new to HP books -- suggestions ???

[Carol]

 Geoff:
> > May I quote the excellent advice from the King to the White
> > Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland':
> > 
> > "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end;
> > then stop."
> >
 
> bboyminn:
> 
> As usual Geoff has got it right. You are making much too
> big a deal out of reading these books. 
> 
> Go to Walmart, or some similar story, get the paperback edition
> of the first book for roughly US$6.00 and read it. 
> 
> The worst that can happen is you will be entertained for 
> several hours. The best that can happen is you will fall in
> love with some very lovable, funny, and brave characters. 
> 
><snip>

Carol adds:

One thing that hasn't been mentioned: The reading level and complexity
of the books increase as the characters age. The early books are kids'
books that can be enjoyed by adults; the later books, and especially
the last two, aren't really kids' books at all, though they're
marketed as "young adult" fiction (meaning for ages twelve and up,
IIRC). If you don't like spoilers, I suggest avoiding discussion
groups, especially the main HPfGu list, until you've read all seven.
Then by all means come back and discuss them with us. 

Carol, who thinks that reading the books in any order other than
chronological would be a mistake