It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these! But in honor of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and our upcoming Young Adult Appreciation Month, we thought it would be a good time to spark the tradition once more. (And yes, we will definitely try to have our joint review of HP6 tonight/early tomorrow!)
For this week’s ponderings:
Which Harry Potter Book (and/or Movie) is Your Favorite?
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone (UK: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone)
Why we love this book: It introduces us to the wonders of the Harry Potter world! Flying Brooms! Hogwarts! Quidditch! Hedwig! Professor Dumbledore! Hagrid! Ron and Hermione! Words like Muggles! He Who Shall Not Be Named! Not to mention this ridiculously cute, poor orphan living under the stairs who gets the chance to become something else. Awesome.
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
Why we love this book: More Hogwarts! The Whomping Willow. Professor Gildroy Lockhart. Polyjuice potion. Dobby!!!!! Moaning Myrtle. Aragog (shudder). The Basilisk (more shuddering). Tom Marvolo Riddle – aka I am Lord Voldermot! Ginny (aww) and Fawkes (aww).
Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban
Why we love this book: Two simple names: Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. We don’t need to say anything else except perhaps that Time Travel kicks ass, as do hippogriffs. And Dementors are scary. And the Maurader’s Map is cool too. And Hermoine is so totally awesome in this book.
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
Why we love this book: Hello, Quidditch World Cup! Cedric Diggory. Jealous Ron. Professor (not)Moody. Avada Kedavra in action (sob). The Death Eaters! The Triwizard Tournament. The return of the Dark Lord.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Why we love this book: Luna Lovegood. The Order of the Phoenix (part deux). Dumbledore’s Army. Belatrix Lestrange. Tonks. Dolores Umbrige. Fred and George at their very, very best.
And of course, the last scene in the Department of Mysteries and dear Sirius Black.
Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince
Why we love this book: The Unbreakable Vow. Snape. Snape. SNAPE! Ginny and Harry. The Horcruxes. Young creepy Tom Riddle. Dumbledore. Apparating. Zombies. SNAPE.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Why we love this book: Because it is the last book and it wraps everything up and because we cried like babies (Ana: Well, I did) (Thea: I did too, come on. DOBBY! KREATURE! The Weasleys! GUH!) at the finality and grimness of it all. Because of Snape. Because good can triumph over evil. Because of Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny. Because Mrs. Weasley kicks ass. Because things never would have been the same without House Elves…and because of the final horcrux.
25 Comments
Ana
July 18, 2009 at 12:56 amOK. I want to read the books again . NOW. I am always torn between Azkaban (come on, Sirius Black is fully awesome) and Deathly Hallows. I don’t think I ever cried as much as I cried when *SPOILER ALERT* Dobby died *END SPOILER* 😥 😥
I just adore this series.
Bridget Locke
July 18, 2009 at 1:04 amI’ve never read a book that put me thru the emotional wringer like The Deathly Hollows. It KILLED me. The end. I had goose bumps.
I think the thing that kept me going was how…real she made the characters. The writing might not have been the greatest at times, but throughout it all, she made the characters real and THAT is why I love Harry Potter. 😀
Tiffany M.
July 18, 2009 at 1:05 amMy favorite book was the fifth one (last time I read through). I loved the amount of information given in it. My favorite movie is the third one (b/c I love the director and his creativity). The third book is my second favorite because of the time traveling and Sirius Black, so it also plays into my liking of the third movie (though I don’t think it was the best).
Tiffany M.
July 18, 2009 at 1:07 amoh! and I loved the chapter in the fifth book called (paraphrasing), “Snape’s worst memory.” I had to reread it a couple times before moving on with the story. Then when I finished, I reread it again.
heidenkind
July 18, 2009 at 1:36 amMy favorite of all the books was probably the fifth one. It felt like a letter filling you in on what all your friends were up to. 🙂 The second book is a close second, though–I have a fondness for books about books.
katiebabs
July 18, 2009 at 4:49 amOh, should I start reading HP? *Tilts head to side and wonders*
😆
April
July 18, 2009 at 8:35 amI agree with favorite movie being the Prisoner of Azkaban because of art direction and being the movie that most closely resembles the book.
