How I Found Harry Potter
I was in sixth grade and one of my teachers would read to us from a book for like 15-20 minutes and one day she picked up a book called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Now I was a reader at this time, maybe not as obsessively, as that would happen in the next year! But I'll admit that I gravitated towards books that had a girl heroine versus the boy hero. This was such an early year for YA books and Harry did fall more towards middle grade perhaps.
Regardless I only half listened to the book at the time, because much like now, back then I had a hard time focusing on the story when it was being read to me. But somehow this story got through to me. It was still hard to sit still at the time and enjoy a story being read to me, but it wasn't long before I was hooked.
Then for Christmas that year, my grandma actually got me a copy of this one! Perhaps I talked about it to my mom and that was how it happened. I can't quite remember, but I have the distinct memory of it being a Christmas gift and that she gave it to me.
I really want to say that I ended up starting the book over and reading it through, all before my teacher finished it for us! Now, this class I had was like every other day, maybe every three days? It's been so long I can't remember. It wasn't an everyday class, so the reading of it took longer than it would if it were everyday
Then my sister borrowed it from me to read and she liked it a lot too. I think we convinced my mom later on that we needed to get the next books, which at that time were two and three. There was however a debate over who got to read book 2 first. I am pretty sure I won that! I am the faster reader of the two of us! Lol.
There were many more happy memories with Harry Potter of course! All surrounded by Borders! That's where all my books came from (2-7 at least! Can't say where the first one was bought since it was a gift!) and let's not forget the midnight release parties. I want to say that I was there for books 5-7. I remember hanging out in the aisles, participating in the games and trivia. It was always fun! I even still have my ticket that says I reserved 2 (by accident) copies of book 6!
And yup, I was number 28 in line!! Though I am trying to remember if they lined us up numerically or by groups. It might have been numerically and then the final year was groups! Sadly, there was no magical ticket for that one. It might have just been a slip or ordinary paper that was taken at the register because I SO would've saved it with this one! Anything with the Borders name gets saved!
So how did you find Harry Potter?
Ah. I was an adult. I was involved with the World Science Fiction Convention. Not having a car, I was offered a lift to meetings. Two of us sat in the back seat and chatted. “Have you heard of Harry Potter?” asked the other lady(her name was Alison Goodman and she went on to become a very successful writer, if not in the league of JKR). She told me about it, as I hadn’t heard of it. When I saw a copy on a stall at the Children’s Book Week Fair, I bought it. The rest is history. I bought the second one and got the rest for reviewing, I picked up the last one from the publisher and walked into town for a cup of coffee and a read. The CBD was overflowing with people reading it. I am exaggerating but not by much! I bought my coffee in a food hall and, glancing around, saw many other tables with people with their noses in the same book. I had to finish it that day to gr5 in my review on time, but it was no hardship! 🙂
ReplyDeleteI was about 9 or 10 years old when I first picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (before the films came out) and at first it didn't really hook me. I read the first chapter and put it back on the shelf. Then about a year later, I picked it up again and fell in love with it! My birthday is the day before Harry's and we were about the same age so I felt like I was growing up with him. I was 18 when the last book came out, and my sister and I queued up at Waterstones at midnight to get out hands on a copy.
ReplyDeleteI was an adult when I read the HP books, and I honestly don't remember how I found them at first, but I think maybe my nephew was reading them!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I was an adult. One of the little girls I was babysitting one summer was 9 and was reading the books. But it was hard for her at that age, so she brought the books on CD also to follow along with her book. I ended up hearing it one afternoon and loved the story. So I bought book 1, and the rest is history. My favorite book series ever. At the time only books 1-4 were published, so I had fun playing the waiting game and going to release parties.
ReplyDelete