3.) October is National Book Month, tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.
I’m in a reading slump and it’s Harry Potter’s fault.
I decided I NEEDED to read the Harry Potter series. It came out when I was about a Senior in high school so I certainly wasn’t interested in reading about a boy wizard at that time.
Children everywhere loved and now it has such a huge cult following that I felt like I couldn’t be a true reading enthusiast if I didn’t stick the Harry Potter series under my belt. (I could write a whole blog post about classics I’m ashamed I’ve never read).
Book One I found to be babyish even for young adult lit, but it picked up near the end. I feel like I got to know the characters. The groundwork was laid out for me.
I moved on to Book Two and I was a little frustrated with it. Why is Harry getting into so much damn trouble? If he would just hang out with his friends and study, we could eliminate so much friction. He can’t help, but go digging around for trouble and it drives me crazy.
Enter book three. I am about 150 pages in and I’ve been “reading” it since the beginning of summer. I know my reading slump is Harry’s fault because when I flew to Hawaii I devoured three books that had nothing to do with Hogwarts.
When I returned home, I did get too busy too read regularly so I’ve been nibbling away at a couple pages every couple days. The thing is, when I’ve got a book I love? I find the time for it even when I get too busy.
I decided I needed a second book on my Kindle to alleviate the pressure on myself to read Harry all the time, but the problem is I downloaded the Game of Thrones.
I’ve never watched the show and everyone loves it so I thought downloading the first book of the bajillion paged series was going to get me reading again. I’m about 50 pages into it and currently avoiding my Kindle altogether.
So I’m stuck. I reallllly want to love the whole Harry Potter series so I don’t want to give up on it, but he’s also super annoying. Does he stop being annoying? I don’t want to give up on these books, but should I give up on these books?
Morgan says
Finally!! Someone else that has never watched Game of Thrones. I was thinking about reading the books before watching the show also, but now I’m having second thoughts.
I did almost make it through the entire Harry Potter Series a few years ago. I didn’t finish the last book…it’s still hanging out somewhere in my house. :)
Tarra says
I’m in the camp of not finishing a book if you aren’t enjoying it. Too many times in high school and college were we forced to read things we didn’t enjoy. As adults, we should read what we WANT to read. If I don’t like a book I try to give it 50ish pages and then if I don’t like it I don’t feel guilty for quitting. That being said, I made it through the first four Harry Potter books in highschool. I really enjoyed those four but when I got to the fifth book (The Order of the Phoenix), it got too dark and depressing for my taste. I have the other books but have never read them (watched the movies to see how it all ended, lol). I’m also not a huge fan of the “fantasy” genre overall though so maybe that was part of it too?
Beverly Nickerson says
I did read the 1st Harry Potter book. It was entertaining, but I never bothered with the rest. I’m really not that interested in witch themed things. My favorite book is called “My Blue Castle” by L.M Montgomery. It’s just one story, not a series. A charming ugly ducking becomes a swan story.
Gigi says
I love Harry Potter, so I would suggest you keep going but….I’ve been in that situation with other book series – drop it if isn’t working for you. Life is far too short to struggle to read a book or series that you feel you *should* read but don’t enjoy.
Angie says
I bought the Game of Thrones books because I’d heard such good things about the series. I was bored out of my mind. And I start getting annoyed at the writer and even the characters if I read more than one or two books in a row. Fill in between the Harry Potter books with anything from J.D. Robb (pen name for Nora Roberts for a fabulous series!) or a Katie McGarry, Lisa Tapp, Joan Kayse, or Tina DC Hayes. Mix it up a bit!
Kelly Mahan says
Believe it or not, I’ve never read the Harry Potter books nor have watched the movies. But I do intend on starting the series sometime soon!
John Holton says
I read all the Harry Potter books back when they were a “thing,” and now that you mention it, he’s an annoying little bastard, isn’t he? All of them are–Ron, Hermione, Dumbledork, Hagrid, Snape…. Actually I think it’s just JK Rowling that’s annoying and she infected her characters with it.