OK, I know I'm realllly late to the game on this one. But, I'm sorta not. Let me give you a little background to explain. The first three books in this series came out while I was in high school...so very, very, very long ago. And I read them at that time, almost immediately as each came out, because I have always been a big reader. Really, ever since I was a little kid. That was something my mom instilled in me at a young age. In fact, I remember making trips to the book store and my mom insisting that I pick out thicker books because she wasn't going to pay $5 for a little 200-300 page book that would only entertain me for a couple hours. I gulped books down that quickly. It kinda makes me laugh to think back on that time. But, I digress...I enjoyed the first three books quite a bit and was fully intending to read the rest...
Then this little thing called "college" happened. The Goblet of Fire came out while I was in my first year of college and for those of you that have attended college, you know that the majority of your time is spent reading books that are NOT recreational. I remember buying this fourth book, reading about half and getting "tired of it" and dropping reading recreationally almost completely. In fact, I don't think I picked up a non-academic book until at least a year after I graduated with my bachelor's. Reading just didn't hold an appeal for me at the time. I was busy starting my career, hanging out with friends, dating and spending time with family (not necessarily in that order). My life was pretty full.
But, the truth is, reading makes your life so much more complete, making you a more well-rounded person and it definitely exercises your mind...unlike TV. You know, they say that for every hour of television you watch that you're shortening your lifespan. They don't say that about books now do they? So...back to Harry Potter.
I decided a couple months ago to pick this series back up. It's considered a modern day classic set and it's always on those "books to read before you die" lists. So I did. And I loved them.
These books are very imaginative and I can see how some people might say they're not appropriate for children...perhaps not young children anyway. But, I feel like they address real life problems (losing your parents, fitting in at school, etc.) and you can truly be entertained while learning how Harry copes with these obstacles. I will say that I was a little disappointed in how many main characters had to die by the end of the last book. There were a couple in there that I really liked. But, again, not everyone lives happily ever after in real life, so why should they always in books?
Overall, I give this entire series a big, fat A+. Plus, it gets extra kudos for keeping me mightly entertained while I was reading some other real duds, which I've mentioned previously. Bravo, J. K. Rowling, bravo.
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