Okay, after reading posts in The Welcome Center by Gats and Picqero, I see that I am not the only person to never have read a sentence of the Potter books. And here all the time I thought I was the only one!

So tell me people, what is it about those books? I've seen the movies, and they are good, but what is it about them that is so entralling that people cannot wait to get and read the books? Young and old alike seem to thrive on the series. I simply have never even "gotten the urge!"

I cannot explain, and I really would advise you to read them from the first to the last. It is the way she tells it, to quote a British comedian.
I suppose what is to be admired is the way she attends so well to detail. This could so really be true, there could be another world along side us, peopled with Wizards etc. You only have to read the names of people, places and things that she has invented, to know she is an extremely imaginative and clever lady. Come on people, help me out here!

I would never have gotten the urge either. I had to read the first four because my sister bought them. They didn't look that appealing to me, but after I started reading them I was hooked. I don't know what it is exactly. The writing is very easy to understand and it's an excellent story line.

I love it. I can't wait to get my copy on Monday.

I had the first book bought for me for Christmas, and once I read it, I really wanted to read more.

J.K makes you feel as if you personally know the characters, and she makes you anxious to see what happens to them.

I think J.K. Rowling cast a spell on the books so readers are hypnotised and become obsessed with the series. Or maybe has a special 'Quick Quotes Quill' she wrote with that does the job. But seriously, I suppose the story is so rich and imaginative. Harry is just an ordinary 11-year-old as the story starts off, and if something so magical as being a wizard can happen to Harry, it could just as well happen to us!

As you read about Harry's adventures it's almost as if you're there, and that keeps you turning the pages, wanting to know what happens to him and his friends, hoping they make it. It's exciting!

You'll never know unless you give it a try.

The books are so much MORE than the films, don't watch the films, read the books! I've never managed to sit through a whole film yet, but the books are brilliant.

I don't really get it either. I have read the first book, and seen either two or three of the movies, I can't remember.

While reading the book, I did feel, very much, that I would have enjoyed it immensely if I had read it when I was, say, ten. The fantasy elements were the type of thing I liked then, and read a lot of. I've never really liked "school" novels, though, and that part left me cold. The prose I found, on the whole, flat. There is very little sense of "magic", in the first book, at any rate. Mostly magic seems to be something closer to, oh, sport maybe - a skill that can be learned. Maybe that is the appeal to many people.

On the whole what we have here seems to be a clever mingling of three very popular children's genres - the school story, the wizard story, and the mystery. Yes, I would have read and enjoyed them as a child, but they hold no interest to me as an adult.

Hi all,
I've thought long and hard over this question, Why has the harry potter tale spellbound so many people over the past eight years.
I have always been an avid reader, I probably read five or six books a week, mostley bought from second hand shops.

From the first book bought for my son for a christmas present a few years ago it gripped me the world the people and yes the magic.

it was a timeless tale told for the modern world. we could step into this modern world and then step back to magic and cauldrens and owls and stuff.

sorry I am not making much sense lol.

Ms Rowling melded playstations and potions in such a way. it caught peoples subconsious maybe. the humour all the way through made me laugh, that probably helped a lot.

this is only my opinion, I am sure others will have much more to say, but its my little suggestion.

the films have not captured the essence of the storys so much is missing from them, but at least they have lead children to read again.

I wil always look fondley on Harry and now I know what it must have been like back in the days when people waited for the next installment of a sherlock holmes story in the weekly magazine
sunday

I fought the urge until after the release of the sixth book, well after. Finally I gave in and bought them then once I got into the first book I just had to keep reading until I had read them all. This book was pre-ordered and you will have to excuse me but I am more than 2/3rd of the way through so must get back to it.

I "found" the books after I heard Stephen Fry reading book 1, on Radio 4, on Boxing Day 2000 I believe. I'd heard if the books but considered them "children's books". How wrong could I be. Jo has made children and adults love reading again. The movies are good, don't me wrong, but Jo has definately created the best series of books ever, for me.Children and Adults can enjoy them, on both levels

Well, okay. I had an appointment where I knew I would have to wait, so just grabbed a book to read while waiting. So what if it was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! Luckily it was the first one of the series. I am now about 25 pages into it and still waiting for it to grab me.

There was a book called "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo that I read and from PAGE ONE I could not put the book down. Maybe I'm expecting too much from subsequent books and I've never had that experience again.

She is a fantastic writer. She draws you into this magical world, and makes you feel like you belong there. The movies are good, but they are nothing comapred to the books. I suggest reading them so you can find out for yourself how great they are.

I was forced to read the first book by my uncle.. By chapter 2 I was hooked...Jo's books are like a tiny bit of ice cream....very good, possibley the best ice cream in the world...howevewr they leave the reader wanting more...reading her books is such a magical experience..........I LOVE HARRY POTTER

My hubby has just started reading HP, after seeing the "state" I got into over book 7 lol - he finished the first one and is starting the second and I'm sure I heard muffled sniggers at least twice so far
The first two are funniest, although bad things happen, they are just children still and I think the books are aimed more at children. As the series progresses the books get darker - I think a child of 9 or 10 who loves the first ones won't like the later ones so much, Phoenix and Half Blood are much darker - I liked those two least, and was prepared to be disappointed in the last one, but it is just so GOOD - she has excelled herself and made up for the last two completely.
I'm not sure what the appeal is, I think it's just that I wish I could have gone to Hogwarts, the whole setting is so detailed, the rooms, the food, the beds even lol, it is such FUN! And who wouldn't want to be able to do magic or have a house elf to do everything in the house

Yeah, I agree with you about the kids not liking to later books, not only would they not like the darkerness, but some of the concepts of deep friendship and bonds would be hard for them to comprehend. Especially in book 7.

