Which got you into Harry Potter? Options

[SiriusBlack]

Hey folks, Sirius Black here.I was just finishing watching the two movies for the how manyeth times.lol.Anyways, as I was watching, a question popped in my head as the usual.Which got you into Harry Potter: The books, or the movie?What I am trying to say is that, were you a fan before the movies were created?Or started being one WHEN the movies were created?Just curious.Bye!

[Absolut]

I refused to read or watch anything related to harry potter. About a week before the 2nd movie came out, i had nothing to read on a long flight, so i read the first book that my brother had. I had finished the first two by the end of the trip, watched the first movie, then watched the second movie in the theaters. Been in love since.

[ChimpBananers]

:lol: I remember my granmother asking me if I like Harry Potter, I was like "Eew, no!" And we have these things called Accelerated Reader in elemetary school, where you take a test on a certain book and get points depending on how hard the book was and how well you did on the test. Well, I had to keep up my reputation as the geeky 4th(?) grader and I couldn't find anything else so I grabbed the first one I could find: the Chamber of Secrets! By the end of the day, I had finished and I was hooked! I read the 2nd one, then the 4th, then 3rd, then 1st.

You know the really ironic thing? My grandma started this whole thing, bought me everything from books to the "action figures" and about a year or two ago I heard her talking to my mom about how worried she is about my sudden freaky obsession...

[baty4potter]

I was into Harry Potter almost from the beginning when it hit the States. I saw JK's first appearance on the Rosie show, and went right out and got SS. Been hooked ever since.

[WickedWitchOfThe...]

The books are what hooked me. My sis-in-law and I were talking one day and she mentioned that she thought I'd like them. She had known about them cause she is a teacher. Well, she lent me SS and I told her I'd start reading it and let her know what I thought of it when I finished it. Later that day after she had left I picked it up and couldn't put it down. As soon as I finished it I called her up and asked her if she could bring the next three over ASAP. :lol: Two days later she came back with COS, POA and GOF in hand. The next day I told her I had finished and asked when the next one was coming out. She said she didn't know so I went online to try and find out. That's when my life became fully occupied with the world of Potter. Now I am online nearly everyday and everytime I come online, it's Potter-related in one way or another. ;)

She is well aware of the monster she has created. :D :toofunny: On a very good note though, at least we were able to go get OOTP together. So even if we never get to go to another Midnight release together, at least we got that one. The first new Potter book released since we both had become hooked. :D

Since then I've been able to convince my sister to read them, and even though she likes them, she isn't as obsessed as I am. :D And now my mom has them all, though she has yet to pass pg. 60 in SS. She bought the first four in Paperback. When OOTP was released in paperback, I happened to be living with her and made sure she acquired that one as well. ;)

Now if I could just get my Grandmother to read them............ :lol: ;)

[srivathsan]

i was actually against anything HP when i was in 9th grade,i.e., in 2001. one of my frineds who used to accompany me on the bus home from school daily used to read them in the bus to pass the time. i thought HP was one of those things where it is all hype and no substance. i used to scold him for reading something just because it was a bestseller and evryone speaks about it. once he got bugged and gave me SS to read. when i started i wasn't interested. to be frank, i was prejudiced against it. so i read as slow as possible. and i lost my patience before i reached the 'diagon alley' chapter. ironically, my brother who is a very voracious reader read it and told me to continue and finish the book. when i got to the part where mr. ollivander sold harry's wand to him, i don't know what happened, there was some kind of revelation inside me and i finished the book that very day!!!!!
now my friend and my brother both regret their actions for the devil they've created. even now my mom is calling me to drink something she has made and i'm turning a deaf ear to her.....no i gotta rush or i'm gonna have it!!! :lol:
:gandalf:

[Nina79]

I saw PS/SS at home (on one of our move-channels) and CoS (at my sis and her boyfriends) in the summer of '03 (june-july), and I got hooked. I bought the four first books and read them in two weeks (july). I ordered the dvd's in august same year. In '04 I bought OotP and all the english books, and QTTA and FBAWTFT in both swedish and english. And then it was PoA at the theaters four times, and dvd in november, and now it is HBP in july (and maybe the swedish around christmas) and GoF on the theaters in november. :)

[chapovalverde]

A classmate told me about the PS a couple of months after it came out (don't know exactly when, maybe 6 years ago here in Spain), and i got it for Christmas.
I read it in one day.
I was amazed by it, which was difficult if you consider i read the LOTR about 3 months before the PS. But it touched me so deeply that today I still tell my classmate (when I see him) "thank you" a million times.
The CoS came quite soon compared with Ps due to the previous success, and I', ve bought all the books in the first week since their release. Well, a friend of muy parents gave me a copy of OotP before it came here, but it was photocopied and in a sort of strange mexican and english, which was quite disappointing. I got the original one later and found out how good it really is.

So the books where what introduced me in HP's world and, although all my friends are always annoying me because I like it, I'm very happy of once taking PS and began to read it.

