Lumos on Harry Potter

It may be a minority opinion, but I love overcast days.  Temperatures are comfortable, and you don't feel the burning of the sun on your skin.  There's also something calming about the light yet grey tone of the environment.

If it's raining, and you want to stay indoors, it's the perfect time to grab a cuppa tea and curl up with a good book.  Some of the best indulgences - the books in the Harry Potter series.  I started reading the series in college, and I still love rereading it today.

The stories are captivating at any age and a treat for your imagination.  For those of you that have somehow managed to avoid all the hoopla, the series is about a boy who learns he's a wizard and gets swept up in the wizard world.  While going to a wizarding school, he develops lifelong friendships with classmates and teachers who help (and hinder) him in various adventures.  The overarching adventure, however, is the classic battle of good versus evil.  The evil in this series are the forces of a powerful wizard gone bad.

Like any great work, the stories are entertaining at face value, but there are also deeper undertones on life, humanity, and morality.  Depending on what you like to get from entertainment, you can read it as you wish.


I will admit, some of the books are a little slow in the beginning.  It's not that they're bad, but they're not as page-turning as later on in the book, once you've passed the scene-setting and are in the thick of the plot.  Usually about a quarter of the way through, though, you are compelled to keep reading until the end.  That's how some die-hard fans finish a book in one day.  It usually took me a week to finish a book - a few days for the first quarter and one day into late night for the last three quarters.  Now that I've read them all, every now and then, I go back and just read the bits I'm craving at the time.

So why not watch the movies and save some time and effort?  Please do!  I find them highly entertaining.  The Harry Potter movies are some of the better adaptations from books that I've seen, but the main reason I would also read the books is the internal monologue that doesn't come across on screen, which allows you to connect more deeply with the characters.  There are also significant elements and subplots in the books that aren't developed or shown in the movies.  Elements that make the books that much more enjoyable.

So put the kettle on, get settled in your cozy chair, and welcome to the wizarding world of Harry Potter!