Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

I'm rereading this book for Week 1! I love love love the Harry Potter Series!

Same here! I was planning on doing a whole series re-read in 2015, so this week is perfect to pick it up where I left it :)

I re-read this series every year...fit in a couple of the books for re-reads for another challenge. It's such a fun series!

I am planning on re-reading these this year too (as audio books). But then, I was given the illustrated book (Philosopher's Stone) for Christmas, which has me thinking I'd like to read it to my daughter ... so maybe next year, when she's 8. (Gah, what a horrible thought ... time passes too quickly!)

I'm midway through rereading the series right now. Up to Half-blood Prince. Trying to decide if I want it to be my 'Name' book or not. Still have book 7 to go as well.

Jody, is 8 a good age to start with Harry Potter? My boyfriend's niece loves books and every time I can, I give her some. I can't wait for her to discover Harry Potter! But she's only 5, it is a bit young ;)

I'm not exactly sure, Sophie, but it feels like it would be! I think my daughter could deal with the first one now (she's 6 - almost 6.5), especially the illustrated version - if there are any pictures in the chapter books we read together, they still really capture her interest.

But there are some pretty dark themes, so I'm thinking I'd like to wait just a little while longer. And there are still plenty of wonderful books to read with her before Harry!

I started reading the books when I was around 11 and it was awesome growing up with the characters. :)

Michelle, I also started the series when I was 11 and I loved that I was almost Harry's age each year when the books were published.

I was about a million years old when I started reading them back in 2001. Actually no, apparently I was only 25. It just feels like j was ancient!

This was always my favourite out of the series. I'm not entirely sure why, I think I just loved all the mystery and drama in this one. Plus it had Quidditch, it had the Triwizard Tournament and the tasks, it had the Yule Ball, and although it was incredibly upsetting, it had the first moment that showed the things were really getting serious now. I just loved it! Of course, I love the entire series too!

Francesca, you said exactly what I'm thinking!

I agree with Sophie. Francesca, you said it perfectly! Exactly what I was thinking. I just couldn't put it into words.

Yay! I'm glad to find other GoF fans. It seems to be one of the least popular ones, a lot of the time!

Love the Harry Potter series too. Rereading them.....week 1 is the Prisoner of Azkaban so will have to jump to the Rory Gilmore challenge week for the Goblet of Fire. Thats ok though :-)

This is my favorite HP book (although I really like the 3rd and 5th too). Like everyone else said, Francesca said it perfectly!

This is my favorite, too! Francesca, you said it :)

I reread this for 11. A book from the Rory Gilmore challenge.
Great books, can't wait to reread the next book in February :)

My favourite series, one of my favourite volume (the other is Half Blood Prince) I want to reread all of them too! :-)

This is my pick for week #11 also (Rory Gilmore challenge). I'm re-reading them all this year. It doesn't seem to matter how old I am, I enjoy these books immensely. It isn't my favorite in the series but it's certainly one of my favorites.

Jody wrote: "I am planning on re-reading these this year too (as audio books). But then, I was given the illustrated book (Philosopher's Stone) for Christmas, which has me thinking I'd like to read it to my dau..."

I'd like to try the audiobooks too.

Sophie wrote: "Jody, is 8 a good age to start with Harry Potter? My boyfriend's niece loves books and every time I can, I give her some. I can't wait for her to discover Harry Potter! But she's only 5, it is a bi..."

I think if you do it like the author did you can start at that age. What was great about the series is how the first book is perfect for a certain age and it matures with the children.

I'm starting this one tonight for the first time, ever. I'm kind of excited about it, especially as I've started to enjoy each book a little bit more.

It's my favorite HP, I hope you'll like it! Just prepare yourself to enter into the more "adult" part of the series...

I think I'm getting sucked in. I think I'm falling fully in love.

This is the best thing I've ever heard, Manda <3<3

So happy for you Manda!!!

My last 100 pages. (view spoiler)[He and Cedric just made it to the cup at the end of the maze. (hide spoiler)] I'm fighting of the desire to skim the rest just to know how this ends. Good thing I don't have any plans today!

Do not skim. Do not skim!!

Finished! A-Maze-Zing! I'm actually excited to read the next book, but I have to wait until week 7 of the 2017 challenge. I can do this.

5/5

Glad you liked this one. As someone said above, this book is the point in the series where the stakes are raised and the series matures. A lot of people dislike the next book or find it frustrating because of the teenage drama and angst in it, but I still enjoyed it and it definitely raises the stakes again. I hope you like the next one.

I am one of those people who wasn't as big a fan of the 5th book. But someone on here, I can't recall who, pointed out that Harry's behavior probably stems from some PTSD. That kind of clicked it into place for me and I enjoyed it much more than I originally did when I re-read the series this year. Plus, you can't deny that the villainy in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is on point.

I'm really glad the series is starting to captivate you more and more, Manda. I love it so much! :D

I'm in the minority (I think) as Order of the Phoenix is actually my second favourite in the whole series (just behind Goblet of Fire). I can understand people not liking the angsty Harry and some of the drama but I really enjoyed it. I loved that it showed that Harry had flaws and it made him a more realistic hero because of it. I agree with the assessment that he probably had PTSD and after everything he'd been through at that point it's not surprising.

I also really loved Order of the Phoenix, and it is my second favourite behind Prisoner of Azkaban. I thought Harry's behaviour/anger made perfect sense in context of everything that was going on, and let's be realistic -- they were just teenagers! Of course there was going to be some angst.

I think what I really enjoyed about HPatGoF is the expansion of the wizarding world and the introduction to characters and events outside of Hogwart's and Harry's scope. It grounded Harry's experiences because although Harry is a central part of what is happening and Hogwarts is the setting of a lot of the action surrounding Harry, the Goblet of Fire opened up the world to show that events are still affecting everyone else. People are reacting to and experiencing the events the same as Harry and his friends and there is a lot more going on outside of Harry's perspective that we get glimpses of in this book. The main characters were developed from the first three books, so although they continued to evolve, the world building became more prominent and we got introduced to a wider cast of characters and some more mature and long term themes.

Emm wrote: "I am one of those people who wasn't as big a fan of the 5th book. But someone on here, I can't recall who, pointed out that Harry's behavior probably stems from some PTSD. That kind of clicked it i..."
The fifth one is also my least favorite. PTSD or not, Harry is whiny, Dumbledore is detached, and the denial of the Ministry is aggravating - perhaps a bit too real? I do agree though that we got the best villain here, though - and the movie is probably my favorite. There is less whining in the movie and more action, and Imelda Staunton is fantastic.

Peter wrote: "I think what I really enjoyed about HPatGoF is the expansion of the wizarding world and the introduction to characters and events outside of Hogwart's and Harry's scope. It grounded Harry's experie..."
Well said, Peter! We see the wizarding world expand outside England, which is really cool. I think I like it most because it is a celebration of wizarding - the high point of all good magic, per se - and at its peak, we flip into dark - foreshadowing the darker, more adult side of the series.

I am rereading it for week 7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title.
There is a big dragon on the cover! Yay!!!!!!

Just Finished!
Did anybody else realize this..
<*Each House Table had a Champion, Durmstrang Students sat at Slytherin, beboux sat at ravenclaw, then potter was in GYR and Diggory in HPLF.*>

I just read this one a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed it. I read it for prompt #34 A suggestion for the ATY 2018 polls that didn't win. I used an author that uses their initials. I was going to use it for the fire prompt but I read Heir of Fire first this year.

This is probably one of my favorite books of the series so far. I watched the movie right after. They do leave a lot out and changed around some things but overall it wasn't bad. The book does have a lot of pages. One thing that I think is hilarious in the book that they don't bring out in the movies is Hermione's fight to free the house elves. It goes with her character so well.

I think this may be my favorite of the series also Joan. I really need to make time to read these again. I should probably justify it by doing a read aloud with the girls.

It’s also my favourite! I’ve been wanting to reread the series for a while now, but wanted to wait until I finished the ATY challenge. But I caved in and I’m so happy 😄

It was very interesting coming back to this one after so long. I've always enjoyed this book, but also found myself getting a bit tired of it because it felt so overrated at the time. Coming back to it now, I've really started to appreciate it all over again for being such a turning point in the series.