30 Days of Harry Potter (Day 15 - AReader'sRamblings)

Wow! I can't believe we're half way through 30 Days of Harry Potter and it's only four more days until the premiere of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows! Time really flies when you're talking Harry Potter, huh?

Today, we have Kate from A Reader's Ramblings on the blog. Let's all welcome her!

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It’s hard to know where to start with Harry Potter. If you think about it, it seems like it has always been part of the pop culture, but it hasn’t. I suppose the best place to start, for me at least, it at the beginning. And the beginning of my Harry Potter love began with a whole lot of Harry Potter dislike. It goes something like this:

When I was in High School and even into college my Dad and I would go to the movies once a month. One particular month we couldn’t decide which movie to see, Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I was all for LOTR, one of my all time favorite books, how could you not want to see that? My Dad on the other hand, while a LOTR fan, was a huge Harry Potter fan and wanted to see that. I hadn’t read the books yet, and to be honest, I thought they looked kind of stupid and thought they were for kids (younger ones then my very mature, just graduated, on my way to college self). So we struck a deal- we’d do both. Back to back movie marathon. LOTR first followed by Harry Potter. I walked out of there thinking I was right, LOTR was the way to go. Harry Potter was, well, good, but it was not Fellowship of the Rings.

After much cajoling by my dad (“You have to read the book, so much better then the movie”) I picked the book up. You know what happens next right? I was hooked. Lucky for me, by this time the first 4 books were out, so I ran out and bought them. Then I discovered, much to my dismay, that there were more books to come. Books I would have to wait for!

And then there are the movies. Sure, that first one wasn’t a masterpiece, but they keep getting better. Each one more artistic, more real, and the acting more polished and believable. These actors are the characters now. The waiting is hard. First for the books, and now for the last two movies. Worth it though right?

These have become more then books and movies for me, and I suspect it’s the same for others who have grown up with them. They are moments. The moment you first picked up the book or saw the movie and fell in love with a place called Hogwarts. The moment you realized that you and you sister finally have something in common, and surprise, it’s a book about a boy wizard named Harry. The moment you realized that you had to be at the midnight showing, because you couldn’t wait even a minute longer to visit with Hermione and Ron again. The moment you picked up The Deathly Hallows and knew it was almost the end. The moment you closed that last page, tears in your eyes, and realized that Rowling had done it, that it was over. The moment you came to the conclusion that these books were a part of you, that Harry and Ron, Hermione and Ginny, Luna and Neville had grown up, and if they had, then so had you. They are more than books, they are a part of my life, and even though it’s almost over, they will still be there, to pick up and revisit, like a good friend.
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What an amazing guest post! Very thoughtful and insightful. I almost got tears in my eyes.

You can visit Kate at her BLOG and follow her too! :D
Thanks again, Kate!

Happy Reading and I'll see you tomorrow!