Saturday 24 September 2011

Harry Potter fans: How has Harry Potter changed your life?

Well, for me, it has changed my life in a number of ways. Harry Potter was the first book series that I couldn%26#039;t wait to read--the one that I stayed up all night to finish, just to see what would happen. My older sister gave me the first book and told me to read it. Well, being a know-it-all little sister, I refused to read it, calling it stupid. She read me the first chapter, and I was hooked! I snatched the book from her hands, ran off to my room, shut the door, and began to read. That was the day my life changed, as corny as that sounds! :P



That was the year that the first movie came out, and I was beyond obsessed. I was in the fourth grade, and I carried around a poster of Daniel Radcliffe, and made all my friends address me as Mrs. Potter. As the years passed, my obsession grew. By the time the last book was coming out (June 25th, 2007) I had read all the books over ten times, trying to figure out Snape%26#039;s character, and I must say that I truly hated him until I read The Prince%26#039;s Tale. After the midnight release, I stayed up ALL night reading, finishing the book within the next night. I was sad when I closed it shut--tthere was my life, all over. I still have the %26quot;DO NOT OPEN BOX%26quot; because I asked a bookstore worker if I could have one :)



Then, high school came, and I tried to get my favorite teacher to read it. At first, he said no, becuase he saw the movie and %26quot;they were kind of lame and nerdy.%26quot; I kept bugging him about it until he gave in. He read the first one, and become hooked! I%26#039;m still trying to get my other teachers to read them.



Then, about a year ago, I came to Yahho! Answers. I had fun asking HP questions and messing with SOS. But then I started to grow close to my contacts, and before I knew it, we%26#039;ve become reall great freinds. I even text Kedder P



So, to make a long story short, if it weren%26#039;t for Harry Potter I would have never picked up a book that I wasn%26#039;t assigned, stayed up until the morning, combing the books for hidden clues, learned so much, and most importantly met the wonderful poeple in my contacts, especially my sexy pudding pop, Billet, my editor, D^4, that man-stealing whorecrux, SOS, and anime buddy, Josh. I love all of my contacts!! :D



Sorry if this is meandering a bit, lol. I just feel that I owe, basically, my life and how I live to Harry Potter and J. K. Rowling.
Harry Potter fans: How has Harry Potter changed your life?
I feel like the answer I%26#039;m going to post is cheating but you spent time telling us how it changed your life, I wanted to answer the question. :) So a contact of mine asked this question before and this is how I answered it:





I really don%26#039;t have a great social life. My friends aren%26#039;t that great. My family life isn%26#039;t that great. So, I take refuge in Harry Potter. It%26#039;s one of the few things that will immediately make me happy. If I%26#039;m feeling down, I can reread one of the books and feel like I%26#039;m away from everything bad that%26#039;s happening. (The bad thing is I%26#039;m so busy with college that I barely get to read the books anymore! I%26#039;m always busy reading textbooks now! :[ ) I%26#039;m so emotionally attached to it. Now, don%26#039;t laugh at me, but whenever I seriously think about how much meaning the books have or how close it is to finally ending (the movies), I start crying. Harry Potter brings me tears of happiness along with sorrow - I connect to the characters so much better than with my real friends; it%26#039;s as if Harry%26#039;s friends are my friends. I%26#039;m aware of how lame and nerdy I sound but I don%26#039;t care. I thank Jo Rowling for bringing this masterpiece to my life. (That reminds me, I still want to write a letter to her explaining how much her and her books have helped me.)



And of course, there%26#039;s the everyday Harry Potter related things I do: use my plastic wand to say spells, refer something to Harry Potter, quote something from Harry Potter, play with my Harry Potter 20 Questions, go online to do Harry Potter stuff. Nothing else (besides my favorite band) has captivated me so much that I would not be able to live without it. And I really do feel sorry for all those people who make fun of Harry Potter as a trend for %26quot;geeks.%26quot; They seriously don%26#039;t know what they%26#039;re missing out on. I%26#039;m so thankful for reading Harry Potter when it first came out in America and feeling the anticipation and excitement for whenever the latest Potter book would come out.
Harry Potter fans: How has Harry Potter changed your life?
ur a big fan of harry potter!!!!
It got me into reading and literature.

One day, I asked my parents to read me one of the books, and they said I should read it myself if I really wanted to. So I did. Now I am passionate about books and english.
Just like you, the books have given me an %26quot;escape portal%26quot; from the stresses and difficulties life sometimes may put on us, and allows me to step into a completely different world where real kids like us are experiencing real life problems and situations, where they are good or bad. I%26#039;m just as obsessed with the movies and actors as I am with the books and could watch and read them a billion times and I still would not get enough of them. I love listening to the pottercast podcast and love chatting with others who share the same love for the boy wizard on myleaky and yahoo!answers. Im sad that the series is over, but my favourite series will always remain in my heart.
Harry Potter has changed my life in a huge number of ways as well.

The series has infiltrated my life in every way possible. Like you, my older sister gave me my first Harry Potter book - CoS - as a Christmas gift. Although I had intended to read SS first, I flipped through the first chapter of the book...and ended up done by the day after Christmas! To this day, my sister buys me Harry Potter related things for every Christmas, and I owe her so much for introducing me to my favorite series of books of all time. I continue this tradition with my little sister - every year for Xmas I buy her the next book - by the time she%26#039;s seven and beginning to read, she%26#039;ll own all seven!

My obsession with the books is a little obsessive, to say the least. I%26#039;ve been to every single midnight release and movie with the exception of the HBP movie - I was on a 12 hour flight home from Alaska when it came out in my state - but the first place I went, after a 12 hr red-eye, and two months away from home, is the movie theatre! I%26#039;ve read each book more than four times...and I%26#039;ve read Prisoner of Azkaban 13 times! I%26#039;m an avid listener of Mugglecast%26lt;3, and Mugglenet is my homepage. I have already been to Universal once to check out the construction on the theme park, and I plan on braving the lines to be there the day the park opens. My obsession with the books is perhaps best portrayed by the sentiments of my good friend Bryan. He came over to my house yesterday, and when he got here he asked what I had been doing. I told him reading, and before I could finish, he said %26quot;Harry Potter%26quot; along with me!

Harry Potter is also an important link between my friends and I. At the lunch table, we play Harry Potter trivia. My good friend Megan and I frequently have HP marathons at our houses. My best friend Jackie is obsessed with the books now...because I forced her to read them!

There%26#039;s just one more way...my pets! 3/5 of my pets were named after Harry Potter characters. I have a rat named Ginny, a bunny named Percy, a cat named Bella (short for Bellatrix...NOT Bella Swan), and a Dutch Warmblood gelding (horse) named Sirius.



P.S....Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out on July 21, 2007 :)
I got my first Harry Potter book, Philosopher%26#039;s Stone, when I was seven, just after it came out in Canada as a Christmas gift from my great-uncle. I read it right after my brother and was immediately in love with it. I was a little bit of a reader before - I had read The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander before Harry Potter and liked them - but this was something completely new that had never been done before. My old copy of Philosopher%26#039;s Stone is falling apart now, I%26#039;ve read it so many times. I could not wait for the next books in the series. I had no idea it would take ten years. After every release, I would stay up the entire night and have the books read by the next morning, then I would read them again. Then when I got an iPod, I started listening to MuggleCast and wrock and so now that has become an integral part of my life.



It was really interesting to see the fandom grow. It went from hardly anyone knowing about it to one of the largest-grossing franchises of all time. And it wasn%26#039;t just kids reading them, but adults, too. My uncle and cousins are all huge fans, and they%26#039;re in their late twenties and my uncle is in his sixties, and my eighty-five year old great-grandmother read the books last year and since then has purchased all of the films. Harry Potter was different in the way that it caused so much speculation. I spent almost half of my life speculating about the books and what would happen, who was good/evil, etc. I remember being secretely disappointed when I was eleven and I didn%26#039;t get my acceptance letter. I knew it was fiction, but part of me really wanted that. :(



Harry Potter helped to develop my love of reading, and later of writing. I%26#039;m an English major now and it%26#039;s all in part thanks to JK Rowling and her books. I literally grew up with Harry Potter and they have affected my life in a way that no other books have. From Harry Potter, I%26#039;ve moved on to authors like Camus, Nabokov, Tolkien, and Goethe, but really, I love Rowling first and foremost. My childhood would have been so much different if it weren%26#039;t for her.



:)
Reading used to be a chore for me.

Then I read Harry Potter and that changed forever. Once I finished Harry Potter I began properly appreciating books. It may have just been my imagination, but I%26#039;m pretty sure once Harry Potter got me into reading my grades went up.



Harry also managed to bring out my inner nerd.

Now I%26#039;m proud of my nerdy fandom, and flaunt it even to those who call me a %26quot;dork%26quot; as if it%26#039;s an insult (why yes, yes I am thank you).



And without my love for books, I never would have been born into the one and only B%26amp;A family. No B%26amp;A family? D: That%26#039;s like life without chocolate, it just shouldn%26#039;t happen.



Edit: It also brought me closer to some of my friends (Lyra, in particular). We were never really friends until we realized both of us have a *ton* in common, including our obsession with Harry Potter.



Wow, I guess Harry Potter really has changed my life more than I thought.



**I don%26#039;t even know. All this copying and pasting of other peoples%26#039; answers is just getting ridiculous. If you were *actually* inspired by Harry Potter you would have written your own answer. And this isn%26#039;t the first time it%26#039;s happened within the group of Harry Potter fans from B%26amp;A, if you know what I%26#039;m talking about.
i believe in magic
Harry Potter has changed my life by being able to tell a good book from a bad one.



I too, refused to read the series until one day when we were packing for San Diego. I was really extremely bored and needed a book to read. this was the summer of 2007 on July 28th i believe so all the books had come out. Anyway, i was really bored since i had already packed, been yelled at for annoying my dad, took the guinea pigs to a friend%26#039;s house, and made lunch for everyone. I%26#039;d read about every book in the house by then except Eragon and Harry Potter. I never really liked fantasy. I didn%26#039;t want to read my books over so i grabbed the Philosopher%26#039;s Stone off the shelf and began reading. i couldn%26#039;t put it down. i was surprised at how many things the movie left out. I finished the first chapter and grabbed the next three books to read in the car. I finished the first book in about four hours and started on the second book. i had finished three books by the time we returned home a week later. i didn%26#039;t get that much reading while in San Diego.



I think the movies helped me read the books too. They were so different that i could point out things in the book that never happened in the movie. It really compelled me to keep reading. Then again, i only need the movie%26#039;s help for the first chapter of the first book. i already loved the series. Any way, i now am obsessed with the series. I absolutely love it.



Harry Potter has kept me away from loving Twilight. i reckon that if i hadn%26#039;t become obsessed with the series i would have turned to the dark side. Harry Potter showed me a good book and when i read Twilight for school, well, to some it up, it wasn%26#039;t a good book. i really owe it to HP for keeping me away from the stupid, tree killing, sparkling vampire story. Harry Potter is my life and i love it to smithereens. I wish i could be a genius in writing like J.K. Rowling.
Same for me. Harry Potter is the first book series I would stay up all night to finish. I read the first one in first grade or so. I found it in the closet I was hiding in during a game of hide and seek. I was bored so I just stayed in there and read the whole thing. I don%26#039;t remember this, but my mum said I came out yelling %26quot;We have to go to the library!!!!%26quot; And that%26#039;s the story of how my obsession started.

I%26#039;m always in such a good mood when I read Harry Potter. Whenever I have problems at school or home, I%26#039;ll read an HP book, or maybe just an excerpt, and I come out in the best possible mood I could be in. It was the first book I was ever emotionally attached too. The first book that made me laugh, and cry, and all those wonderful things. It%26#039;s like Harry Potter %26quot;awoke%26quot; my imagination. I was introduced to this whole new world of fantasy and magic (cheesy as it sounds). I probably wouldn%26#039;t even have some of the friends I have today, because I met them through Harry Potter.
Like you, it was the first series that I finished. It also helps me know the difference between good writing and horrible writing and I want to be a writer because of it.
I%26#039;m not one hundred percent sure I was always into reading even before Harry Potter. I guess it nurtured my imagination and taught me quite a lot of things like how I%26#039;ve got it much better than some people and you can still do things and change the world if you%26#039;re still a kid and to stand up for what you believe in even if it means retribution and even hatred from the people around you.



I can relate to some of the characters somewhat so when I read about them and all their separate problems in their lives that they are having on top of the initial plot of the book. The two characters I feel I can relate to most is Ginny and Luna. I%26#039;m the youngest like Ginny and like her my parents (well my mother) isn%26#039;t really around, I have no sisters, just a brother. My brother does the whole %26quot;hurt my sister and your dead%26quot; thing when he finds out there%26#039;s a guy who likes me. I have a fiery temper etc like Ginny. Then with Luna, I%26#039;m almost always in a world of my own, I believe in things that other people would say is BS and I%26#039;m pretty sure a lot of people think I%26#039;m really weird lol. So when I read the books I have this feeling of belonging and that I%26#039;d fit in perfectly in Harry%26#039;s world.



Harry Potter is my companion when I%26#039;ve freaked myself out late at night (it happens when you have an overactive imagination), it%26#039;s my companion when I%26#039;m feeling down and on rainy days. It%26#039;s great to hide under the bed quilt with a torch and just read and read. It%26#039;s also encouraged me to follow my dream and write. I%26#039;ve wanted to write since I was 6 but Harry Potter or rather JK told me (through her books) that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it, which is a great comfort.



Then here on yahoo answers I%26#039;ve found many contacts who share my passion and I can answer they%26#039;re great questions (in fact you%26#039;ve just inspired me to ask some HP questions be on the look-out lol). I got great Harry Potter loving contacts (like you) who share my passion and love. I know I don%26#039;t ask many HP questions I can never think of good ones.



I don%26#039;t know where I%26#039;d be without Harry Potter, in fact I don%26#039;t even want to think about it...
So many people are lucky enough for Harry Potter to inspire them to read. I know so many kids who hated reading, read Harry Potter, and then couldn%26#039;t get enough. I wasn%26#039;t one of those kids. I%26#039;ve been a bookworm from about the age of two. I read everything I could get my hands on. So naturally when my local library got a couple of new books in I jumped, as I%26#039;d read everything else in the Junior and Young Adult section. Fell in love. At the time there was only the first three books out. I think I became a total recluse because i was just rereading them over and over and over again for about two years.



But that%26#039;s not how it changed me. I think in some ways, when I was younger and more impressionable, it inspired me to be a better person. Harry is so intrinsically good. You can%26#039;t help but think... wow I should have better morals. At my high school I was known as that Harry Potter kid. It defined me. Seriously. I think it inspired me to be better at english, writing etc. So I guess it%26#039;s indirectly related to my success in school (bar my failure in maths). Basically Harry Potter has just defined the majority of my life. There%26#039;s been no single occurrence, thing or person which has influenced my life as much as Harry Potter has.



As for why so many people read the series I think it%26#039;s because it%26#039;s so relatable. Little kids fall in love with the magic and the character. Adults love the complex plot and the writing. It can be appreciated by so many groups of people. But really I think there%26#039;s four main reasons



The plot of Harry Potter is complex and intertwined throughout seven novels. It%26#039;s basically a new plot as well, not main books intermix fantasy and reality, and even fewer are set in the present. The plot is also very elaborate, you seldom find details that are redundant. It also is very very intriguing, you can%26#039;t stop turning the pages and before you know it you%26#039;ve read the entire book. And there%26#039;s so many captivating subplots that are really just as entertaining as the main plots. And there%26#039;s practically no plot holes. Despite being set over seven books JK still manages to tie it all in together. Basically it%26#039;s suspenseful, original and complex. You can analyse it to death and still find new points.



JK Rowling%26#039;s writing style is captivating. I%26#039;m not calling her the most amazing writer of the century, but she really does keep it exciting. In reality, Harry Potter IS a children%26#039;s book, the language isn%26#039;t as sophisticated as many others I%26#039;ve read and it%26#039;s not meant to be. Despite this I find the Harry Potter books are entertaining with JK keeping the pages turning. Most of the time I%26#039;m like %26quot;i%26#039;ll go to bed at the end of the chapter%26quot; half an hour later I%26#039;ll realise i finished the chapter and am most of the way through the next. You just can%26#039;t stop. It%26#039;s like chocolate.



The foreshadowing and detail in the books is mindblowing. Events that occur in the seventh book are foreshadowed in the first. Every little detail in the Harry Potter books is there for a reason, which makes them so exciting. I don%26#039;t want to say anything because i don%26#039;t want to spoil you, but yeah, Sirius Black is mentioned in the first chapter and then turns out to be one of the main characters from book three onwards. It%26#039;s fantastic. And the attention Jo has put to detail. Nearly every person%26#039;s name has something to do with their personality. Like Argus Filch is the Caretaker of Hogwarts who is constantly catching out students, in mythology argus is a guy with one hundred eyes. The spells have routes in latin and even the places have meanings. I love it, it gives the series the depth and richness which has kept me obsessed for over half of my life.



Finally i think the major point is the characters. Every character is believable, there is no Mary-Sue%26#039;s. The characters have real flaws, which although frustrating, really lift them off the page. All the characters are relatable also, with Harry dealing with homework, friends, bullies, teachers, sport and all the things every day people deal with. Except there%26#039;s the excitement of magic. Even the %26#039;bad guys%26#039; are believable with Voldemort having a complex past as well as Snape%26#039;s twisted and fantastic back story. My personal favourite is Luna Lovegood. She%26#039;s the character that%26#039;s the most like me, and I love the way she%26#039;s not afraid to show her feelings. Hermione is my second favourite, because she%26#039;s so clever and without her Harry may bot be alive. By the way, I love your name, L鈦? Is your fave character Luna too?



PS: I studied Snape too! His death was vvery touching... I kept crying :(
Same as you :) Although, I was always huge into reading...But yeah. On here, I%26#039;d never have met any of you guys! I%26#039;m sorry, brah, this answer%26#039;s gotta be short. Gotta clean the basement :\ Maybe I%26#039;ll edit.
It%26#039;s gotten me more friends. Once I read it, if everythings quiet ill be like ....%26quot;so anyone ever read HP%26quot;

LOL. And yes I made a good friend over HP

And....it%26#039;s just opened me up to a better place. A magical world :) Hehee
It got me into writing.



I know it sounds stupid, pointless, but it%26#039;s true. Once I finished the last book, I NEEDED more, and this time I couldn%26#039;t just let my need be settled by waiting for the new book to come out. I went on FanFiction, and I got really into the story lines. I came up with my own ideas, weaved a plot together, and I started posting. FanFiction has developed my style, and really got me into writing. Like, I don%26#039;t know how I%26#039;d live without either of them.



Harry Potter is awesome.

Harry Potter pwns.

Harry Potter won the game.
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