I know my mum isn't going to let my 11 year old sister read the book until she is older and more mature.

My sister came round with my 10 year old nephew just as I finished, she's started reading book 7 with him, and I warned her about how sad it gets. He's not a particularly sentimental child, but I did worry in case it will be too upsetting for him.

The books get more sophisticated as they go on and appear to be aimed more at the people the same age as the characters, or to put it another way the story matures with the characters. The first book is best read at the age of around 11 and a book a year from there. This is what I will be recommending to my children as they grow up. This is part of the magic and one of the reasons Harry Potter appeals to people of many ages.

Well some people (like right here in the books forum) have convinced me to try the Potter books. I'm all the way up to page 68 (!) in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in only three days... I'm being facetious. It just isn't "grabbing" me as it has so many other people. So far it's a good read, but just not so hot that I can't put it down. Must just be me.

The first two are the funniest, and also the ones that are more for kids than the rest, you must be too mature
:-P :0)

I thought the first part of the fifth was the funniest, just Vernon's confusion when something magic-related happens that he can't ignore. I was pretty young then, so I found it funnier that I would today.

I had never heard of Harry Potter until the third book came out. Even then I could not think of a reason as to why I would want to read the books. Then my mother wanted me to help her with book fair at the school she was working at. This was when The Goblet of Fire (GOF) came out. The books were flying off the shelves. So I picked up the first one and started to read. The first couple of chapters were kind of dull. Then it got really good. I read all four books in a couple of days. When the fifth book came out I was in line to get it. Same thing with the sixth, and seventh books.
The story just grabs you. I cared about Harry and all his friends. It made me want to go to Hogwarts. The books are so well written. The story so intricate and well thought out.
My kids just love the books my 14 year old has read them all. And, my 9 year old is well on her way to finishing the second book. I have also started to read them to my 2 year old before bed.
Pick up the books I tell you, you won't be able to put them down.

I first read Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone when I was at University. My Aunt had bought the books for my much younger cousins because she had heard that they were good and that you couldn't put them down. I started reading in the evening and by the second page I was hooked. I adored all the detail about the magical world. I finished the first book the next day and was allowed to borrow the second one which I also finished very quickly. After that I was hooked. I got book 3 and 4 quite quickly after that but we had to wait ages for Order of the Phoenix. The last two were published much more quickly if I remember correctly. If you haven't read them please do. It is an unforgettable experience that you can share with your children, your friends your family, your spouse, anybody that you can think of. These books are definitely mean't to be shared. The shared experience makes it all the richer.

I'm logging in for the first time in ages, just to say to Ren: I get it now.

I first read Philosopher's Stone just to see what the fuss was about. I thought it was cute, rather well done for a children's book, but it didn't appeal to me enough to make me read the other books. I did see the first two films when they were shown on television, and after Chamber of Secrets I was intrigued enough that I planned to follow the films.

Then my sister and I went overseas to visit our grandparents, and two things happened:
1. She was in the middle of Order of the Phoenix and at her request I read (from the middle) with her.
2. We went to see the Prisoner of Azkaban film.

I loved the film, and found OotP a far more satisfying and mature read than PS had been. I did feel out of the loop a bit, and to save my sister the trouble of constantly having to explain stuff I borrowed Goblet of Fire and read it quickly. Then I made my sister take a break (at a very crucial point in OotP) so that I could read the first half of the book.
By the time we had finished OotP I was officially hooked. I read books 6&7 as soon as they were released.

I still get a distinct Enid Blytonesque vibe from Philosopher's Stone, and from certain elements that form the basis of the series- the magical world existing alongside the real one, the secret passages between the worlds that are only open to certain people, the magical technology that mirrors the non-magical. I still find the book childish and cute, but I can now see within it the foundations of the incredibly mature and complex picture that the series as a whole paints. To anyone who isn't gripped by the first book I say: stick it out, its worth the effort.

On a side note, while the first books have some funny moments, I disagree with the poster who contends that they are the funniest. I find the humour in the early books to be, for the most part (there are exceptions), childish and simplistic- as it should be, to fit the more childish, more innocent atmosphere of the early books. As the series gets darker, however, the humour becomes more sophisticated. I had far more laugh-out-loud moments in the last three books (one line in Deathly Hallows had me laughing so hard I couldn't get the words out, and had to point to the words on the page so that my sister, to whom I was reading at the time, could read for herself. Amazingly enough she didn't get the joke). In fact, it is the unique blend of tragedy and humour that I consider the most appealing feature of the Harry Potter series.

As for the question of why the books have done so amazingly well, are so incredibly popular, I think the answer is threefold:
1. The books are essentially the (probably) longest fictional mystery in history. Questions asked in book 1 were only answered ten years later. Once any person got hooked on the mystery they really wanted to know what happened next.
2. The books are well written. The characters are well-rounded and compelling, the language is just right (difficult enough to challenge but easy enough so as not to frustrate), there's a good mixture of light and dark, tragedy and humour, it's a fresh, modern take on the fantasy genre which has been popular forever, and it incorporates universal elements of mythology, psychology, politics, and more.
3. The media- TV, the internet, the film franchise that lags only a couple of years behind the books, all these helped spread the word on Harry Potter. If the series had debuted twenty, maybe even as little as ten years earlier, the books probably would have been a hit, would likely have made the bestseller lists; But it was today's media environment that allowed them to become the biggest-selling books in all of history.

For me i was forced to read the 'Philosophers Stone' when i was in primary school as one of our assignments, and i actually really like it, so when the 2nd came out i snapped it up straight away and i have been hooked ever since.

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I'm logging in for the first time in ages, just to say to Ren: I get it now.

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Lol! This tickled me as it is about 4 years! I am so glad that you now enjoy them. Thanks you for posting so fluently to tell us why. I appreciate your contribution.