Which Book Should I start With?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 90667

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "drjuliehoward"
<drjuliehoward at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Josh" <josh24yo at y...> wrote:
> > I am the type of person that normally does not read a book AFTER I 
> have 
> > already seen the movie. I have already seen the first two Harry 
> Potter 
> > movies, but have never read any of the books. Will I miss anything 
> if I 
> > start out by reading the 3rd novel?
> > 
> > Josh
> 
> I saw the movies then read book 3.  I either read 4 then 1 and 2 or 
> 1 and 2 then read 4.  It definitely was out of order.  Although I 
> have been able to piece everything together, I recommend starting 
> from the beginning.  The books do go into more detail and the story 
> flows better.  
> 
> Julie -- who usually is out of order in just about everything anyway!

Carol:
There are other reasons to start from the beginning and read the books
in order. One is to clear your head of what we call "movie
contamination." A character may do or say something in one of the
films that he doesn't do or say in the book, and you may find yourself
confused because what you think you know about that character isn't
consistent with Rowling's depiction of that character in the third book.

The movies, because they are a different medium from the books,
condense, alter, or omit scenes and dialogue, and occasionally even
add scenes or conversations (the scene welcoming back Hagrid at the
end of the film version of CoS is probably the most blatant example of
the films getting it "wrong" from the perspective of us book fans).

And there are other things--JkR's sense of humor or her manipulation
of the point of view so that we're sometimes tricked into interpreting
events as Harry does--that you just can't get from a film, even if it
were as faithful as possible to the book.

So I strongly suggest starting over from the beginning as if you'd
never seen the films. You won't be worried about plot
surprises--you'll know from the moment you see Quirrell what his fate
is going to be, for example--but you can pay attention to other
things, like the clues (and red herrings) that JKR drops,
mystery-writer style, into the narrative--or the way she depicts
Snape, who's a lot more complex than a casual reading of Book one (or
a viewing of the films) might show him to be--or the ways the
characters develop and the themes and style become more complex (and
darkder) as the series progresses.

The best way to see all this is to start with Book One and read the
books in order, with open eyes.

Carol