Does anyone else feel like this?

[lrdieter]

I wonder how many other people feel like I do about Harry Potter...I started reading HP years ago when they first came out. I grew up along Harry and the gang. SS was the first book I ever read from cover to cover and it was what originally started my love of reading. Back then I used to sit and reread the books in my room at night with a flash light. They were the only books I owned and I loved them...I now have my own home and I recently turned a bedroom into a library. I have over three hundred books in the library and I'm so glad that I read HP in the begining because it inspired my love of reading. My best friend and I still quiz each other on HP trivia and we are race to see who finishes the new books first. Like I said I grew up with Harry... I feel like my child hood is still a part of me when I need it because I can pick up one of the books and lose myself in the story. I'm so glad that Rowling found a someone to publish her story and I'm really glad that I was able to read them and enjoy them! When my baby girl is old enough I will share them with her and I hope she can find as much intrigue and adventure in the series as me!

[xoxocutiexoxo]

---

lrdieter wrote:
I wonder how many other people feel like I do about Harry Potter...I started reading HP years ago when they first came out. I grew up along Harry and the gang. SS was the first book I ever read from cover to cover and it was what originally started my love of reading. Back then I used to sit and reread the books in my room at night with a flash light. They were the only books I owned and I loved them...I now have my own home and I recently turned a bedroom into a library. I have over three hundred books in the library and I'm so glad that I read HP in the begining because it inspired my love of reading. My best friend and I still quiz each other on HP trivia and we are race to see who finishes the new books first. Like I said I grew up with Harry... I feel like my child hood is still a part of me when I need it because I can pick up one of the books and lose myself in the story. I'm so glad that Rowling found a someone to publish her story and I'm really glad that I was able to read them and enjoy them! When my baby girl is old enough I will share them with her and I hope she can find as much intrigue and adventure in the series as me!

---

---

lrdieter wrote:
I wonder how many other people feel like I do about Harry Potter...I started reading HP years ago when they first came out. I grew up along Harry and the gang. SS was the first book I ever read from cover to cover and it was what originally started my love of reading. Back then I used to sit and reread the books in my room at night with a flash light. They were the only books I owned and I loved them...I now have my own home and I recently turned a bedroom into a library. I have over three hundred books in the library and I'm so glad that I read HP in the begining because it inspired my love of reading. My best friend and I still quiz each other on HP trivia and we are race to see who finishes the new books first. Like I said I grew up with Harry... I feel like my child hood is still a part of me when I need it because I can pick up one of the books and lose myself in the story. I'm so glad that Rowling found a someone to publish her story and I'm really glad that I was able to read them and enjoy them! When my baby girl is old enough I will share them with her and I hope she can find as much intrigue and adventure in the series as me!

---

I've always loved Harry Potter.... I've read each book around 9 times with the exception of the 5th book which i read 16 times... i alwayzz enjoyed reading Harry Potter and getting buried in the richness of th ewordzz rapping themselves around you!! at times i felt that i was in Hogwarts myself doing all the actions and being in the excitment!! so u kno i do feel lyk u do!!!!

[lrdieter]

good to kno there are other people who lose themselves in the story like me

[Bill_T]

That's a wonderful post! I think that your experience probably echoes with many people and no doubt there will be other parents who are eager to share these books that were so formative in their lives with their own children.

---

lrdieter wrote:
I wonder how many other people feel like I do about Harry Potter...I started reading HP years ago when they first came out. I grew up along Harry and the gang. SS was the first book I ever read from cover to cover and it was what originally started my love of reading. Back then I used to sit and reread the books in my room at night with a flash light. They were the only books I owned and I loved them...I now have my own home and I recently turned a bedroom into a library. I have over three hundred books in the library and I'm so glad that I read HP in the begining because it inspired my love of reading. My best friend and I still quiz each other on HP trivia and we are race to see who finishes the new books first. Like I said I grew up with Harry... I feel like my child hood is still a part of me when I need it because I can pick up one of the books and lose myself in the story. I'm so glad that Rowling found a someone to publish her story and I'm really glad that I was able to read them and enjoy them! When my baby girl is old enough I will share them with her and I hope she can find as much intrigue and adventure in the series as me!

