After I last read the books in 2020, I wrote at length about my earlier problems with the series and how they were resolved when I finally revisited the books.
My Thoughts on My Rereading of Harry Potter
This is a summary of what I wrote, being as brief as I can. I was heavily invested in Harry Potter around the time that #4 was first published in July 2000. I joined a Yahoo! group that discussed Snape and whose side he was on. I spent lots of time reading the messages in July and August of 2000 and possibly for a few more months as well.
Sometime after that, Rowling made a dismissive comment about the Snape debate, saying that he was bad, period, and that she couldn't understand how anyone could think otherwise. Um, because she wrote him ambiguously? If I had had better discernment, I would have realized that she was being misleading since readers were guessing the truth. I didn't know that at the time, and her statement squelched most of my enthusiasm. I deeply resented her for ruining our fun.
I found #5 difficult to get through; it was too lengthy for my taste.
#6 was devastating, and I wasn't very interested in the series anymore after I finished that book.
I had a habit of rereading every previous entry before each new book was released. I am certain that I did not do so before #7 was released, because I mostly no longer cared. Also keep in mind that the hype and media coverage surrounding each new Harry Potter book was intense. It was way too much, and that lessened my enthusiasm.
This is how many times I believe I had read each book prior to 2020.
#1 - 4 times #5 - 2 times
#2 - 4 times #6 - 1 time
#3 - 4 times #7 - 1 time
#4 - 3 times
I stayed away from the series for many years because I was so annoyed at Rowling ruining my fun when it turned out that Snape was playing both sides after all. I refused to watch the movies, and I refused to read the books again. The Harry Potter series was dead to me.
In 2020 during lockdown, I read through all seven books and then watched all eight movies. I got over my negative feelings and came to appreciate Harry Potter again. I haven't thought much about Harry Potter in the last three years.
This next part of this post has been taken from my January 1 post on the books I read in 2022.
I stayed away from the series for many years because I was so annoyed at Rowling ruining my fun when it turned out that Snape was playing both sides after all. I refused to watch the movies, and I refused to read the books again. The Harry Potter series was dead to me.
In 2020 during lockdown, I read through all seven books and then watched all eight movies. I got over my negative feelings and came to appreciate Harry Potter again. I haven't thought much about Harry Potter in the last three years.
This next part of this post has been taken from my January 1 post on the books I read in 2022.
In early November, Pocket presented me with an article about the All the Young Dudes Harry Potter fanfic.
Since I am constantly reading even if it's just stuff online, I followed the link. I was immediately intrigued. From the article:
It’s called All the Young Dudes, and it's a 526,969-word fic that currently has a whopping 7.5 million hits on the fanfiction site, Archive of Our Own. All the Young Dudes is set in the era when Harry's parents attended Hogwarts (ahem, known as the Marauders era), and features both familiar faces, and a budding romance between two of the series' most beloved figures: Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
The 188-chapter story has now spawned a fandom of its own. For many original HP fans, the story has become canon, and the ways in which it extends far beyond the universe J.K. Rowling created are all part of the appeal. All the Young Dudes has a huge presence on social media, spawned audiobooks, has 16,000 ratings on Goodreads, has been fancasted, and is even the subject of a conspiracy theory involving Taylor Swift.
My mind blown, I decided that I must check this out. My favorite Harry Potter book is Prisoner of Azkaban, and if this fanfic even remotely deserved its fandom, then I had to see for myself. I started reading it, and I liked what I read. I didn't know what to do with myself when I finished, so I had no choice but to read the Harry Potter series again.
And so I did. I read straight through all seven Harry Potter books in November and December. This time I did what I didn't think to do three years ago. I remembered far more details this time than I did three years ago. However, some parts were a little fuzzy. Whenever I reached an important plot point where I couldn't remember specifics, I got online and ran a search for that information. This then led me to reading lengthy discussions about those parts of the books.
The end result is that reading those discussions greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the series this time around. One example would be when the doe leads Harry to the lake where the sword is. I knew that the sword was placed by Snape, but I couldn't recall how Snape knew where Harry was. So I ran a search and found the information. This made my reading so much more fun this time around.
In fact, reading discussions as I read the books harkened back to the fun I had in the late summer of 2000 when I read the Snape debate in the Yahoo! group.
Even though I'm finished reading through the books, I am still thinking about them. I have joined a few Harry Potter subreddits, and I now receive a daily digest email from Quora with suggested Harry Potter topics. I'm having fun reading these discussions.
If I am correct about how many times I read through the books originally, this is how many times I have now read through them.
#1 - 6 times #5 - 4 times
#2 - 6 times #6 - 3 times
The end result is that reading those discussions greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the series this time around. One example would be when the doe leads Harry to the lake where the sword is. I knew that the sword was placed by Snape, but I couldn't recall how Snape knew where Harry was. So I ran a search and found the information. This made my reading so much more fun this time around.
In fact, reading discussions as I read the books harkened back to the fun I had in the late summer of 2000 when I read the Snape debate in the Yahoo! group.
Even though I'm finished reading through the books, I am still thinking about them. I have joined a few Harry Potter subreddits, and I now receive a daily digest email from Quora with suggested Harry Potter topics. I'm having fun reading these discussions.
If I am correct about how many times I read through the books originally, this is how many times I have now read through them.
#1 - 6 times #5 - 4 times
#2 - 6 times #6 - 3 times
#3 - 6 times #7 - 3 times
#4 - 5 times
When I read the books this time, I didn't bother with the epilogue. I have no use for it. I still feel that the last book should have had more falling action rather than wasting space on that epilogue.
I have thought a lot about how the eighth Harry Potter movie ruined the ending. Harry should have fought Voldemort in the Great Hall just like in the book. The final confrontation in the seventh book is perfect. In fact, I read that scene at least three to four times at different points as I read through the seven books this time. I love it.
I looked up the Horcruxes multiple times, because I kept forgetting about some of them. The seventh book glosses over some of the Horcruxes, which is a flaw in the plot. It helped to look up the information.
I found the last four books to be considerably less dark than I did previously, because I thoroughly understand the underlying plot, such as the agreement between Snape and Dumbledore. Having a complete understanding of the story lessens the dark aspect of it.
With Harry Potter, rereading the books is quite fulfilling because the reader knows all the little secrets. Rowling placed many clues throughout the books. It's so easy to miss something, and reading online discussions has revealed much that I have missed on my multiple readings.
If you haven't read the Harry Potter books in many years, you might want to visit them again. It's great fun.
When I read the books this time, I didn't bother with the epilogue. I have no use for it. I still feel that the last book should have had more falling action rather than wasting space on that epilogue.
I have thought a lot about how the eighth Harry Potter movie ruined the ending. Harry should have fought Voldemort in the Great Hall just like in the book. The final confrontation in the seventh book is perfect. In fact, I read that scene at least three to four times at different points as I read through the seven books this time. I love it.
I looked up the Horcruxes multiple times, because I kept forgetting about some of them. The seventh book glosses over some of the Horcruxes, which is a flaw in the plot. It helped to look up the information.
I found the last four books to be considerably less dark than I did previously, because I thoroughly understand the underlying plot, such as the agreement between Snape and Dumbledore. Having a complete understanding of the story lessens the dark aspect of it.
With Harry Potter, rereading the books is quite fulfilling because the reader knows all the little secrets. Rowling placed many clues throughout the books. It's so easy to miss something, and reading online discussions has revealed much that I have missed on my multiple readings.
If you haven't read the Harry Potter books in many years, you might want to visit them again. It's great fun.
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