One more thing. Reading in these forums and editorials about HP has shown me how lucky are you people to have them in English, with the words JKR exactly wrote, because certain situations and dialogues between H/R/Hr aren't the same asi they skip to many details during the translation (...eyes that shine with glee...,... briskly(all its acceptions)..., etc.). I guess one day I'll buy them in VO, but for the moment my parents aren't very willing and i haven't t too much money saved.
:(

[Perseus_Evans]

I didn't get into HP until the first movie was out, mostly because I'd had an image of the stories being only for kids. But after the movie, I read the books pretty much cover to cover to cover to cover, and was waiting very impatiently afterward for OotP. It was in the midst of my LOTR fervor as well, although in that case, the book had me first.

Part of me wishes I'd read the books before seeing the TSS/TPS, but if there hadn't been a movie, I might not have known what I was missing. This may contribute to my willingness to forgive the movie companies for their paring down of the stories. B)

But in any case, JKR has impressed me very much in her writing, which is so intuitive, accessible and unpretentious. I will always reread the books, much as I do with Tolkien's LOTR, and the Silmarillion, periodically. Hopefully, after book 7, she'll continue writing within this world she's created. It doesn't have to be about Harry, of course, because she'll likely have ruled that out, but maybe something set in the history of Hogwarts. I can dream. :clap: :hogwarts:

[cruticus]

I like this discussion. So warm and fuzzy. Anyway, i got addicted with both books and movies. it started when i just read COS, then i read GOF, POA and then PS. So my order was all over the place. As soon as PS movie came out, i rushed out with a friend and saw the movie. I think from then, i read from PS-GOF and was addicted. my friend on the other hand, just said he will see the movies and thats it. I'm like, thats your choice. So i'm the Potter freak and now people i go to school with are telling me to get over it.

I know its an obesssion, but a good one. Like WWW, i pulely go onto the net Potter related. Always these boards, always HPP, posting, writing up the newsletter...the works...btw, i wear a potter watch. thats how obsessed i am and i dont know if i will ever get over Potter, but if i do, i have no idea when. :P

[Hallie]

You know, I don't truely remeber how I got hooked. I remember one of my teachers playing one of them on tape, but when they first came out I didn't even like reading, judging by the publication date I was only like 7 or 8 when they came out. How I got hooked is a complete blur to me. (digs through memory) I do however remember buying cos at sam's club and that is about as far back as my mind will go. so I am going to go with the teacher reading them to me.

[sweetsixteen]

My mum bought PS when it came out about 7 years ago I suppose. Got hooked. Thats the story..the rest is history...or present...

[beyond the veil]

[WickedWitchOfThe...]

[sweetsixteen]

[HiddenFlame42]

Okay, very long post here, but oh well...

I remember that when the HP hype first started up here, I was still very much under the impression that they were little kids fairy tales books. :crazy: *blah, I'm not going to waste my time on those dumb kids books* Or so I thought....

I went to see the first movie with a bunch of friends about a week or so after it came out in November/December-ish 2001 and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that I went and either borrowed the books from the library or from a friend, I can remember which, and had them all finished by February, when I got books 1-4 for my birthday. :D

I didn't really get into the whole HP hype until the summer of 2003, after I'd read books 1-4, seen the first two movies and finally gotten my hands on OoTP. My friend brought it back for me from her vacation to the UK where she could get it cheaper and I sat down in the middle of her bed and began to read, without so much as a hello! :P (it's okay, she understands my obession!!) I finished it in 12 hours.

That summer I started reading and writing a lot of FanFiction and anxiously awaiting both the PoA movie and Book6. I eagerly went to see PoA this past Spring and found it the best one yet, despite the incongruity with the actual books. I also bought JKR's two Comic Relief books this summer along with some other non-official books about the HP world.

I started up on the boards this past November, sick of finding everything out way later than everyone else and dying to discuss my theories with other people. (My poor unclutured friends aren't as into HP as I am...) My Favorites list on my computer is almost solidly HP-related. It's quite scary really!! :P

So yes, that is the story of my conversion everyone!! :P From HP skeptic to HP-aholic. A very good conversion if you ask me!! :hogwarts:

EDIT: To make it short, it was the first film.

This post has been edited by HiddenFlame42: Feb 9 2005, 11:51 AM

[srivathsan]

i've converted as many people as possible to HP fans in my family and frineds circle. i've converted two of my aunts. one of them is well beyond 65 years old and she just loves them! she's reading OOTP now(almost finished). the other one hasread till GOF. she says it's the best till date. ahe used to call me up after every part she found very special in GOF to discuss the book with me. and she gushed over it all the way! i've converted my sis, two of my cousins(they haven't read the books, but they have me as a source of info! they say they're satisfied with the movies) and another cousin (she was reading OOTP the night before her math exam....i've accomlished something there! :lol: )
in my friends circle, quite a few. they have all read the books.
:gandalf:

[HiddenFlame42]

I've just recently converted my Mom to the series!! *be proud* She's seen all 3 films and has read the first 3 books as well and enjoyed all of it. I've loved being her Potter-guru and I'm trying to get her to read GoF, telling her it's the best one - but she hates Quidditch, so there goes half of the book! lol

[ChimpBananers]

Aww, she hates quidditch? Wait till she watches the fourth movie! I am quite proud of you HiddenFlame, :clap: :clap: :clap:

[srivathsan]

off topic, but hiddenflame did you know that guru is an indian word for teacher? just wanted to say so! :D
:gandalf: