posted
For me, four is THE harry potter book. It isn't the first one I read (of course), but it's the first one I was caught up in. I read the other three together after they came out, and Goblet of Fire got most of my crazy anticipation. I am finding it difficult to separate my love for the books themselves from my love for that time and the fun the books engendered.
However, on the list of books I wish to read and reread and reread, I think...I think Deathly Hallows is there right now, and Prisoner of Azkaban is second. And then Goblet of Fire.
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Heck no. The latter half of the series eclipsed the beginning books, much as I loved the first and third book.
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I, too, really enjoyed # 5 and it was my favorite until 7 came out. The thing is, I'm not sure it's fair to rank them all less than a week after reading 7. I'm still a bit euphoric from it. I've read all the others 3 times or more, so # 7 is also the freshest. Still....from BEST to WORST (with worst not being bad at all):
7 5 6 1 3 2 4
(Four bothered me because of some of the plot holes in it, so has always been my least favorite, although I have recently had an epiphany regarding the reason Mad Eye couldn't just turn a pencil into a port key so I might have to move it back up. As to the first 3, they're all actually about the same in my estimation and tomorrow if you asked, they'd probably all be in a different order.
I liked 5 better than 6 because it was darker and I loved how Harry had to stand on his own against great odds...much like in book 7 (except it was even more powerful in book 7). Book 6, especially in light of the last book, seems a lot like filler. It may get bumped down in the end, but for the moment I'm still more likely to read the last 3 than the first so...
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Azakaban has always been my favorite, and while DH gave it a good run for its money, it's still my favorite.
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posted
OOTP makes me dislike Harry. The movie didn't do that, however.
I think that part of the problem for me is that OOTP came out too close to Star Wars II and III, and I was already sick of teenage hero angst. And my perception of the book is still colored by how I received it when I first read it.
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: OOTP makes me dislike Harry. The movie didn't do that, however.
I think that part of the problem for me is that OOTP came out too close to Star Wars II and III, and I was already sick of teenage hero angst. And my perception of the book is still colored by how I received it when I first read it.
I get the impression that this turned a lot of people off. I admit, it surprised me at first, but I did come to understand it, accept it, and even decide that it was necessary. It helped make Harry more real as a person that he reacted thus to the events at the end of book 4. He had to undergo this transformation or he would never have been able to cope in book 7. Real people feel a wide range of emotions in the wake of tragedy, anger being prime among them. It's one of the stages of grieving. I don't think it was teenage angst, I think it was human angst. Yeah, he was growing up at the same time, but still....Maybe that's why I liked it more than others. Personally, I love reading about the human condition and how people react to extraordinary circumstances.
Anyway, if the only emotion he ha felt about it was sadness then I don't think he would have been the type of person to stand up to Voldemort at the end. He had to get mad about it, too.
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posted
I totally see where you're coming from. I was a much bigger butthead at that age than Harry was, and I turned out to be an awesome guy.
Maybe it hits too close to home, but so much of that book is just so dang unpleasant to read. When I read about Harry, I want to punch Harry. When I read about Umbridge, I want to punch Umbridge. The only time I'm rooting for Harry is when it's Harry vs. Umbridge. Without Fred and George, that book would be completely* unpalatable for me.
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: OOTP makes me dislike Harry. The movie didn't do that, however.
100% agree. OOTP was my least favorite book, but favorite movie.
It's been so long since I read the early books I don't think I could be fair in ranking all of them. But that being said I would have to agree the second half of the series was much better than the first.
I think I'll have to go back and reread the whole series in about a year and see what holds up now that I know how it all shakes out.
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Even though I really liked book 5, I thought the movie did a better job of showing what Harry was going through too. I'm not sure why. I mean, it's not like I liked the movie better than the book by any stretch of the imagination...I thought it missed on a couple of my favorite scenes...but somehow I got more of a sense of the loneliness and isolation. Ah well...I hope they do as good a job with the last 2 movies as they did with #5. If they do, then the seventh movie, especially, will be INCREDIBLE! Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Even though the movie left out or abbreviated many of my favorite parts of the book, I think I like the movie better because it makes me like the core story and hero more than I liked them in the book.
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I still haven't re-read any of the HP books (I keep meaning too, but I have so much more to read... Dune. I always meant to read it, and now I have it... I've digressed to much, and this is really too much text to be inside a set of parenthesis.)
Perhaps my preferences will change after I read through the books again. After all, I only started reading them this past April. That's not much time to reflect on the series, you know?
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CoS and PoA are on the same level for me. As are HBP and DH.
OotP is my overall favorite. It may be because I was an angst-ridden 15 year old when I read it.
However, I'm just as likely to respond with CoS being my favorite book because I think it ties together the story a lot. And it's no where near top of my list in terms of best overall story.
SS and GoF I just don't enjoy very much compared to the others.
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posted
hmm...I'm avoiding deathly hallows...I saw too many spoilers and my brother pretty much told me everything that happens, so it would be hard to enjoy.
Blueshadow, How did you not enjoy reading GoF? Ootp was horrible until the last few chapters for me. Not much was going on until then.
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quote:Blueshadow, How did you not enjoy reading GoF? Ootp was horrible until the last few chapters for me. Not much was going on until then.
I found the Triwizard Tournament to be ridiculous. It was the only thing I ever felt to be too contrived. I didn't find it believable and wasn't convinced it could happen, not even in the wizarding world.
quote:hmm...I'm avoiding deathly hallows...I saw too many spoilers and my brother pretty much told me everything that happens, so it would be hard to enjoy.
You should read it anyway. It would be well worth the time. Someone telling you what happens is completely different than experiencing it, even when you know what's going to happen.
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quote:Blueshadow, How did you not enjoy reading GoF? Ootp was horrible until the last few chapters for me. Not much was going on until then.
I found the Triwizard Tournament to be ridiculous. It was the only thing I ever felt to be too contrived. I didn't find it believable and wasn't convinced it could happen, not even in the wizarding world.
Completely agree! I'll even go into more detail about it and nitpick it a bit. These are in no particular order:
1. Two of the three tasks were performed out of sight of the spectators. Who would want to watch that? It was probably the most contrived thing about the tournament, IMHO, because without it everyone would have noticed that the cup was a port key.
2. No quiddich because the teachers would be too busy? Yeah, because they spent soooo much time on quiddich and soooo much time on the tournament. More like, because Harry would be too busy.
3. In the second task, Harry pours through the entire library and never found the Bubble Head charm? (Actually, on this one I managed to find the movie's final resolution...of Neville telling him about that weed stuff...a bit more believable.)
4. No end of year tests for champions. They did this in book 2 as "a school treat" and it was unbelievable then as well. Especially the 5th and 7th year students have to take tests. I often noticed Rowling ignoring the students not in Harry's year at school, though.
5. Dumbledore never figured out in a whole year that Mad Eye wasn't Mad Eye. Polyjuice potion doesn't give you the personality of the person, just the form. Harry, Ron, and Hermione used it for a short period of time but never to try to become a person for any length of time. And in most cases, when confronted with a person they impersonated person knew, their acting was imperfect and created suspicion. Especially with Dumbledore claiming to be seeing signs that Voldemort is returning, I can't believe he didn't notice this.
Well, anyway, that's probably enough of that. Even with all those problems, I did enjoy reading the book and have even re-read it. Definitely the weakest of the series, though.
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posted
Ordered from least favorite to most favorite:
2, 4, 1, 5, 6, 7, 3
There's a much wider gap between 4 and 1 than between the other books. I like 2 and 4 significantly less than the other five books.
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quote:Originally posted by Christine: I have recently had an epiphany regarding the reason Mad Eye couldn't just turn a pencil into a port key
What was your epiphany? This plot hole has always bugged the living carp out of me, so I'm really curious to hear what you came up with.
