Re-reading For Clues Along the Way!

I think it's a great plan to wait for the books to be all written then reaad them. I wish I had done that!:(Hahaha! But I was 12 when my father bought me the first book and I had to wait for a whole year before the next one came out and so I went on for years. But regardless of my joke I found the waiting to be part of the wonderful experience of reading the books. And i reread them all the time. As for your question regarding Sirius Black, I have to say I remembered him and his motorcycle being mentioned in the first book when I read the third one where his character develops. I dont't want to sound nerdy but me and my sister used to make lists of every name mentioned in the books before the next one came out and play quizzes if we remembered them even if they were only mentioned once in the book and seemed trivial. That's the good thing about waiting; you have a lot of time to process all the informaton and the details. Cheers!

Enthralling story that was fun to grow with, with each new book. I loved that each novel got thicker and subsequently more complex. I read the final book in record time, despite it being the largest novel. Nothing beats a great romantic novel where, after many twists, turns, and trajedies good still triumphs over evil!

That's ok. Hope you enjoy EP!

I really enjoy all the books, i am re-reading the 5th one again, goodness knows how many times i have read them all. The seventh one i have only read once because i started college when it was released, so it took me months to read it. i have to admit when the first book was published i wasn't to interested it was by the time the 3 book was published i really started to like them. I was one of those people who read the book and just couldn't wait until the next one came out. so read the books from the start again. So much so at one point i could have told you the first chapter of the philosophers stone, word for word without looking at the book.



I think having had to wait one the next one being published to find out what happened was half the fun. it wasn't until a few months ago when reading the 4th one i realized what could have killed the Riddle family. It is great to read and re-read to see if you can pick up on things happening. I do remember Hagrid mentioning the Sirius's flying motor bike in the book, it was in the first chapter, where Hargid, Mcgonnigal and dumbledore are standing on privet drive after putting harry on the door step, Hagrid mentions having to return the bike to Sirius Black.



Sorry for having posted such a large comment. :)

I wouldn't have been able to wait. When I was reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time at the ripe young age of ten, I had to have The Two Towers sitting right next to me to begin as soon as I finished The Fellowship of the Ring. Then I had to have The Return of the King sitting there again for when I finished The Two Towers. There was no way I would go to the end of either book without the next one there. Same thing for the Potters. No way was I going to wait volume by volume; if they were as good as people said, I'd let Rowling finish writing first. I'm still proud of my patience :) Sad thing is, I've been waiting for Robert Jordan to finish his Wheel of Time books for must be almost fifteen years now, and I think he died half way through the final volume :( Could be wrong. Any fans out there to enlighten us?



So who else is waiting for the little book of tales about to come out?

They are incredible, right?



Being one of the many who read one by one, waiting like crazy :) I can tell you that we remembered Sirius Black and his flying motorcycle and all other things like that one, because miserably waiting, we read the old ones over and over again!



One of the many things great about Harry Potter is that all details count. Everything is carefully planned. And what made the series better than the rest is that the story stayed true to itself.



It didn't bring back Dumbledore or saved Sirius because it was the way the story was going to be and that's it. Ms Rowling didn't give up her story just because some people might not like it.



I am still in AWE.

I liked Rowlings comic touch in the first book; the mystery element of the second; the third I actually found frightening; the fourth expanded the whole world and I believe was more for an adult audience, or at least young adult; the fifth was when I started to really respect Rowling as a writer rather than as a story-teller. Maybe most people love the Harry Potter books for the fun stories. Order of the Phoenix, though, was probably quite slow for people reading it mainly for plot. As far as character development goes, though, it was the key novel. Everything changes: where is the familiarity of Hogwarts, the security of Dumbledore's support? As a young adult Harry has to start dealing with the realities and complexities of adult life. His parents weren't perfect the way he'd like to imagine them to be. Dumbledore *isn't* always going to be able to over-ride any threat to Harry. Harry has to work with someone he really doesn't like, just like we all have to in real life in the adult world. He finds that although he wants to contribute, he is being protected, or over-protected because of his age. The battle with the young wizards facing up to the Death Eaters in the ministry at the end is when the lot of them really realise what they are up against, and it's their first real application of Defence against the Dark Arts, which, ironically they are having to teach themselves. The darkness of the real world is something they only manage to face by pulling together with each other. The analogues with real life go on and on in this fifth novel. Given that my favourite novels tend to be those which reflect on society, you can see why it would be my favourite of all of them. For sheer story-telling, I go for the seventh. Great emotional journey. Mrs Weasley's defence of her daughter in the fight at the end had me in tears.

Hmm, most people dislike Order of the Phoenix, on account of Harry being a hormonal teenage brat. It's interesting that you should pick that as your favorite.



Now I feel like rereading them all again. :)

Mmm. Read them again if you've time CuriosityKitten; intriguing how Rowling sets things up. You'll understand what's going on in a lot more depth than the first time because after reading all seven you'll know some of the back-story that Rowling had in place, that was only shared with the reader as the books progressed. Still haven't had time to start re-reading the third, but maybe soon. Will let you know!

I started reading the Harry Potter books before they were all written...and it sucked. I had to wait for the last two. It wasn't fun. I should go back and read them again, too. Sounds like a good idea!!

I've only just had time to finish reading the second. May start the third again soon. Been *so* busy it's crazy!

thanks for sharing.

I liked them all. But agree that she didn't do very well in the seventh one. I hated that we missed out on all that happened at the school after "the day was saved".



I think that she put herself on a unrealistic deadline. I mean she insisted there would only be seven books but left so many loose ends that there needed to be more than that. So I believe she rushed and tried to cram everything into one book.



Still great reads though.

I was in shock when Dumbledore went. I kept telling myself there must be some twist somewhere that brought him back. I found the way he was described to have pleaded with Severus to really add to the shock value.



As for when the owl died. I couldn't believe it either. It really got to me too. I mean, wasn't that right at the start of the seventh. I thought, well... If Hedwig's gone, who knows? *Anyone* else could go.



If I go icy cold on this for a second and look at it from a plot perspective though, maybe Dumbledore going at the end of the sixth could have been predicted. We know that Voldemort isn't scared of anyone, except maybe Dumbledore. Now the two of them face each other off at the end of the fifth, at which it's established that Voldemort needs to run to survive. How could Harry emerge as the true hero that he's supposed to be if he kills Voldemort while Dumbledore is still alive, without taking away from Dumbledore's character?



Also losing Hedwig at that point was really clever. It was preparing the *reader* for all the loss to come, in the same way that life does. It's the pet whose death we grieve first, is it not?



Coming back to Dumbledore though, that got to me for days.



I also agree that Fred's going was a great loss too. The twins added comedy throughout, so maybe to add gravity to the ending one of them had to go?