How to Read Harry Potter

There are many ways we discover the world of Harry Potter. You may have read a chapter to the kids then found yourself sneaking the book into your room after night-night time. Or, like me, you picked up the first one because you heard it was good and it sounded like everything you like in a book anyway. But others of you have not taken the plunge yet. You may be too bewildered by friends who suddenly started muttering things about "muggles" and "Hogwarts.", or maybe it didn't strike you as worthwhile. Yet, you can't help but be intrigued by all the hype. Come on. When a children's author makes more money than anyone in England (except the Queen) and her book signings sell out stadiums, you have to at least wonder. So maybe you're beginning to think you should give the Harry Potter books a try. After all, the series is finished so there is no more endless waiting for the next installment. But it does seem more daunting than it did in the early days. Now there are seven books and each of the last four you could use as a doorstop. Fear not. If you are finally ready to begin, here's how.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Access to the Harry Potter books. You may not need to have all of them when you first start, but you definitely need the first three.
• Spare time. See step 2.
• Literacy
• An open mind. If you go in expecting cult references and devil worship, you will find it. You can find that anywhere. And why go to the trouble of reading then, when cable is so readily available?

1. If you are British or Canadian, you have it easy. But if you are American, there is a decision to make before you even start the series: Are you a purist? Most of you know that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was originally published as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the UK and Canada. But you may not know that there are variations in the text as well, especially in the earlier books. If you want the actual word as written by J.K. Rowling, you have to seek out the Canadian version. It is the same as the British. (Of course, if you don't care about your series art matching, you can always switch.) If you go with the Canadian version, it is available in two covers: child and adult--if there is a more official label, I'm not aware of it. The child cover has brightly colored pictures of Harry and his friends; the other has more generic landscape-type scenes. The child covers are easier to find, but better bookstores, and online of course, will have both.
2. Choose a stretch of time when you don't have a lot going on. A slow weekend with bad weather is good. Probably you don't want to give it a whirl the Monday before the big project at work hits the Friday deadline. Well, you can, but you will spend a lot of time frustrated because you have to work when all you want to do is find out what happened. It will make you cranky, and you won't really put in your best effort with said project.
3. Read. And read. And decide to go ahead buy the rest of them when the library is out of Prisoner of Azkaban. Then you really need the Canadian version so you make some calls and drive an hour to the nearest bookstore that has them. You thought about ordering them from Amazon, but that would take DAYS. You may have to take some time off.
4. You will emerge from book 7 eventually. Then starts the barrage of questions. Like all good authors, J.K. Rowling leaves a lot unanswered. Also, because she is an exceptional author, she knows the answers. She just hasn't told you in the books. Luckily there is a wealth of information on the internet. Her biggest fan sites are The Leaky Cauldron and Muggle.net, and she also maintains her own site. But there are also hundreds of interviews to sift through that are quite illuminating.
5. Connect with other HP fans. There is a ton of stuff worth discussing in these books and it would be a shame not to. Badger your husband, sister, brother, friend, uncle, aunt, or all of them to read it until they get tired of your nagging and do so. Read the books on public transportation. You'll be astonished at who catches your eye and wonders aloud at the true nature of Snape. Join one of the many sites and message boards devoted to Harry Potter mania. You could use it as an icebreaker at a boring office party; who has or hasn't read it and their reasons may surprise you. In short, you will now be one of us. Own it!

Tips & Warnings

• You may have noticed that this article is really for people that have not read Harry Potter but will love it once they do, like so many of us. However, these books are not for everyone. The important thing is to try. To truly give it a fair chance, you have to read at least until book 3 before you decide you hate it and quit. As Harry and his friends get older year by year, each book gets more complex and interesting. It changes from a children's series to a young adult series; and then, in the end, to an adult series. Book 3, in my opinion, is where it really starts to make that change.
• Do not confuse the movies for the books! The movies actually play to an audience that has read the books. Some of the films are so cut down they are hard to follow unless you fill in the blanks from your reading. So no, you can't just see all the movies and call it a day.