Hogwarts Live BlogI got into Harry Potter when the third book was already out. I would read the books during class. I was so adamant and unabashed about reading the books in class my math teacher would ask me how I was liking them (presumably to embarrass me and get me to focus on her lesson) and I would answer truthfully that they were awesome!
When the fourth book came out I was at a summer camp with a bunch of girls I liked. I ignored them and finished reading the fourth book. Seriously, I ignored girls for Harry Potter!
When the fifth book came out a really close childhood friend of mine who I hadn't seen in two years was visiting me. I read the book in front of him the whole first day he was visiting and then finished up on the second day when he was leaving. I haven't seen him since.
When the sixth book came out I had just started college and had tons of homework. Instead of doing my homework I picked up the book and read it nonstop until I was finished without even eating the whole day. To top it off my dad and little brother who lived more than one thousand miles away were visiting me at college and I ignored them along with my homework. I almost failed two classes because the projects that were due were supposed to be built upon as the quarter progressed.
When the seventh book came out I couldn't wait for my copy to arrive so I read the poorly photographed pages online before Amazon even shipped out my book. I had really bad eyestrain afterwards!
Without Harry Potter I'd have never gotten into fantasy. While I waited for each book to come out I would read loads of other magnificent fantasy books and I have Jo Rowling and her boy wizard to thank for that! I tried reading Lord of the Rings and Narnia when I was younger but didn't like them. After reading Harry Potter I grew to appreciate and even love them.
When I wasn't reading I was working on my Harry Potter websites. I would skip lunch at school to go to the library and use the computers to work on US Harry Potter (now the Harry Potter Friendship Network) and Hogwarts Live. I even skipped tons of parties and ignored many invitations from friends (some were rather attractive) just to work on improving these websites. I spent all four days of my fall break one time fixing all the textual errors on HL. And who even knows how much time I spent promoting HL on forums, chatrooms, search engines, directories, blogs, topsites, social networks, etc.
For the first whole year I ran HL I paid for all costs of operation until in the fall of 2005 after trying a myriad of advertisers and adding loads of stuff to the Prefect's Lounge I was finally able to cover monthly upkeep. Which, is a really good thing cause I had just moved out on my own to start college. This meant a bunch of new and very major living expenses and at the time HL's $80 a month hosting was a lot to someone who only worked part-time. So, thanks to your love of Harry Potter and many generous donations over the years HL will still have many magical times ahead of it.
How much do I love Harry Potter?
Responses 1 - 25 of 29 to "How much do I love Harry Potter?"
What an AWESOME story. :D
I joined HP fandom by sneakreading Books 1-3 by borrowing them off a grade-school classmate--my mum thought they were bad for my health x.x Then a teacher friend of ours convinced her that HP was really good for the literary mind (HAHAHA) and after that I was able to buy Book 4 for myself!
But then I got in trouble for reading HP while I was supposed to be studying violin. So no more buying HP books for me at home :( I read Book 5 in sekkrit again (borrowing time from the local library), time 2.5 hours; I read Book 6 in the bookstore of my college campus during summer orientation, time 3 hours; and I read Book 7 in the airport while waiting for a delayed flight AND at a Best Buy/Sam's club, total time 5 hours. And of course, during the wait for Book 7 I officially joined fandom by writing fanfiction and playing HL!
Sneaking around to enjoy fandom, story of my life, really.
I also read each book in less than 12 hours. I just couldn't put them down! The biggest mistake I made though while reading DH was reading it at 3 in the morning... I had a finals the next day... lets just say my mom and dad weren't to thrilled I wasn't studying... the put it in the safe at my house, locked the safe, and changed the code so I couldn't get it! :( I finally got it back a week later after finals were over... I was not very happy! LOL
What a great story!
My grandmother was actually the person who suggested I read Harry Potter so I did. I started just after the 6th book came out. Before then, I never liked reading. I got so into these books that when the 7th book came out, I was at the bookstore at midnight, got the book (won a few prizes for knowing so much about Harry Potter on the way) and rushed home to read it. I finished it in less then 12 hours..never put the book down during that time, and I was ridiculously hungry and tired when I had finished, but oh so satisfied haha.
Edmund, SerenityRose, MikeCrim, two of my roommates, and I were all at a Deathly Hallows midnight party in San Francisco. I even videotaped the event. I don't think the other fans liked me, at the time I was dressed like a frat boy and had short hair =P. I think they thought I was making fun of them (which I was lol). Also, a bunch of little kids attacked me with their wands while correcting my knowledge of Naruto. It's not my fault they can't pronounce Japanese words! I'm also pretty certain the girls I was flirting with were underage but we won't talk about that here... ^_^
Soo... you ditched life for Harry Potter books?