---

[Summ3rSunshin3…]

I have to agree with you.
We have all grown up with Harry and now to see the series finally come to an end after ten years it is going to be hard to let go.
I want to know what happens and how it finally ends, but at the same time I don't want the series to be over.
I have read every book countless times and they will always mean plenty to me...don't worry there are plenty of people who all feel the same way.

[Rachel-K]

Isn't it interesting to think how our relationship to the books will change when we aren't waiting for a "next" one? I get the impression from most of the fans here that reading the books won't end once #7 is finished!

[gridcaster]

thanks for that post...
you're certainly not that only one that has very special feelings for the HP novels.

I wasn't a boy when i read them for the first time...i picked up the SS sometime after I saw PoA in the movie theater. I read all five books in a couple of weeks after that. I'm glad I didn't have to wait through the interim between the first five books (the last two waits have been bad enough!).

Anyways, I've also thought about reading them to my nephew when he is old enough to follow along.

There is something special about them, and I'm glad to be a part of this last few days now before the last book is released. This may be the biggest literary event of all time...certainly of our lives.

Its funny...all the hooplah, pre-ordering, standing in crowded bookstores on release day (or midnight if you do that!). You rush from the crowd to find a quiet place all alone...reading isn't for parties and over crowded stores.

When we all are finally alone that day though, reading through the book for the first time...reading a new harry potter book for the last time...we will all be together. millions of people experiencing the same fantasy world at once...alone and together.

yah, you can say i have special feelings for harry potter.

[ConnieAnnKirk]

Lovely thread, lrdieter. Thank you for posting. I'm so glad you see the Potter books as igniting your love of reading. I'm sure you will have special moments sharing books of all kinds with your daughter one day. I think the children of those who grew up with Harry Potter will definitely know his name.

gridcaster--Welcome to the Harry Potter Book Club! I like how you say readers experience this fantasy world both "alone and together." That's one of the facets of this whole experience that particularly interests me.

~ConnieK, 7 days now

[Ginnyweaslyfan]

---

lrdieter wrote:
I wonder how many other people feel like I do about Harry Potter...I started reading HP years ago when they first came out. I grew up along Harry and the gang. SS was the first book I ever read from cover to cover and it was what originally started my love of reading. Back then I used to sit and reread the books in my room at night with a flash light. They were the only books I owned and I loved them...I now have my own home and I recently turned a bedroom into a library. I have over three hundred books in the library and I'm so glad that I read HP in the begining because it inspired my love of reading. My best friend and I still quiz each other on HP trivia and we are race to see who finishes the new books first. Like I said I grew up with Harry... I feel like my child hood is still a part of me when I need it because I can pick up one of the books and lose myself in the story. I'm so glad that Rowling found a someone to publish her story and I'm really glad that I was able to read them and enjoy them! When my baby girl is old enough I will share them with her and I hope she can find as much intrigue and adventure in the series as me!

---

I know what you mean. I've even won on a radio show when they asked about the first book. I'll never forget that day. They asked "What was Ron Weasly so good at that got Gryffindors point" and of course it was Wizards Chess. It would be so cool to actually play wizards chess. I could never get sick of these books.

[Ginnyweaslyfan]

I've always loved Harry Potter.... I've read each book around 9 times with the exception of the 5th book which i read 16 times... i alwayzz enjoyed reading Harry Potter and getting buried in the richness of th ewordzz rapping themselves around you!! at times i felt that i was in Hogwarts myself doing all the actions and being in the excitment!! so u kno i do feel lyk u do!!!!

---

I can read the last one in about six hours if i sit down for it. I could prolly read them all in 24 hours if i wanted to. As for how many times ive read them, i lost count. I love Harry Potter and all his cool friends.

[jen04]

gridcaster, I love the last paragraph of your post. Reading the last new Harry Potter alone and together. I love it!! It makes me happy and sad at the same time! Can't wait to hear from eveyone on Monday!

[stacielynn]

I am 34 years old. I love the entire series and I can say that I became addicted to reading after reading SS. I hated to read when I was younger. It is amazing what a book series does for you.

