Wherein I, a Harry Potter Virgin of the novels, reads Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II. To the hashtag twitter excitement of at least one friend. #HPVirgin
I was not one of the readers who fell in love with Harry Potter when it was released. A friend sent it to me when it was released in the UK because she thought I’d love it and we could hears that love together.
She was sorely disappointed.
That said I do enjoy aspects of HP – the world is interesting, the fandom is hella creative and I will be a Slytherin for life. Also I enjoyed the movies but that’s mostly due to this handsome guy:
And the Weasley Twins. And ok sometimes Hermione.
However after reading the most spoilery post ever found on Tumblr (and that’s saying something) about the Cursed Child’s entire plot…I found myself thinking “Now this is something I want to read!”. I really don’t like Harry. I find him to be dull and whiny and a true threat to common sense. His kid Albus though? And Draco’s kid Scorpius? THEY ARE MY KIND OF PEOPLE.
So I am embarking on what I like to christian “Chronicles of a Harry Potter Virgin” in which I will read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and live tweet my reactions. I’ll do my best to keep it spoiler free of course – though do NOT complain to me if you get a spoiler for the original series all right? That’s just stupid. Of course you’ll be spoiled. This is set twenty-two years later!
Join me as I go along using hashtag #HPVirgin. At the end of my read I’ll choose one commentor (whether here or via twitter) to win a Harry Potter Prize Pack (contents to be determined, but a copy of the first book illustrated & the Cursed Child will be included).
This should be delightfully fun don’t you think?
For the Sake of Reading 
I will always love HP because it got my oldest child into reading. I starting reading the first one to him when he was 8 hoping to find something he’d like and maybe to get his reading grade up via accelerated reader points. He loved it so much he reread it tand then proceeded to read the next 3 or 4 back to back.
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A lot of my friends have similar stories – I think any book that gets kids reading is a good thing (heck I praise Twilight sometimes for getting YA to the point it is now), I just honestly am bewildered by how popular it is. I suppose since I never connected with Harry that was part of the issue.
–Lexie
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Personally I think you’re being a little harsh on Harry but to be fair I’ve been an HP fanboy since I was 12. Either way, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to get to know some other characters from the series universe.
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Ahh well plenty of folks find my opinion to be harsh (lost at least one friend over it), but that’s just how he seems to me from everything I’ve read about him in the books, how they portrayed him in the movies and what bits I’ve read of the novels. CC is not endearing him to me either -.-
–Lexie
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I was a junior in college (fall of 2010) when I first read HP and the Sorcerer’s Stone, after years of resisting getting sucked in. I knew that I had to read the second one for a children’s literature class, and I figured it would be stupid to read the 2nd without having read the 1st. My plan was to read the 1st one in the fall, so I’d be ready to read the 2nd one for my class the next spring. Yeah, right – there was no way I was waiting until the spring to read the 2nd one! I proceeded to devour the next six books that semester (and still managed to maintain As in all my classes!), finishing them all in time to go see HP 7 Part 1 in theaters opening night . Harry’s not my favorite character (Hermione for the win!), but I liked him.
I’m pretty excited too about Tom Felton being in The Flash!
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SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE SLYTHERIN. As a Slytherclaw, I always felt oddly… bored and contemptuous of Harry and his stumbling. But I suppose that means it leaves a lot of room for character growth. The twins were always my favorite characters until Luna came along: a girl after my own heart. I encountered the books in fourth grade when a sixth grade friend of mine told me about them, and since then I was hooked. It was so very sad on the night of the premiere of the last movie… we cried in the lineup, because it felt like the end of an era. Who knew there’d be more?! Alas, its been a bit of a hard month on my budget so I haven’t had time or money to purchase a copy of the latest installment yet. I look forward to seeing your reactions to the book!
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My wife and I really enjoy the Harry Potter franchise. We’ve both seen all the movies. I’ve read a few of the books, but she has read them all. We’ve always went down to Orlando, Florida to check out the Harry Potter attractions in Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure.
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