We Love Harry Potter

It all started about a year ago when Mark told me he wanted a really good book to read. I suggested the Harry Potter series, because I think they are some of the most entertaining books I have ever read. Mark, however, was reluctant to take my suggestion, saying that he'd seen the movies. When I made the argument that while the movies were great, they didn't compare to the books, we had a challenge on our hands. So, I picked up the first book, and we read it together. Then, we watched the first movie. Mark was able to see where the storyline in the movie differed from the book. I picked up the second book, and we read that together too. When we were finished, we watched the second movie. Once again, more discrepancies in storylines. Pretty soon, Mark was reading the Harry Potter books by himself - and he was hooked! In fact, he was a bit depressed after he finished the 7th book, because there were no more books left. Poor guy! I think I created a Harry Potter Monster! (jk)

Although there are discrepancies in storylines between the books and movies (you really can't expect them to cram a whole 700 page book into a movie), reading the Harry Potter series has made Mark enjoy the movies even more, and I love them too. We watched all the Harry Potter movies leading up to the 6th, and for my birthday we ventured to the movie theatre to watch "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." I give it 4 stars. Of course, there were several subplots that were left out of the movie, but the major one was there, and I really appreciated the humor, which helped lighten up a series that has gotten progressively darker. I thought that after the 5th movie especially, a little humor was well-placed in the 6th. The girl who played Lavendar Brown? Awesome. She made the most of her moment to shine.

Now we have to wait a whole year for the 7th movie... sigh... But at least we still have the books. I'm so grateful for great literature (and yes, Harry Potter qualifies as great literature)!