Why did we start reading the books?

[Heather Hettick]

No: HPFGUIDX 22420

> -- MmeBurgess at aol.com wrote:
> So, I'm just curious as to how/why/how long other
> people read the
> series.  Does anyone have any really cool story?  I
> know mine is not,
> I just happen to love books and got hooked.
>
> Angela

Popular stuff marketed to kids has usually turned me off even when I was a
kid, and I pretty much ignored the HP phenomenon until fall of 2000.  I
noticed a few references on knitting lists I am on about patterns for a HP
Griffindor lion sweater to make as Christmas gifts for young HP fans, but
this just confirmed to me that it was just a silly kid fad.

A co-worker whose opinion I respect suggested the books when we were
discussing good books to read and it sparked my interest, but I still didn't
really understand what they were all about and why they are so popular.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I decided to start the series and borrowed
SS/PS from our library at work. (The librarian was pretty enthusiastic about
the books as well.)  By Christmas I was on CoS and I had to wait for my
co-worker to finish GoF after New Years, but read it in three days over my
lunch hours and after work, somewhat ignoring my husband and 3 year old
daughter and losing some sleep.

I now have influenced one of my sisters and my mother to read HP and my
husband has promised to at least read PS/SS before the movie comes out. (The
second trailer really sparked his interest.) Now, I own all the books in the
American versions and have the first 3 paperbacks in the British versions
and my sister is bringing me the fourth one when she visits from Germany in
September.  My co-worker and I plan on taking off half a day to see the
movie and we're trying to get our boss to read PS/SS too.  My daughter
doesn't really know the stories, but recognizes HP and was definitely one of
those who yelled "Mommy, they made a movie out of Harry Potter!!" when
seeing the trailer at the theatre.

Heather Hettick  (spinning the yarn for my Griffindor sweater)