But favorite book is hard to choose. I started crying somewhere in the last quarter of the last book and couldn’t stop. I knew it was coming to an end and we would see an end of some beloved characters, and because I just LOVED that world so much and I didn’t want it to be over.
danielle
July 18, 2009 at 8:51 ambook three. definetly. minimal character deaths, Sirius!frikken!Black! plus, it stops getting a bit cutesy and starts getting darker
Lusty Reader
July 18, 2009 at 9:10 amoh my gosh! look how young everyone looks of the cover of the first harry potter movie!!! i almost forgot they were kids. especially now that i have a giant crush on Emma. i haven’t rewatched any of the movies, but have re-read each book 3 or 4 times.
Kate
July 18, 2009 at 10:03 amFavorite book? Ooo…probably the fourth since that’s when the tides really start to turn and you start to realize that it’s no more “oh! there’s bad guy after Harry! how cute!” and, to paraphrase Nick Frost, “this sh*t just got real!” It was a total turning point for me in the books.
Movies? I love the third – the kids start learning how to act and Cuaron did an amazing job with a franchise that looked like it was going to be all Christmas candy with magic thrown in. Its creepy whimsicality in the look and feel of it hasn’t matched any other. Although the wizard fight at the end of the fifth ALWAYS leaves me breathless. I think we, as fans, totally hit the jackpot when Michael Gambon took Richard Harris’ place and Ralph Fiennes was cast as Voldemort.
Thea
July 18, 2009 at 10:49 amMy favorite book is a tie between Prisoner of Azkaban and Half-Blood Prince. Prisoner for the time travel, for dear Sirius and Lupin, for Hermione being a badass! But Prince is so deliciously DARK. The greatest sense of impending doom, the **SPOILER** freaking death of Dumbledore!!!! **END SPOILER** Plus Ron playing Quidditch and everything 😛
Guh. I can only hope that the movie lives up to my expectations!
As for favorite movie, so far it remains Azkaban. Beautifully done
And now I want to reread all the books. Immediately. 😆
Memory
July 18, 2009 at 12:22 pmUrgh, it’s so hard to choose! I think THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is my favourite of the books, (pensieve memories! Horcruxes! Liquid Luck! Heartbreak!), but I’m not sure I can leave THE GOBLET OF FIRE or THE DEATHLY HALLOWS out of things. Any one of ’em could rank as my favourite, depending on my mood that day.
As far as the movies go, I liked the first one best. The others all had their good points, but I often felt like something was missing. All the highlights were there, but the little connecting bits that helped the story flow smoothly just weren’t there for me. I knew what was going on because I’d read the books, but I’m not sure I’d have gotten as much out of movies 1-6 if I hadn’t.
Amanda
July 18, 2009 at 1:34 pmFavorite book, Order of the Phoenix. I love Harry in this book. Yeah, he’s all emo and “nobody loves me” for a while, but it’s really not unjustified and adds a great dark edge to the book. Plus with characters like Sirius, Bellatrix, Umbridge, Kreacher, Luna, and more it just made for a fascinating read!
Favorite movie, Half-Blood Prince just won that spot. Quite a few things missing and a few issues I wonder how they’ll resolve later, but overall the actors, special effects, and general tone of the movie far exceeded my (pretty high) expectations!
Estelle
July 18, 2009 at 1:37 pmAh, how timely! I just went to see HBP yesterday and it’s almost tying for first place with POA for the spot of “favorite movie”. But I don’t know if I would have liked it so much if my memories of the books hadn’t been slightly fuzzy. It’s been such a long while since I’ve read them. I remember I was frothing at the mouth while watching Goblet of Fire for all the characters assassinations they did (my poor Viktor!) to leave more room for a special effects extravaganza.
This post makes me want to go on a HP readathon NOW.
Favorite book is hard. I have a weak spot for Chamber of Secrets because I adore Fraud!Gilderoy as a comic relief. So very funny. And it’s amazing how much information and clues that little book gives us for the rest of the series. JKR is a genius.