I really hope JKR is not done. I hope she starts a new series. I am about 1/3 of the way through the last book and this book seems very exciting. I am glad to know that others grew up on the series like I did.

[mrsronaldweasl…]

i was in shock to see so many people loving the book as much as i do!
i read your posts when im at work, and it keeps me sane and happy and lightheaded . this will probably be the millionth time ive said this but i feel sad, i wish i found out about these book clubs (and i mean you guys) at the earlier stages of harry , like starting from the philosopher's stone . i feel so differently about the book. i like a lot of stuff: music, art, dance,..etc.. but i've never been "this passionate" about any of them like i am with harry.
so for you question, 'does anyone else feel like this'? we'll you obviously are not alone. we're not alone.

if only j.k decides to make a life long series of our precious harry... what do you think guys? haha!
i feel like i lost my best friend.that's how i feel when the series ended.

xoxo "as a matter of fact, i did Confund him!"

[akcutie176]

I grew up with harry potter on my bookshelf. I was in 5th grade then when I was persuaded by my friend to read Sorcerer's Stone, then eventually I loved it. I finished every year of Harry Potter and now my eyes are on the final book. I am in my 2nd year of college and reading the final book. I feel happy on finally finishing the book but I also feel sad since after I finished the book already there will be no more harry potter to be waiting for.

[kreemykookie]

i completely lose myself when im in the world of Hp. somehow i never get hungry or sleepy when im reading and i literally cannot put the book down even for a second. JK rowling is a literary genius. i started reading when i was 7 and am truly very sad that the series is done. Thankfully jk rowling is publishing a harry potter encyclopedia to answer any last remaining questions. I know that i will be reading that most definitely.

[zonde]

I as well get totally lost in the Harry Potter books every time I read them, no matter if it is the first time or the 15th. I also feel the same as Irdieter in that Harry Potter is a part of my childhood and adolescence, growing right along side and amongst all of the characters. I will miss there not being a next book but that does not mean I will read the others any less or that they will mean any less to me. I know a lot of people who feel this way and all of these emotions just add to the magic of Harry Potter.

[cY_j]

Like you, I definitely feel like my childhood is over. This is not only because the final book has been out, but in legal terms, my childhood is ending as well (but definitely not in spirit!). I turned 17 nine days before the book came out, and I found it uncanny that the 7th book was being published this year, when Harry was 17 years old himself. In the series, Harry has finally caught up to me. This made me a lot more emotionally bonded to the last book compared to the others.

I started reading the books when I was 9, although I didn't really get into it until I was 11, when the first film came out. Once I caught up with the series, I really felt this affinity as I grew older. In between the 4th and 5th book, I reread the first four again and again to get a good idea of the series and understand the overarching themes and subplots. I was taken with JK Rowling's intricate plot and attention to detail. It wasn't until the 6th book was out, when I was 15 (older and little more crass), did I love the books in a more emotional, personal level. Like me, Harry had the whole adolescence thing to deal with, and it was amazing that despite this alternative world, he had the same emotions of alienation, frustration, and loneliness we all have had. The 5th and 6th books had this mood that fit a more complex mindset, because the series was stepping out of the innocence from the first three books.

Now that the 7th book is over and done, I feel like that last puzzle has been put in in terms of the plot. But for me emotionally and mentally, I felt like I was saying goodbye to a friend I had just gotten to know but had to leave just as quickly. In more ways than one, I have grown up with the characters as they have developed from the first book. I'm lucky, though, because I still have the movies to keep me in check until 2010.

Message Edited by cY_j on 08-15-2007 12:42 AM

[ronxdraco]

I am utterly in love with the Harry Potter series. PoA was the first chapter book I read on my own. I started reading the series during the summer of 2001, between second and third grade. I have literally grown up with the characters, and they have been my crutch in life. They were always there for me whenever I had no one to rely on. They were my best friends when I was in desperate need of a good one. Heck, I even had my frist real crush on Ron Weasley. I have been carrying around the books with me for ever, even though it made the books in my arms even heavier. I like to think I got the people in my grade to start reading them. I truly love Harry Potter, and I still do consider him, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Loony Luna some of my closest friends...