How did you find out about the Harry Potter books?

[basketsarah120]

Lol, I ruined the books for myself. I read the epilogue or ending first, and then go back to read it. I read summaries online before I even read the books. I did that with Twilight too. I was just too interested, and wanted to know what happened right away.

[kumainpink]

*chuckles* Happens to the best of us. I ruined Portal 2 for myself by looking at lets plays.

[basketsarah120]

Even when I read fics, if is has an epilogue I read that first to see if it is worth reading.

[Dimcairien]

I have a friend who likes to read the last few sentences of a book before she reads. She did that with the entire Hunger Games series.

I honestly don't know why people like doing that as I enjoy the shock of the ending, whether it makes you laugh, cry, or throw the book. At any rate, that's a perk of fanfiction as oftentimes they aren't finished when you start reading them, unless you're on of those strange people who only like to read completed fics.

[readingwizard4]

When I started DH I didn't even look at the chapter list. I just jumped right in. I looked up the Hunger Games on Wiki in between books while I waited to go to Barnes and Noble to start the next one and still got surprised a couple of times. When Katniss and her love interest met up in Mockingjay I knew something bad would happen, I just couldn't remember what. I read spoilers for Star Wars books all the time before new books are released and it doesn't bother me. I always get into the book. In regards to Fan-fiction I like reading works in progress and completed works. I just hate when stories that I like that aren't updated in a timely fashion. I also hate when it's an author note and not a new chapter. If the author makes a note at the end of the chapter then it makes the wait more bearable.

[mountaingirl777]

I knew about them before I saw them, it made a huge up roar in the church I was going to. I watched bits and pieces of the movies on ABC Family when I could (the joys of having a TV in your bedroom! I got watch a ton of stuff that I wasn't allowed to watch, some of which my parents still don't know I watched. Just closed the door and when my mom came to check on me, just flipped to another station real quick). Didn't get into them until a year and a half ago (maybe, it might have been sooner or later).

[Kitty279]

Jun 27, 2012 15:06:01 GMT -5 kumainpink said:

Personally, I like bittersweet or tragic endings better. I don't know why, but the grim feeling of it makes the experience of it linger longer.

No, no, I am a sucker for happy endings! The world is bad enough, I want it to be right at least in my imagination

[Silvertongue]

I prefer there to be a happy ending but I can read sad endings if that's how it ends.

The whole reason I read the book is for all the little surprises and not knowing whats going to happen next. It's what makes them 'un-put-downable'. If you know what's going to happen, then it's nowhere near as exciting. I like to be kept guessing.

[Kitty279]

Oh, I can read the sad endings, too, now and then. But overall I prefer the happier ones.

Sometimes when a book is too boring, I have a peek at the end how it goes, and sometimes that decides if I read the whole book or just the last few chapters. But usually I read the book properly.

[sherza]

I will admit to reading the end of stories.

Mostly when I'm in the mood for a 'Sirius Lives' story and it's a fifth year fic.

[Silvertongue]

The only book I've ever done it for is Inheritence, the last book from the Inheritence Cycle. I got my friend to tell me what happened after he'd read it because I couldn't be bothered to read Christopher Paolini's writing after years of waiting for that book when I'd heard it was a huge disappointment. I still haven't bothered to read it.

[Kitty279]

Jun 28, 2012 4:02:32 GMT -5 sherza said:

I will admit to reading the end of stories.

Mostly when I'm in the mood for a 'Sirius Lives' story and it's a fifth year fic.

For that, I often look at reviews, if they say anything about Sirius.

[brokenquill92]

I was eight and being the mega bookworm that I am I got bored with the American Girl series and decided to go for some fantasy books along with some Dear America: The Royal Diaries series (not the Princess Diaries eeeeewwwww) and Diana Wynn Jones books I came across a book with gold letters I picked it up and on the front there was a boy on a broom going after a ball I was intrigued I picked up with my twelve other books and went to check out

[blackroses77]

Jun 28, 2012 0:36:41 GMT -5 Kitty279 said:

Jun 27, 2012 15:06:01 GMT -5 kumainpink said:

Personally, I like bittersweet or tragic endings better. I don't know why, but the grim feeling of it makes the experience of it linger longer.

No, no, I am a sucker for happy endings! The world is bad enough, I want it to be right at least in my imagination

That's how I feel Kitty279 and that goes for movies too. If I want sad, depressing or tragic I'll watch the news or read the newspaper. When I read or watch a movie I want happy endings and to forget for a little while that the real world exists. Cause happy endings, they so don't exist in real life.

[bkaddictjk]

It was kind of odd...

My best friend was (and still is) a HP fan, and she kept telling me to read them, (I was born after the deathly Hallows came out so not waiting the night for the next book fun for me D:) and I didn't want to because the titles looked kinda scary (PRISONER of Azkaban, DEATHLY Hallows, HALF-BLOOD prince)

Then Mom decided that we had to spend the ENTIRE summer break of 4th grade in Korea, and I had to go to school... (we only have a month long summer break here, school in summer sucks)

So I brought OotP, DH, and GoF for reading. (I'm a fast-ish reader, so I brought the longest books for the summer)

Since keeping a bookworm that can hardly speak Korean in Korea for the Summer vacation where all the books were in Korean so she couldn't read them... not a smart idea... yeah, well, I read OotP first... and I got hooked

I don't get spoilers... even knowing exactly what will happen, I just still feel the same thrill every time I read a book. GoF has pages falling out, and is a complete mess right now, I think I have to replace that one with a new copy; but I still keep rereading it.