But all the other books have their charms too. And, since I’m all about Snape, I’d probably have to go with HBP! I love his character. I can’t remember how many Snape fanfictions I’ve read, especially the Snape/Hermione ones (most of them written pre-HBP and DH). There are some seriously talented writers in that ship.
Marc Nobbs
July 18, 2009 at 2:28 pmHas to be Deathly Hallows for me. It’s difficult to find fault with it. Fast paced, densely plotted, sad, happy, scary, full of hope. Magnificent really. And yes, Dobby’s death shocked me – but it was when the boys were digging his grave by hand that the tears streamed down my cheek – best scene in the series by far.
Cassandra Jade
July 18, 2009 at 2:49 pmMy favourite book was definitely the second. Creepy mystery with clues to be solved and Hermione showing us why the books really shouldn’t be named after Harry Potter (a tradition that continue until book 5). I loved Chamber of Secrets as a book and absolutely hated what the movie did to this book.
Favourite movie has to be Half Blood Prince. It worked fantastically. I didn’t much care for the book (though it was one of the better ones) but as a movie I jumped, I cried, I laughed, I loved it.
Sarah
July 18, 2009 at 3:05 pmMy favorite book is by far, Prisoner of Azakaban, followed by Deathly Hallows. I love the Marauders so much and find their backstory just as interesting as the regular HP storylines. Plus, I’m a huge fan of Sirius Black.
However, I really like the second movie the best. I’m not sure why as it my least favorite of the books.
Angie
July 18, 2009 at 3:16 pmAfter watching the Half-Blood Prince movie I just want to go through and reread them all! It was SO good. It’s definitely my favorite film. Cuaron did great things with 3, but the screenplay for 6 sort of killed. It was awesome. Plus, two words: Jim. Broadbent. The dude’s ridiculously good.
Favorite book? Any one of 3 through 7. I love them all. I don’t think I could even pick one.
MaryK
July 18, 2009 at 4:45 pmFavorite movie is The Prisoner of Azkaban. Haven’t seen the new one yet. Haven’t finished all the books yet, either. Bad me!
Tiah
July 18, 2009 at 8:26 pmI have never read the books or seen the movies. 😕 *ducks for cover*
Sandy (Strlady)
July 19, 2009 at 4:43 amIt has to be without a doubt HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban. Before going to see the latest this weekend we had a HP marathon where we watched all the previous movies and I remembered how much I loved that third book!
Kate
July 19, 2009 at 5:20 pmTIAH!!! Get started! 😀
Adrienne
July 20, 2009 at 8:43 amGoblet was my favorite until that movie sorta put a damper on it. I CRIED like a big angry baby when Harry walked into the woods during DH to face Voldie..actually I had to go and hide in the bathroom and cry into a towel because my brother and his wife were a 100 pages behind (all night/day reading marathon and we didn’t speak about 10 words to each other in 24 hours, it was great)and I didn’t want to ruin it for them…So hard to choose..I have bought 3 copies each because they keep on falling apart I have read each one so many times.
jennygirl
July 22, 2009 at 2:19 pmI fogot about Dobby! I felt so bad for him, poor little guy.
Dianaandrodney
February 10, 2012 at 1:56 pmCher Jk Rowling, je concemme ma lettre en te disant tout d’abord merci! Pour tout ce que tu nous as fait vivre dans tes livres. Ce n’est pas Harry Potter qui m’a fait découvrir le plaisir de la lecture mais c’est lui qui l’ a fait grandir! Merci!Sinon, j’ai une question, dans quelle maison était Peter Pettigrow? Merci!sinon, je voulais aussi te dire que j’adore l’anglais et qu’en ce moment je suis en train de lire Harry Potter 1 en anglais. J’y arrive car j’ai lu le livre en français au moins dix fois!! Par contre, pour le 7, j’attends la sortie en français car je n’ai pas un assez bon niveau pour le lire en anglais: je veux comprendre tous les moindres détails du livre!Merci, merci, merci!Elisabeth.