Potter maniac

I had never been a big Harry Potter fan, and I remember coming across Pottermania for the first time and mistaking the whole series as a classic which I had never heard of. This was probably just after the second book or so. Then the whole phenomenon started becoming quite big and I ended up starting with the first book when I was in my first or second year of college. I was completely impressed with how a book could be so interesting to so many people of so many ages, and such varied reading interests and experiences. I went on to read the next couple of books and hit my plateau with the Azkaban one. This was in one way a good thing as it turns out, that book was and still is my favorite. I remember watching the movies and coming off not too impressed initially.

I did not try to follow-up with the later books for several years, and the general opinion that the Goblet and Phoenix were in fact quite lengthy and boring did not help either. I was watching most of the movie versions coming out though (missed Goblet when it came out). Now that I think back on it, it was all for the good. When I did watch those movies when it came out, I never did appreciate them, nor would have even if I had read the books.

I watched the Half-blood prince and remember vaguely liking it. However, I could not pick up the thread a year later when I watched the 'Deathly Hallows Part I'. Since the 'Deathly Hallows' was so confusing, I went back to watching the movies (on my iPod on a long flight to India). Again watching the movies somehow did not satisfy my appetite and my appetite was indeed growing quite fast. Now that its been quite a while that I have gotten back into reading, especially since I need to justify the expensive Kindle, I have once again gotten stuck with the thought of where to go with my reading. I ended up picking up from where I left it earlier with the Goblet, and at the same time picking up from the first movie.

Re-reading the books and re-watching the movies have really made me a Potter-maniac. Of both the books and the movies my favorite would be The Prisoner of Azkaban. The movie was especially good in my opinion, with the most visually appealing and smooth story telling. The worst in my opinion would be The goblet, with the movie neither visually appealing, nor telling the story well. The Half Blood Prince came close, with both the movie and book being appealing. The best characters in the movies in my opinion are Snape and Loona Lovegood. Emma Watson is amazing in most films in the series. The last three movies were deep, slow and smooth, not rushing ahead with the story and giving time for us to understand the characters. I cannot wait for the last part to come out. I am now a potter maniac.

Harry Potter might not be the coolest of movies to be a big fan of, but thats practically the only one we've got.