Why it is okay to not have read Harry Potter: Hi everyone! Today’s post is all about Harry Potter! This is part of the Potterhead July Blog Festival hosted by the lovely Aentee @ Read At Midnight. Now before I actually start, I just wanted to clear a few things up. I have never (yea, you read that right, NEVER) read all 7 of the Harry Potter books nor have I watched the movie. Ok, let that sink in for a moment. Now with that in mind, let’s get started with the post. (This is a bit of a storytelling post but it’s an interesting story, if I do say so myself) It’s perfectly fine to not read Harry Potter. Many people in my life have freaked out and proceeded to yell at me about how uncultured I am for not having read Harry Potter, and honestly, it’s a little scary. Because of this, I was a little hesitant to join this event but took a chance anyway because, what do I have to lose? I have only read the first 2 Harry Potter books yet I own the entire box set as well as another copy of the 4, 5 and 6th book. The 7th book was published in 2007 (nearly 9 years ago), meaning that I was in 2nd grade, during the height of the HP popularity. I didn’t actually discover the books until 4th grade. It felt like everyone was holding a HP book and that I was out of the club (not a rare instance for me back then). Books were (and are) my safe place when everything else in the world may be shattering around me; in that I will always have my place among them and have friends who won’t judge me. The situation wasn’t that I disliked the books, in fact, I liked them so much and I didn’t want to find out what happens to all the characters. Many times, I imagined myself among them, with Hermione especially because she was a brainiac and always knew more than she should, like how I felt during those times. Of course after all the movies came out and everything was done, the buzz about Harry Potter in the regular world died down and it wasn’t that big of a deal that I didn’t read HP. Until... Last year, I went to Universal Studios in Orlando and like any other person, visited the Harry Potter World. Among these die-heart fans, I suddenly felt lost, like I had no place among them. I think it was during this time that sparked my liking for HP again. Of course, with school and everything going on in real life I didn’t have time to go back on that thought and actually do something about it. Until this past winter break, I didn’t even know how the series ended. I know, I’m a disgrace but there was just something about it that I didn’t want to know. Many people talked about it but for me, I feel like the ending was always avoided. I finally got curious over winter break with the buzz about the new book and just spent 2 days going on Wikipedia to research everything there was to know about the books. After that, I read the back half of the 7th book (that book is sooooooooo long). Now with the release of Harry Potter and the Curse Child coming so soon, I’m not sure what I’ll be doing during that time although I’m sure I won’t be left out of anything with everything tweeting and reflecting on it. One of the only reasons that I read the ending (other to find out what happened) was because of the epilogue of years after. I wanted to know what happened to all the beloved characters and since Harry Potter and the Cursed Child follows them 19 years later, there is a pretty good chance that I will be reading it sometime.
I don’t exactly consider myself a full-on Potterhead but there are aspects that I do love from the series. I think I am going to try and read the 3rd book in the series sometime this summer because I heard that it was the least devastating one (with the least deaths). Also, just because of this tour, I joined Pottermore and got sorted into my house. I was surprised to find that my house is Gryffindor. I guess that sort of makes sense because as far as I know, I really similar to Hermione and after some research, I have the traits of Gryffindors. (Also I love Hermione because Emma Watson--need I say more?) The book community is especially diverse, and it is one of the things I love about it. Most are so accepting and always willing to recommend books to you. So I guess the moral of this post is, Harry Potter is great and all, but there will always be people who didn’t read them or just blantly disliked them. It’s okay to not have read Harry Potter and it doesn’t mean that you can’t be a Potterhead. So that’s it for this post. It was longer than I anticipated so kudos to you if you made it all the way to the end. Actually, give me a virtual hug :) What’d you think about it? Be sure to check out the other blog posts here: Schedule for PotterHeadJuly Posts and find me on twitter (@BrookeEvans2001) as well as Instagram (@thecozylittlebooknook) and we can talk more about books :P Let me know your thoughts about Harry Potter and if you’re excited for the release of Cursed Child and reasons why I should purchase it. As usual tell me what books I should read next! ~Brooke
6 Comments
I think you make a good point, and maybe one that we as readers don't talk about enough. Just because someone hasn't read the whole series doesn't mean they hated it, and just because they haven't made the choice to finish the books yet also doesn't mean they don't admire it from afar. Clearly, Harry Potter has had a variety of meanings to you and that is totally fine! Even if you don't end up finishing the series, it's still fine. Although, I do hope you enjoy the rest of the books should you choose to read them. :)
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7/9/2016 06:21:10 pm
I'm glad that you see it that way. Many people that I have encountered have not been as accepting. I do anticipate finishing the series something in the future, just not quite yet :)
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I think it's definitely okay for individuals to consider themselves Harry Potter fans without reading/completing the series! While I do encourage people to read the books, and it remains my favorite book series, I don't think it's right to discourage other Harry Potter enthusiasts from expressing their joy with the books/movies/theme parks/merchandise/etc. simply because they haven't read the books! I'm sorry to hear that your experience at Orlando was diminished, but I'm glad that you still feel comfortable sharing you love of certain aspects of the book. Love the post! :)
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7/10/2016 02:38:57 pm
I find the idea of not finishing a series because you don't want to know the ending interesting. I completely get it, yet at the same time I've never experienced that feeling. Endings are typically my favorite part of stories, so I'm always super eager to get to them, including with Harry Potter.
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7/12/2016 01:29:48 pm
This is a great post! I think when I was younger I used to be like "you haven't read harry potter? WHAT?" but now I completely understand not reading the series and still being a fan. There's nothing wrong with just watching the movies. Or even not finishing either but liking what you have seen or wanting to participate with fans.
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I think this is very valid, considering that a lot of the younger bloggers haven't read Harry Potter - just like how I have never read Percy Jackson. As an ardent fan, I can't help but shout 'please read it' whenever I come across someone who hasn't finished the series, but there's always time!
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About me!Brooke's a high schooler who loves to read all sorts of books. She's happy to be able to share all the books she's reading with all of y'all. Archives
June 2020
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