The Great American Read: Day 60 Harry Potter
I have had a rough week with barely any reading. It has been hot. I was in charge of my daughter's birthday party and I have gotten into a lot of arguments that I am not proud of- enter the much needed Harry Potter series/marathon.
The Harry Potter series is one of the absolute best. Of course these books are on this list! I would think these might actually win. Beside the Bible it is one of the most widely read book series in the world. I wouldn't really mind this one winning except that The Great American Read feels like it should be American but we all secretly know our British neighbors are much better writers.
Also if you couldn't tell by now that I love Harry Potter- we named our first born child Hermione!
She wears that name proudly. We spent the day watching almost all the Harry Potter movies. We all started getting tired about half way through Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I have so many feels when I read or watch or talk about Harry Potter. It reminds me of my first childhood friendships. It reminds me of literary symbolism and Christ like figure (s) accessible to children in a fun. magical, and mysterious way.
I first read Harry Potter while I was in college. I think it actually came out while I was starting high school but I didn't become aware of the series till my senior English teacher said how funny they were and how much she liked the first book. The books really hit my radar when they started coming out as movies the year I graduated from high school. But I was worried about reading them for two reasons- one, I am not into things that are "fads" and often times I tend to dislike what others seem to enjoy and two, Harry Potter was known in some Christian circles as "witchcraft" repackaged for kids to sign up to become witches and wizards. My parents were not into fantasy as a movie genre, book genre, or lifestyle- I mean we weren't completely isolated or anything but it wasn't something I knew much about or even really understood. If I were younger when these books and movies came out I probably would not have been allowed to watch or read them, though. I just felt cautious and didn't want to offend my parents by being TOO interested in these books and movies nearly everyone was talking about. Until a very good friend of mine let me borrow all the books that had come out at the time which was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and HIGHLY recommended them and he was someone whose opinion I trusted. So the summer of 2004 I had just moved out of the dorms, had a falling out with a friend, and had a directionless path as far as continuing my college education- Harry Potter basically saved my life. I get tear-eyed just thinking about how I would curl up on our couch after a long day at work and no one could get me to move out even when my roommate and some friends had made a decision to move in together (hey, I had till the end of the month!) Any way, I was basically broke most of the time but I still bought my own copy of the books and movies. I was hooked. This was the world I belonged in while I couldn't figure things out in the real world. I never went to any midnight releases of books but I remember pre-ordering Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and sneakingly reading it while at work. It came with a t-shirt that I have now passed on to my daughter. I remember people crying because Dumbledore died, but for some reason I knew something like that had to happen and I didn't really get emotional about it at least not even half as emotional as when Cedric died. When Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the movie came out my now husband and I were starting to date- we saw that movie at least 5 times. I dressed up as Moaning Myrtle because I had come from play practice where I played a dead person so I already had the make up on. I used some of the soundtrack music in our wedding.
We even got a book about some of the predictions of the 7th book, Harry Potter and Philosophy, and Looking for God in Harry Potter.
When the last book came out I was pregnant and my husband wanted to name our daughter Hermione. I honestly didn't get right on board with it because I was a little worried about the ending and it is a hard name for those who know nothing about Harry Potter. But we did name her Hermione and we even loved the name Ariana after Dumbledore's sister. We are missing our Luna- that is what I wanted to name our last daughter but sadly that didn't happen. All this to say I love Harry Potter. I love the books and I love the characters and I love the fandom even though I stay on the outskirts of because I also love other things that are not Harry Potter (shockingly). Here are more of my Harry Potter stuff:
The Harry Potter series is one of the absolute best. Of course these books are on this list! I would think these might actually win. Beside the Bible it is one of the most widely read book series in the world. I wouldn't really mind this one winning except that The Great American Read feels like it should be American but we all secretly know our British neighbors are much better writers.
Also if you couldn't tell by now that I love Harry Potter- we named our first born child Hermione!
I first read Harry Potter while I was in college. I think it actually came out while I was starting high school but I didn't become aware of the series till my senior English teacher said how funny they were and how much she liked the first book. The books really hit my radar when they started coming out as movies the year I graduated from high school. But I was worried about reading them for two reasons- one, I am not into things that are "fads" and often times I tend to dislike what others seem to enjoy and two, Harry Potter was known in some Christian circles as "witchcraft" repackaged for kids to sign up to become witches and wizards. My parents were not into fantasy as a movie genre, book genre, or lifestyle- I mean we weren't completely isolated or anything but it wasn't something I knew much about or even really understood. If I were younger when these books and movies came out I probably would not have been allowed to watch or read them, though. I just felt cautious and didn't want to offend my parents by being TOO interested in these books and movies nearly everyone was talking about. Until a very good friend of mine let me borrow all the books that had come out at the time which was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and HIGHLY recommended them and he was someone whose opinion I trusted. So the summer of 2004 I had just moved out of the dorms, had a falling out with a friend, and had a directionless path as far as continuing my college education- Harry Potter basically saved my life. I get tear-eyed just thinking about how I would curl up on our couch after a long day at work and no one could get me to move out even when my roommate and some friends had made a decision to move in together (hey, I had till the end of the month!) Any way, I was basically broke most of the time but I still bought my own copy of the books and movies. I was hooked. This was the world I belonged in while I couldn't figure things out in the real world. I never went to any midnight releases of books but I remember pre-ordering Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and sneakingly reading it while at work. It came with a t-shirt that I have now passed on to my daughter. I remember people crying because Dumbledore died, but for some reason I knew something like that had to happen and I didn't really get emotional about it at least not even half as emotional as when Cedric died. When Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the movie came out my now husband and I were starting to date- we saw that movie at least 5 times. I dressed up as Moaning Myrtle because I had come from play practice where I played a dead person so I already had the make up on. I used some of the soundtrack music in our wedding.
Entrance
Exiting
We even got a book about some of the predictions of the 7th book, Harry Potter and Philosophy, and Looking for God in Harry Potter.
When the last book came out I was pregnant and my husband wanted to name our daughter Hermione. I honestly didn't get right on board with it because I was a little worried about the ending and it is a hard name for those who know nothing about Harry Potter. But we did name her Hermione and we even loved the name Ariana after Dumbledore's sister. We are missing our Luna- that is what I wanted to name our last daughter but sadly that didn't happen. All this to say I love Harry Potter. I love the books and I love the characters and I love the fandom even though I stay on the outskirts of because I also love other things that are not Harry Potter (shockingly). Here are more of my Harry Potter stuff:
Go Go Griffindor! Go Go Griffindor!
My laptop
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