Well I have been hearing about the Harry Potter series for years. Several people have suggested I read them but I thought they were kinda silly and didn't want to take the time to read them. I told myself that once they were all finished I'd pick them up and kinda give them a little skim and see what they were like.

I'm a frequent shopper at the Goodwill and a few weeks ago I found the first 4 books in the series there for less than a $1 each so I picked them up.

I've seen the movies and so the first two I was reading but not really blown away with. I did find some really interesting differences between the books and the movies but not much else. They were good and obviously for younger readers. By the time I had finished the 4th book I was captivated and couldn't think of anything else but the story. At first I thought the writing was getting better but I realized that the writing was the same, it was the perspective of the main character that was changing. The books were growing with the Harry Potter character.

I got halfway through the 4th book and went hunting at the local bookstore for copies of the last 3 books. However the 7th book isn't out in paperback and I don't really buy hardcovers usually. So I decided I'd wait and just finish the series when the 7th came out in July.

I went ahead and read the 5th book and was completely absorbed by it and I couldn't believe how good it was and how much better it was than the movie. That's usually the case but I couldn't believe how good these books were. I was getting close to the end of the 6th book and I started to get physically nervous at the idea of waiting until July to finish it. I raced to the library and grabbed a copy of the 7th book. When the 6th book ended I was so grateful that the library had a copy on the shelf.

I tore through the 7th novel like my life depended on getting to the end.
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I've honestly read hundreds of books. Big and small, single stories and long running series about all sorts of stories. In all that time I've never been so moved by a story. There were parts of the book were I couldn't read I was laughing so hard. I had to put one of the books down at one point because I was so nervous for the characters. And in all my years I have never been so choked up reading anything. I had to wipe tears from my eyes at several points in the 7th book. I love this series more than the Conan books... and some of you know how much I loved those books. I genuinely felt like I was standing alongside Harry and his friends at times. I was casting nervous glances over my shoulder worried Voldemort was going to sneak up behind me.

The writing in these books starts out simple, but it's because Harry is a child early on and as he grows up, so does his perspective and so does the story. Lighthearted adventures turned into the most memorable story I've ever read. I got these because I had a vacation coming up and I figured I'd read these first before reading this other set of books I bought, they were supposed to be the appetizer and it turned out that they may have ruined reading for me. I've already read them a second time and I was just as interested the second time.

Oh and remember how I said I don't buy hardcovers... I've already decided that these are going to get enough reading that I'm going to start hunting down the full set in hardcover. They've earned a place of honor on the shelf and I plan on reading them many more times in the years to come. If you have time I can't suggest a better story for you to read.

If you've read them tell me what you thought, if you haven't ... why are you reading this? There is a much better story you could be reading.

Don't just pick them up and start casually reading them over the course of a year though. I sat down and in a week I read them all and it was like growing up with Harry Potter. I felt like I had fallen into his life and was attached at the soul to the character. I was with him on his journey more than I've ever been with another character. I was and am completely blown away. I finished them at 4AM on a Thursday and sat there for two hours just stunned and trying to absorb the whole story. I took a couple of nights a week later and skimmed through them again to reread some parts and see just how well everything was planned out and set up. There was so much hinting around and foreshadowing about characters... Uh... I can't believe it. Honestly, in my opinion, best books ever!