another adventure each year.
I will check in further as I get through the series, which will hopefully culminate in my finishing Half-Blood Prince by July 20th so I can batten down the hatches and spend the weekend absorbing Deathly Hallows. By the way, in case I haven’t plugged this enough, go sign up at GoodReads, which is an awesome online community for people that love books.
Let the reading begin!
Song of the Week:
“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams