[LonelySmile]

Does anyone remember what the initial reaction was after Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released? I'm sure it wasn't utter mania and rave reviews! I'd be interested in knowing when the hype built momentum!

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I have to say I don't think the original book of the series was anything special-although it was quite ingenious the way she developed the whole saga and associated back-history from that quite inauspicious beginning.

[ballerinaemily]

I think the hype started with the release of the third book and the announcement soonafter that they were going to be making the franchise into a film.

[haphash]

I work in publishing and my boss was given a copy of the first book which he passed to me as he said he would never read it. I took it home and started reading it not expecting much but quickly got into it. I passed it on to my husband to read - he was sceptical about my praise of the book but he liked it too. We then eagerly looked forward to the next one. It was somewhere between the third and fourth book that everyone went HP mad I seem to remember.

It did get a bit overhyped in the media. I have a friend who refuses to read one of them just because of that. He says it is a point of principle.

[PhoenixRises]

Originally Posted by ballerinaemily

I think the hype started with the release of the third book and the announcement soonafter that they were going to be making the franchise into a film.

I always remember the book hype being on the 4th book, I remember it being on the news quite a fair bit. But I suppose I could have missed it on the third book.

I read them from the start so never really paid attention to hype of the things.

[Agent F]

Originally Posted by PhoenixRises

I always remember the book hype being on the 4th book, I remember it being on the news quite a fair bit. But I suppose I could have missed it on the third book.

I read them from the start so never really paid attention to hype of the things.

I was quite young at the time but I remember me and most of my friends really got into them around the time the fourth book was being released as well. Everyone was buying the first three and reading them in anticipation.

[Lowri]

I also got into them just as the fourth book was coming out. I'm not a fan of being a sheep and following the crowd but it was recommended by so many people.
I still re-read them now and enjoy them, but I can't see what sets them apart from other books. It's particularly popular with people my age because we pretty much grew up at the same rate as Harry. This makes it easier to identify with the characters and I suppose everyone secretly wishes they could use magic and HP is one of the few books which has ordinary people like you and me doing magic.

[Zack06]

It didn't kick off straight away that's for sure....much like Twilight I'd say that most of the hype started accelerating upon announcement of the film....by the time the first book became a film the whole thing blew up...

[Phoenix Lazarus]

This article has an interesting timeline. It says that Rowling sold film rights to first four books in 1998, the year that second in series, Chamber of Secrets, was published. A director was definitely appointed for the first film in March 2000, four months before fourth in series, Goblet of Fire, was published, in July 2000. Work started on first film in October 2000, and it was released in November 2001. Production began almost immediately on the second film, released in November 2002. Fifth book, Order of Phoenix, was published June 2003.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter

[Havelock Vetinari]

Read the first one after my father-in-law said he thought I might enjoy them. Initial reaction,meh.
Paper thin characters, poor storyline. Read the rest, thought they were no better. In all honesty I cannot see what the fuss is, and why people claim they are these fantastic works.

[PhoenixRises]

Originally Posted by Havelock Vetinari

Read the first one after my father-in-law said he thought I might enjoy them. Initial reaction,meh.
Paper thin characters, poor storyline. Read the rest, thought they were no better. In all honesty I cannot see what the fuss is, and why people claim they are these fantastic works.

How old was you when you read this book?

[Muggsy]

Originally Posted by Havelock Vetinari

Read the first one after my father-in-law said he thought I might enjoy them. Initial reaction,meh.
Paper thin characters, poor storyline. Read the rest, thought they were no better. In all honesty I cannot see what the fuss is, and why people claim they are these fantastic works.

I read the first one because it was such a sensation. I agree with you, and I've also read them all, but only because I know somebody who lent them to me. I wouldn't waste any of my hard earned on them.

[*Sparkle*]

I read the first one after it was recommended to me by a teacher friend who said that it was popular with all the kids. We'd been having a conversation about children's books, and how I'd just finished re-reading The Hobbit and it was refreshing to read something good, that happened to be for a younger audience. I think it had already won an award for children's fiction by then, but the hype wasn't mainstream, so I was able to read it with no massive expectations and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Over the next year I had recommended it to several friends if they fancied a change to their normal reading material, and my dad. In that time, I started to notice more and more people reading it on the bus or the tube, and then they brought out different covers, supposedly for adults! Not that it was fooling anyone, as the books were becoming so well known.

I always made a point of buying the children's cover! . Up until the final book, I only ever bought the paper-back version. I prefer reading paper-backs, and as much as I enjoyed them, I could wait. I bought the final book on release to make sure no-one spoiled the ending for me.

Ironically, the friend who originally recommended the books to me has since jumped on the "they're not all that" bandwagon. When I remind her that she was full of praise of the first two and encouraged me to read them, her memory fails her!

I would never claim they are literary greats, but there is no getting away from the fact that they struck a chord with a lot of people, children and adults. I think it was the sense of escapism, and the fantasy world that was pitched just right in terms of being connected with our own modern world and somewhere magical. The characters were much better developed than anything Tolkien managed, especially the women.

It was very clever how she progressed the characters and the intensity of the stories to match the reading skills and emotional development of the readers, but that only really applies to those who started reading as children. Although it could also explain why it appealed to so many adults who never read books ordinarily. The first book was very accessible, and it made people want to read more. Once hooked on the stories, the writing became more meaty, otherwise I think it would have got tedious for the older reader.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Originally Posted by PhoenixRises

How old was you when you read this book?

He says he has a father-in-law, so that's a rough clue.

[Lowri]

Originally Posted by Havelock Vetinari

Paper thin characters, poor storyline. Read the rest, thought they were no better. In all honesty I cannot see what the fuss is, and why people claim they are these fantastic works.

I agree that, when looked at objectively, the writing isn't very good. However, there's something about them that draws you in and makes you believe that it could all be real. If you've just finished reading a book and, for a split second after, can't get fiction and fact straight in your head, that's a good book!

I remember "coming out" of a HP book and the first thing I "saw" was my arm and it really surprised me

[stud u like]

I read the Privet Drive stuff and then didn't bother.

[MissMusique]

I was 10 when the first book came out and didn't think I'd like it. I was away from home on a music course and terribly homesick and started reading the Philosophers Stone and read it 4 times in that week. From then on I was a huge fan and eagerly waited every new release. I have to say that the HP books were a massive part of my childhood (even though now I can see they're not brillianty written) but I can't stand the films at all.

[Havelock Vetinari]

Originally Posted by PhoenixRises

How old was you when you read this book?

I was around 39 or so. Maybe a bit older. I looked at them from the point of fantasy, I read mainly fantasy, which is what they are - allegedly. In counterpoint to other stuff I have read - Erikson, Jordan, Eddings, Brooks. When laid against them you can see how very poor the characters, and plot lines are.

But, on the flip side they have introduced a lot of younger readers to books, and for that they need high praise indeed. When you consider that for a lot of children today reading isn't seen as something to enjoy, when they're into the fast world of Twitter, the internet, and other social aspects.

[MissMusique]

Originally Posted by Havelock Vetinari

I was around 39 or so. Maybe a bit older. I looked at them from the point of fantasy, I read mainly fantasy, which is what they are - allegedly. In counterpoint to other stuff I have read - Erikson, Jordan, Eddings, Brooks. When laid against them you can see how very poor the characters, and plot lines are.

But, on the flip side they have introduced a lot of younger readers to books, and for that they need high praise indeed. When you consider that for a lot of children today reading isn't seen as something to enjoy, when they're into the fast world of Twitter, the internet, and other social aspects.

Sorry completely off topic - but how did you enjoy the Erikson books? I've been tempted to read them for a while but have been told by a few people that they're very complicated and the 1st book in the series is hard to understand until you've nearly finished it! What do you think?

[Toby53]

To give the next one a try, which to be fair I did however never read any more.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I read them all for the first time last year, aged 42. First one, not particularly impressive in itself, but the way she developed the mythology and back-story over the succeeding volumes was quite ingenious.

[SHAFT]

Originally Posted by Havelock Vetinari

Read the first one after my father-in-law said he thought I might enjoy them. Initial reaction,meh.
Paper thin characters, poor storyline. Read the rest, thought they were no better. In all honesty I cannot see what the fuss is, and why people claim they are these fantastic works.

That pretty much sums up my opinion of the book. I couldn't actually finish it. I remember constantly thinking how badly written it was and how it just seemed to be a rip off on Neil Gaiman's much better and more coherent work. I would have put this down to my age at the time (late 20's) but a lot of my work colleagues of the same age seemed to think it was the best thing they'd ever read. I've avoided all of the subsequent books and films like the plague since. As I've found with The Hunger Games, juvenile fiction just isn't for me.

[Mr.Lavigne]

Originally Posted by Phoenix Lazarus

He says he has a father-in-law, so that's a rough clue.

Very rough, he could be anything between 16 and 80.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

According to this article, Rowling says she has known she would never again write anything as popular as Potter since 1999.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007...=ILCNETTXT3487

[Sinbazro_05]

I was working in a school in Edinburgh when Rowling was promoting the first Harry Potter novel. We all got to meet her and she signed copies of the book for the kids. I remember thinking, 'It's a book about a wee boy who goes to wizard school - she'll be lucky if she shifts a hundred copies.' Goes to show how little I know!