I can relate... I found the books around the time when the 3rd one came out. My sister was reading it and suggested she read the to me. We got through the first two in like, 3 days and I was insanely hooked. My teachers got angry at me for reading in class and my Mom for not doing my Homework, but of course it was all worth it. Probably the best moment (and Worst) was when I was reading Deathly Hallows. I was reading during Lunch after it came out and this annoying kid walked by me and yelled the ending. The events that followed I actually got 3 detentions for, but I was reading during them. :P
Danilo, you make me seem normal.
Hah, for a while yes. And I ditched life for video games and my world building before that (I enjoyed creating fantasy worlds before I enjoyed reading about them =P).
Here's a quote attributed to my younger self: "Books take us to far off places, where imagination runs rampant and the troubles of our world cease to be."
Also: "Sanity is overrated and normality is something scarcely found in reality."
I used to speak English good not so anymore =P. Don't correct my grammar or I'll eat you alive. ^^
Well, thanks for warning us English-freaks... I'm rather fond of breathing. Aren't books supposed to improve your English?
LoL, I like fantasy and getting away from the real world every now and again... but I quite fancy going out for some drinks with friends and gettin' crazy.
I have to agree with Danilo on this one...nothing beats a good half-hour in front of the computer, laughing your $!# off with your Internet buddies. ^^
GEEKS FOREVAH. o/
Not when you read mostly comic books and half of them are poorly translated from Japanese. Also, living in California will do a number on your vocabulary. In New Mexico my friends used a lot of big words in San Francisco you got singled out as a pretentious know-it-all or at least no one would want to talk to you for very long.
Try living in SoCal, where the main Vocabulary for where I live is,"Dude!, Bra! , Sick!" and thats it.. It is like stereotypical Southern California wrapped into one Town.
That's totally SoCal. I was born in LA and some of my classmates were from there. "Sup bra?"
"She was like upchucking everywhere last night."
A lot of the people I knew were part of the Oakland crowd so I'd more often hear stuff like "fo' shore fo' shore." =P
Oh heavens, I would die of the multitude of sighing I would do hearing these Californians then. The massacre of the Queen's English...*sighsighsigh* :P
That story sounds like me. While reading HP, I ignored a lot of people and work I should have been doing. And of course I dont regret it
I was 2 when it came out and when my mother read it to me.I spent most of my 4-6 year old life in the school bathrooms looking for the chamber of secrets .I never found it :(
Love the HP books , and movies and seriously LOVE THIS SITE !!!
that means that i was 2 as well, but i did not start reading 'till i was 8 i think.
Timewitch, I still look for it is antique bathrooms. :) Sometimes just make you feel alive... the pursuit of something unknown.
***Timewitch, I still look for it in antique bathrooms. :) Somethings just make you feel alive... like the pursuit of something unknown.
Sorry. That post was abysmal.
I'll admit out of all the books I've read I've never wanted to live in a world more than Harry Potter's. Probably cause out of all the books I've read it's the most similar to the real world. I get the best of both worlds. Magic and Technology. Other stories you only get technology or you only get magic. Of course there are SF stories where technology is so advanced its indistinguishable from magic but it's still not magic. =P
Since the last book came out, I have been in Potter starvation mode. I read all the fan fiction I can get my hands on, listen over and over on my Ipod to the books, and keep the addiction alive by continuing to expand my potter collection. My pride and joy? A real for live Chocolate Frog Card watch, limited edition,....No kidding! It comes in a Chinese take out box...lol...
Anyways...I hope JKR caves in to her obsession someday too. and writes the sequel or even the prequel...I would love to know more about the Marauders....she is a young woman, two yrs younger than me, so i know she has it in her...! Jo, if you read this, (you never know) we are still begging...Remember, Albus Severus is the one that interests you....WHY??????????????????????????????????
Hmm... I personally would not like a prequel or some sorta sequel. I'd rather she write something new. Personally, I think she went too far with the epilogue in book 7. I would have preferred it not to be included in the book at all. It didn't read well, seemed like an afterthought. I'm all for something like an encyclopedia or another charity book though.
Nice I read each book in 1 night and waitted 7 hours to get my copy of The Deathly Hallows