Thoughts on Harry Potter Series

I started the Harry Potter series over because I had this urge to re-read it (or really, listen because Audible).

It was so fun and just as good (or better) than I remember the first time.

I haven’t touched the Harry Potter books since elementary school when I was like 10. And here I am, twice as old, and I loved them just as much.

Noteworthy things

It made me think about how special that makes JK Rowling. She was able to create this story that was just as good for a little kid as someone in college (or beyond).

Also, Rowling wrote these books for a rising age population over time. The idea was that as her readers got older, so did the characters in the story, hence the 7 books and the delay in which they were released.

They got longer and more complicated with each book, which is really cool.

It is also easy to forget now, because the world of fiction has changed, but at the time these books were released (Harry Potter 1 was in June of 1997!), nobody wrote such long stories for kids. The idea was that kids couldn’t read that many pages.

Rowling had a big influence on changing that trend and so many books have been inspired from her story.

She also had a very rocky life leading up to the books and the fact that she overcame all the obstacles that she did to get them published tells so much about her strength of character and belief that what she was working on was the right thing.

Creativity

Reading the books as someone older, I think I also appreciated more parts of them.

I suppose all fiction authors do this, but I don’t read much fiction. The idea that she had so many different characters with unique personalities that changed and also remained the same over the course of the seven books is so crazy. It is so many people to keep account of while focusing on the story and plot and all else.

The ideas and creatures and stories that she brings to the book are also so fun and creative. There are animals that fly and can only be seen by humans that have seen death take place. There are giants and goblins and elves and talking pictures, a talking sorting hat and so much more.

I found myself referencing things from the book through my days while reading them. For example, I wish I had the little gadget Hermione used to be in multiple places at once.

Caution

I loved it and had a ton of fun listening to all the books. The one thing I’ll say is that for me they were super addicting. I had times when I definitely should have been doing other things, but chose to keep listening instead. It’s fun to get hooked on books like that, but definitely dangerous.

It brought me back to being a kid and opened some fun creative doors for me.

Thanks JK Rowling :)

Thoughts on this review/the book in general? Comment or send me a note :)

Full reading list here