@internrachel @julia1

Hey guys!

So, I saw the Harry Potter movie last Saturday, and I decided it would be fun to reread the books! Like, all of them! So I did. (309, 341, 317, 734, 870, 652, and 759 pages, individually, and 3,982 pages total!)

On the whole, it was a really strange experience. I had read the books when I was much younger and hadn’t really picked them up again since the seventh came out. It was in the earlier books how much younger the characters seemed–I could still remember distinctly being in awe of how much older they were.

I was also intrigued by all that I had missed in the dozens of times I had read the books when I was younger–it was strange seeing the true complexities of things I had glossed over, and it was stranger still to realized I hadn’t understood it then.
Especially in Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, what really struck me was Harry’s progression towards the realization that adults he revered were not in fact perfect, and that Voldemort himself was a complex and greatly flawed person.

The writing itself, naturally, wasn’t as strong as I had remembered, but I have a feeling that’s simply a matter of a changing palate–compared to most chapter books, I remember thinking Harry Potter was exceptionally written, but Rowling’s writing, especially in the first few books, seemed fairly basic on this reading.

Rereading Harry Potter was really really fun, even though I’m excited to get back to my regular fare. And I think I’ve set a new personal record for shortest time to finish the series yet!