Polls for Our Souls discussion

ive just watched the movies and i dont know if im gonna read the books any time soon

A friend in high school pass like 3 hours making spoiler of every book by the end I knew everything in the books, so she narrates the complete history for me when i didn't want...... Chao Harry Potter for me.

I enjoy the series, but many of my friends (in real life and on Goodreads) have no intention of reading them. I respect your decision. :)

I will get there...... someday

I grew up with my mum and older sister fighting over these books as they released so it's safe to say I never picked one up but I bought a beautiful set and I'm so looking forward to taking my time with them

I haven't read it either. I'm just not into reading the series. I have no interest in it.

no, you aren't alone but still, the series in my list to read

I haven't read it either. I think i will try to read them but I also know a lot of the main events so that kinda spoils the book for me :/

I haven't read it and don't intend to either.

Ahh..nopes. I haven't read the series either (^__^;)..don't think I will in the future either? But I have seen 4 of the films I believe~

I finished the first book a few months ago. Picking up the second one after my current read.

I haven't read Harry Potter either. I have some interest in reading the series.

I haven't read it nor am I interested either. I'm with you on this one, Taylor.

Harry Potter are the best books I've read in my life, so I would recommend you all who haven't read them yet to do it, I'm sure you'll love them😊

I have and I have read it many times. and I still love it but considering it is a must read book and all that when I go back to reading it every time I realize all these big mistakes in the book. and and realized that Dumbledore is a sadist for keeping a child in the dark for 7 years without no reason.

You aren't alone

I think the reason why most people are obsessed with Harry Potter is because it was a part of our childhood. Those who read them at a young age tend to love it more. So when we think about it now, that love has A LOT to do with nostalgia. I’m sure if I read Harry Potter now as an adult for the very first time, I’d like it and think it was good, but I wouldn’t be head over heels about it.

Sunny's Books wrote: "I think the reason why most people are obsessed with Harry Potter is because it was a part of our childhood. Those who read them at a young age tend to love it more. So when we think about it now, ..."

That's exactly what I was thinking as well. I loved it when I was a kid, but when I read the series last year it elicited nothing more than a shoulder shrug.

well, I'm waiting for my book to arrive so I can read it, but for now I'm also in the club

I'm really really old, and I read them all as an adult and loved every minute (except in the last one when they spent the interminable period camping in the woods—that was excruciating). So I think it has less to do with reading them in childhood and more to do, perhaps, with the hype surrounding them. I started when they first came out and waited anxiously for the next one to release, and it was such a big deal. Now that they are all freely available and you can dip in as you like, there isn't that same compelling sense of "I have to have it!" that we who read it one per year experienced. What do you think?

Aida wrote: "I have and I have read it many times. and I still love it but considering it is a must read book and all that when I go back to reading it every time I realize all these big mistakes in the book. a..."

I found that as the story progressed there seemed to be more plot holes. It's like she was running out of creativity and ideas, but kept writing anyway. I think HP is a great concept, but that it would have been better carried out by a better writer, or maybe even been better if it had been a screenplay for film or television.

My story with HP-I didn't read Harry Potter until I was 26, in 2015. I wasn't allowed to read Harry Potter growing up because "magic is evil and of the devil"....by the time I was an adult and on my own I felt that it was "too little too late" and that I was "too old" for Harry Potter, that I missed my chance because of my family. But I had lost my love of reading (that was a part of it but not the whole reason) that I had as a young child.

I found booktube and heard adults loving Harry Potter and saying there was no such thing as being too old for Harry Potter. I still wanted to read it, so finally I did and got back into reading. I loved Harry Potter and while I enjoyed it from the start it does mature and get better as it goes on. I still haven't re-read it but I do plan too.

Sure I may have missed the chance to grow up with it like a lot of people my age but it's true what I heard. You are never too old for Harry Potter! I still got so much out of it. Maybe it's not perfect but there is still so much depth and magic to the series.

People who spoil things without caring or thinking that everyone has read or seen something...that sucks. I was spoiled for some stuff for HP before I got to it as well. Also no matter how well loved something is nothing is for everyone. If you aren't interested you aren't interested and that's ok. And any fandom has it's rude people and such. I have not met a fandom yet that is an exception. Most fandoms also have good in them as well. It's just about ignoring the crap and focusing on the good.

Sorry that's a long ramble...

I’m not necessarily saying that older people won’t love Harry Potter if they’re experiencing it for the first time. Because you can! It’s just that personally for me, whenever anything Harry Potter comes up into my life, I get all excited and get all these happy feelings. And a lot of it has to do with that fact that it was a part of my childhood.

Like when I randomly watch Dexter’s Lab, or Jimmy Neutron, or Avatar the Last Airbender...I get WAYYYY too excited. Not only because they’re really good shows, but because I grew up watching them. It just gives me a really safe and warm feeling.

But if I had experienced all of that NOW for the FIRST time in my life, I know I’d still really love those books and shows, just not as much as I would have with that feeling of nostalgia.

Sunny's Books wrote: "I’m not necessarily saying that older people won’t love Harry Potter if they’re experiencing it for the first time. Because you can! It’s just that personally for me, whenever anything Harry Potter..."

I actually hadn't read through the thread and hadn't seen your comment before. I just watched a review of Order of the phoenix that was amazing (my favorite of the entire series) so was already hyped about it. Maybe a part of the reason I love HP so much is because I was so upset at being denied the chance to love it as a child. A woman from church gave me the first book when I was 12.

My parents were polite in front of her, but as soon as we got home before I could read it my stepdad snatched it away, saying it was evil because it has magic and witches in it and that goes against the bible (ironic a church woman gave it to me..no idea why I don't remember that part). I'm just talking about my own family here.

But I wanted to read it sooo bad as a child but I wasn't allowed, so I think finally reading it even though later in life, I don't know how to explain it but I truly loved it! There is more depth to the series than many get at first glance. The review talking about Order of the phoenix mentioned how many initially dislike it because of "angsty Harry" completely missing the fact he's been through so much crap and has PTSD, been through trauma and is just a teenager dealing with it all on his own.

I don't know what I would have thought as a teen but I have ptsd and had for years before reading HP, so I saw that and that book is my favorite of the entire series! I just wanted to hug Harry so badly! Obviously I won't go into spoilers but even later HP ment so much to me, and partly i'm sure because I didn't get the chance to read it growing up. Also...i'm a proud Hufflepuff! :)

I understand nostalgia though, i'm like that with Goosebumps or shows I watched in the 90s/00s as a kid and teen.

I'm not sure my ramblings make any sense >.<

Edit: I hope i'm not coming across wrong. It's just that HP does actually mean a lot to me despite reading it later in life and I loved it so much. I watched the movies after reading the books. I feel weird saying how much it means to me despite not growing up with it, like i'm not supposed to love it as much as I do because it's middle grade/young adult, which I know is silly but I guess it still gets to me.

I read the first one and enjoyed it. Just haven't gotten to the rest.

I read harry potter when I was 11 and have reread it every year since then. I suppose I can respect the decision to not even try to read, but the series well and truly changed my life and I would highly highly recommend reading them if you have not. If you don't like them, that's totally okay! It just kind of blows my mind seeing the magic harry potter works on people though. When I read it, I got all my friends (who were very strongly against reading) to read them, and now they're all book lovers! My mom is reading the series for the first time now, and is on OOTP. My mom has never read more than a book a year in her adult life, and now she's read four and a half pretty hefty books in six months. Again, I get that not everybody is gonna love them, but if you haven't tried... please please do.

Stephanie, you didn’t come across as wrong at all. And I totally get what you mean and I agree. A person reading Harry Potter as an adult can love it and be obsessed with it just as much as someone who read it when young! I was just explaining to those who seem to think it’s over hyped.

And it’s weird how a lot of people hated Order of the Phoenix. It actually happens to be my favorite of all the books. Like more than Deathly Hallows and I LOVED that book.

I was just listening to the audio for Order of the Phoenix, and that scene where Harry is angry with Dumbledore and is throwing things and crying, like it was just so emotional for me to read that. Not only emotional but powerful. People thought it was Harry being a little bitch. But I have no idea how they expected him to react after watching a friend die. There was SO much on his shoulders, and knowing his headmaster was keeping important things sensibly same him angrier.

Harry wasn’t out of character. He was responding the same way most kids react when experiencing loss. With anger.

Anyways, a lot of people love Harry Potter. Some people don’t. But if someone hasn’t even tried it, i tell them to go for it. I ask that they read at least the first three books, because I understand why people would think the first two would be boring despite me loving them.

Sunny's Books, So much yes <3 I agree so much with what you've said, all of it.

When I re-read it i'm going to annotate the heck out of it <3

I read the first book and that was it

Taylor wrote: "Before you comment on this: remember that everyone has their own opinion...
So, I haven't read Harry Potter. *gasp*
Nope, I'm not really interested in reading it either. *gasp x2*
I'm not intereste..."Taylor - No, I haven't read any books OR seen any of the movies, and I'm OK with that. So many books, so little time.

I haven't read it but I'm hoping to start the series around Christmas time.

I haven't read it yet but I do want to. The main reason I haven't read it yet is because I've seen all of the movies a bunch of times so

I read book 1 as a kid because my best friend and brother loved HP, but I never really got into the books. I then read up to halfway through book 4 when I was 18 just because everyone said I HAD to read them, but I stopped because I felt like I was forcing myself to read them. I LOVE the movies and the characters and plan on giving the books another go. However, I do plan on reading them in my second language so that, hopefully, them being kids' books (at least in the beginning) won't bother me this time around. I really need to get to the dark stuff to enjoy it I think.

I lack motivation since I know the majority of what happens already.

Bailey wrote: "I haven't read it yet but I do want to. The main reason I haven't read it yet is because I've seen all of the movies a bunch of times so"

Same here.

I've not read the books or watched the movies 👀

I'm going to get around to it eventually.

No I haven’t read it, I watched the movies already so I feel like they will ruin the books for me, like because I already expect most things and I know the books are always better than the movies and I liked the movies so I don’t want to hate the movies haha