Bookworm Update: I'm finally reading Harry Potter...at 22

I call myself a book nerd. Reading is a huge part of my life and who I am. I've read so many books that I find myself talking more about what I have read than what I want to read at the bookstore.

I'm 22 and just started reading Harry Potter for the first time.

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Now, I understand the judgement, and maybe shock. Me, a true bookworm, reading one of, if not the, most massive franchises of all time in 2019??

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in July 2007. It's July 2019, and I'm halfway through Goblet of Fire. That only makes me....12 years late.

I have my reasons, of course. I wanted to understand and enjoy the books! 10 years old was too young to appreciate the story! I wouldn't fully grasp what was going on until I got older!

Now, mind you, I filled my time with other books. None of which were (obviously) as popular as the Harry Potter franchise. Why wait?

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Not sure. But the point is, I made it. I'm reading Harry Potter for the first time in 2019.

I would describe the experience as super strange. I've seen the movies dozens of times. I know the story. I am a casual fan. I can’t recite everything about the wizarding world, but I will watch a movie if it’s on.

Of course I believed everyone when they said there was so much more in the books than the movies, I'm a book nerd. I know what it's like to turn a wonderful book into a good movie but be conflicted because it's different than the book which you fell in love with.

I just didn't know how different.

J. K. Rowling does this thing where she makes time feel like no time. Though I'm about halfway through the books (the later books are so big, so I'm not halfway through the story), I understand why they've been engrossing the world for the last almost two decades. I've transported myself to Hogwarts each time I've opened the books. And they’re just so easy to read.

I'm not sure if this notion I already have in my head of the movies changes the way I'm reading the books (I'm sure at some level it does), but I often get hung-up on the small details, like appearance differences. The one sticking out to me most is Karkaroff. In the movies he was a brute with a shag of dark hair and dark features. In the books, he’s tall and slim with light hair. At least they got the goatee right.

Oh and Dudley has blonde hair. That I can’t understand, just because I cannot get the picture of him with brown hair out of my head. Though the Dursley clan is awful in the movies, I never got the full grasp of just how terrible they were until I read the books. Yeah, I know they abused Harry and starved him and locked him in a closet under the stairs. Yeah, I know that’s bad. But somehow in the books, to read it, it’s just…worse.

One thing that is so huge to me as a fan of the movies is that we don’t know much about what’s going on with Harry and Voldemort. We all remember that strange scene with baby Voldy under the random bench in Harry’s consciousness (kinda bc he’s dead but not dead) where Dumbledore tells Harry that is a part of Voldy’s soul that lived in him, sent to die, or whatever. I remember watching the scene like ????????!!!!!!, but you get a sneak peek of this (when Dumbledore tells Harry him and Voldemort are connected) in book TWO. That was movie EIGHT. And that same movie where Snape reveals it in his crying-memory-tears and Harry is like “????!!!.” Same.

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Anyone like Shakespeare? Just me? Fair. My favorite Shakespeare character, Puck, is the jokester (and star) of the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Just like how Midsummer would be nothing without the jokester Puck, I think the HP movies lost out on a great opportunity not including Peeves in the plotline. Though I find him extremely annoying but admire Dumbledore’s insistence to allow all magical creatures at Hogwarts (another missing storyline in the movies: SPEW!), he would’ve been a lot of fun to have around. He literally just floated around terrorizing the castle. Imagine the laughs he could’ve gotten in a theater of kids!

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A hidden gem in the books is Hedwig. I have never read about an animal that can’t talk that has such attitude. Every scene with her I laugh, just because she is so sassy and funny. We must protect her at all costs…until, well…yeah.

I look forward to a few more things being explained in the books:

1.     Why is Snape being the Half-Blood Prince not………..surprising? I remember him revealing it in the movie and I was like “Oh, ok.” I want DETAILS.

2.     The whole Order of the Phoenix is confusing. I look forward to (hopefully) better understanding and remembering more about that movie than just the orbs. Also, that movie terrified me when I first watched it.

3.     I want to know more about Horcruxes. The movies did a good job explaining what they are (considering I didn’t read the books but understood), but the books I think will go into much greater detail about that part of the story. We shall see.

I recommend, even if you don't like reading, to pick up the first book and give it a try. Don't wait any longer. Though it may feel odd since you know the basis of the plot if you’ve seen the movies, I promise, you don't know nearly as much as you think you do.

So, what do you think? Do you remember reading the Harry Potter books? Anything they left out in the movies that you’re upset about? Are you #TeamGreenEyes or #TeamBlueEyes? Let us know below!

-Emily, TGYK

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