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Goblet of Fire is my favorite as well. At this point, JKR is still showing us wonderful and new things about the wizarding world. The later books were a lot less fun and definite a lot less magical.
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quote:Originally posted by Christine: I have recently had an epiphany regarding the reason Mad Eye couldn't just turn a pencil into a port key
What was your epiphany? This plot hole has always bugged the living carp out of me, so I'm really curious to hear what you came up with.
Yeah, it literally bugged me for years until this week and then it came to me...Voldemort was trying to come back without being noticed. True, Mad Eye could have given Harry a port key at any time (and he had plenty of chances) but people would have noticed "The Boy Who Lived" not turning up at his next class and they would have all freaked out. It would have stirred people into action just attempting to figure out where he went.
But nobody could see into that maze (which I still can't say I like but....taking that as a given) and so nobody saw Harry leave it. The plan was to kill Harry and make it look as if he'd been one of the many tri-wizard champions who had died in the tournament. They said earlier that something like 1/2 of them had! Indeed, most of the greater wizarding world did not believe that Cedric died by the hands of Lord Voldemort, even after Harry told them. They'd prefer to believe Harry was a lying, attention-seeking little boy and that Cedric's death was, to quote Umbridge, "A tragic accident." That maze was dangerous, after all. So I think Voldemort was right that most people would have believed it an accident. Dumbledore would have figured it out, of course, but it might have even taken him some time if Harry hadn't lived to tell him immediately.
Anyway, that was what I finally figured out. I do think she could have made his plan a bit clearer. Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Interesting, Christine. That works as an explanation, but I'm not sure that Rowling had it in mind. It seems like she'd have made it a little clearer if she had.
In any case, it fits, and is much more satisfying than the unfilled plot hole was.
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I have a difficult time choosing a "best" because, much like the Academy Awards, there are several "best" categories in my head to fill.
Best Plot: PoA Best Action: GoF Best Drama: OotP
Plus, I'm more likely to have a favorite section than a favorite book. Two scenes that absolutely kill me every time are:
1. The last paragraph of Book 1, Chapter 1. When sleeping baby has no idea that all around the world wizards are raising their glasses to "The Boy Who Lived."
2. When Harry's name comes out of goblet and Dumbledore calls his name. To me, that's the turning point of the whole series. Child to adult, young Harry to old Harry, light to dark.
So, those scenes > most other scenes
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I agree with PoA being the best plot, I felt there was a significant turning point with the complexity of the books when number 3 came out. They become books that adults could identify with.
7 is my favorite with 6 being a close second. I love Snape, and was ecstatic that he had his own book. "Blocked again and again and again, until you learn to keep you mind closed and you mouth shut Potter" is probably one of my favorite lines.
For me it goes best to worst: 7,6,3,5,4,2,1
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I am surprised at how many people are putting #1 at the bottom. From a technical/writing standpoint, it has the most weaknesses but I suspect that's at least as much because it was a first novel as anything else. But the story was one of my favorites...ordinary boy who's had a hard life finds out he's something special. The scene where Hagrid tells Harry he's a wizard is still possibly my favorite in the whole series. That scene alone will always keep the story out of last place for me.
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I agree with Christine. I recently went back and read 1-6, and I adored #1. It was so much fun.
Concerning #2, on the other hand, I agree with OSC that it could accurately be named The Continuing Adventures of the Hogwarts Kids.
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Worst to best -
2,1,4,6,5,7,3
Azakaban has always been my favorite, and while DH gave it a good run for its money, it's still my favorite.
That holds very true for me, too. I've always had a soft spot for #3. Though it may be just because I read that book so much when I was younger. So my order, worst to best:
2,5,4,1,6,7,3
Until recently book #1 was my second favorite, but after my latest series re-read it's been shuffled down a spot. I had forgotten how much the beginning annoyed me, I supposed. Or maybe I've just grown out of a lot of its silliness. The last two are far more mature and I enjoy them at this stage in my life.
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