I read the HP series out of order : 5 - 7 - 4 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 6
The Movies : 5 - 4 - 1 - 2 - 6 - 7/2 - 7/1 - 3
My favorite one (in order, books) : 5 - 4 - 7 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 3
My favorite one (in order, movies) : 4 - 2 - 3 - 7/1 - 5 - 1 - 7/2 - 6

[mkatl1]

I first heard of them from my mum I read the first one and then I got the rest of them and read them my favorite one is goblet of fire

[basketsarah120]

My favorite is always and will always be POA. The rest I could care less about. And hate the fifth one the most.

[mkatl1]

So do I I hate ootp it's boring and dull

[Kitty279]

My favourite was and is PoA, and the ones I like the least is HBP. OotP comes a close second in wide parts of it.

[Silvertongue]

I read the HP series out of order : 5 - 7 - 4 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 6
The Movies : 5 - 4 - 1 - 2 - 6 - 7/2 - 7/1 - 3

I could never read a book series out of order. It wouldn't make any sense and I'd be missing important information and character dynamics if I did that and that's a big no-no for me.

The only films I've ever watched out of order were the latest Batman films. I saw Dark Knight first because I really wasn't interested in Batman but that film had awesome cars and motorbikes and the Joker looked cool so I watched that at the cinema, loved it, and went back to watch Batman Begins.

[mkatl1]

I read them in order! My favorite is number 4 then in order I like them 4'123,6,7 5

[bkaddictjk]

well idk why I understood the books even though I read them out of order... maybe b/c my best friend kept talking about them nonstop for about 2 years? Maybe I actually got what she was saying in my subconscious?

[bkaddictjk]

and how could you not like OotP? I like how Harry's becoming a teenager

[mkatl1]

I know but Sirius is one of my fav characters and he dies so I'm like devo :/ lol and I can't stand the umbridge character either she is one of my least fav's ..

[bkaddictjk]

I can get that, but for me... Sirius's death was the best part. *Ducks the bullet* Don't Shoot! Let me explain! I love him, I really do; but he's the one that really made Harry want total revenge on Voldemort, he never really knew his parents, you know?
Sirius's death made me cry, and Harry's reaction to it at the end was so hard for me, and I love to read it. It makes me feel grateful that I've never suffered like that.

As for Umbridge... well, you can't really say anything against what you said... no defense possible; she's a horrible hag... I just love to hate her

I love that book because it keeps playing around with my emotions, I guess

[Kitty279]

No, no, for me it was inexcusable to take away the only adult Harry ever trusted. Never cared for JKR's excuses for that, it was the last straw for me.

The OotP book annoyed me for a number of reasons - the was Harry was treated AGAIN after the trauma in the graveyard - off to an abusive so-called "home" and cut off, only allowed out there when he was attacked. Then Dumbledore ignored him, refused to tell him anything, eagerly supported by Molly, who wanted to treat all the teenagers, including the already adult twins, like babies. I was annoyed with Molly, who basically made him do the work of a house-elf as her idea of holiday and babied him so much. Then the mess with Umbitch - once again, the adults proved that they were useless through and through if they can't protect students from torture by a teacher. Or rather two, I never regarded these Occlumency lessons as acceptable, either. They all were harping on how Harry needs to keep his temper under control, when they themselves did everything possible to make him angry. Then the DoM debacle with Sirius's death. And to top it all off, Dumbledore used the worst possible moment to tell Harry about the Prophecy. No, I really disliked how that book went, or rather, it annoyed the heck out of me.

[physicssquid]

Book 5 was pretty much my least favourite of that series. My favourite is definitely book 7 with book 4 a close second. 1,2, 3 and 6 are in the middle somewhere.

I can't remember when I first came across the phenomenon that is the HP series, but I do know that I read the first three before GoF came out, and after I had bought that in paperback, I couldn't wait until OotP, HBP and DH came in paperback, so I bought them in hardback.
I've even had to replace my copies of all the books because I've read them so much my old copies fell apart. My hardback copy of DH is in the best condition, but even that is pretty grotty, with the spine hanging off and several pages falling out.

[bkaddictjk]

it's the way to tell if books were loved; by their condition...

I get why you'd hate OotP; you explained it nicely. What did you think of Cho? I don't like her much...

[physicssquid]

Cho was just a vapid little whore who was totally wrong for Harry. She was the most self-centred person in the entire series, even more so than Draco Malfoy.

[rikustark]

Both my mother and grandmother introduced me to the series when it first came out, but I was pretty young and didn't read much yet. So I formally introduced when they took me to see the 1st movie, and I completely fell in love with it.