Growing up with Harry
Mar. 29th, 2007 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
author_by_night(Yet again, non-Harry Potter people- forgive me.)
Many of us were children or in our early teens when we first picked up the book with that odd guy in front of a train (or on a broomstick, or somewhere else, depending on where you reside.)
So I'm conducting a survey of sorts, and want feedback from those of you who were in your teens or younger when you first read the books. In a short paragraph or sentence, tell me these things
- Your country of residence.
- The fandom/LJ name you want to be quoted as (in case I decide to quote yours), or if you'd rather not be quoted, but still want to answer.
- How old you are now, and how old you were then.
- What it was like, growing up with the books.
If you know someone who grew up with the books (little brother/sister, younger friend, your own kid, etc.), you may also post about that.
Note: I will be quoting a number of these unless you request otherwise, but it is possible not all answers will be used. I will make an effort to link to this post when I complete the project, but if it is hard to fit the number I recieve in, I will not be able to. However, again, I will link to this.
Oh, and just FYI: I was fourteen when I first read the books. I'm now twenty two. Time flies!
ETA: Thanks to all of you who have replied so far! 41 comments! One of these days I will catch up on replying, but in the meantime, it's been cool hearing all of your stories, and look forward to more. :)
Many of us were children or in our early teens when we first picked up the book with that odd guy in front of a train (or on a broomstick, or somewhere else, depending on where you reside.)
So I'm conducting a survey of sorts, and want feedback from those of you who were in your teens or younger when you first read the books. In a short paragraph or sentence, tell me these things
- Your country of residence.
- The fandom/LJ name you want to be quoted as (in case I decide to quote yours), or if you'd rather not be quoted, but still want to answer.
- How old you are now, and how old you were then.
- What it was like, growing up with the books.
If you know someone who grew up with the books (little brother/sister, younger friend, your own kid, etc.), you may also post about that.
Note: I will be quoting a number of these unless you request otherwise, but it is possible not all answers will be used. I will make an effort to link to this post when I complete the project, but if it is hard to fit the number I recieve in, I will not be able to. However, again, I will link to this.
Oh, and just FYI: I was fourteen when I first read the books. I'm now twenty two. Time flies!
ETA: Thanks to all of you who have replied so far! 41 comments! One of these days I will catch up on replying, but in the meantime, it's been cool hearing all of your stories, and look forward to more. :)
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-31 12:26 am (UTC)America - Lavinia Lavender - I am eighteen, and was eleven.
It's interesting, a lot of my friends (who are the same age as me...most in the same country, one in New Zealand) seem to have gotten the first three books the same occasion I did: Christmas 1999. (So almost 2000, yes.) I was immediately hooked from the first page, the third book stole my heart, and I did v. mad things (as an eleven-year-old) when the fourth book came out (July 8th, 2000. Heh, I remember all the dates). Didn't find fandom until about February 2002, though, when I was thirteen, but I have been in it ever since.
Harry Potter is not my favorite book, but I think even if you put all the others together (and there's a lot, trust me), I will have still spent more time on Harry Potter than the rest. Personally, I think one of the chief brilliances of the book isn't the plot or setting - it's the characters, the huge range of characters. Everyone has a favorite, one they adore and identify with, and yeah.
Oh, what else...one of the most valuable things about it to me is this wonderful group of friends I've made through it (and by that I mean its fandom). They're real friends, they've been there for me through times when everything else was crazy, and we've done all sorts of crazy meet-ups and other things because of it. That's powerful.
But the BOOKS, okay. Like I mentioned, it was seven months after I first found them that the next came out - due to external circumstances and probably my age, I didn't go to a midnight release (did they even have that for the fourth?), but my mom had it for me the v. next day, and I read it desperately every second I could - stayed up way late, given me at the time, heh.
For the fifth - ah, this is a nice story. My parents (mom and step-father) were married June 21st (2003). So at midnight the night before, they took me to the bookstore for the book. I stayed up until four a.m. reading, got a few hours of sleep before we had to get up to drive to the beach house where the wedding took place. I read before and after the ceremony - we have pictures of me dressed up. They also gave up plastic Harry glasses at the bookstore - my parents got some, and posed with them too for some pictures. Hee, they're cool.
Then, for the sixth...again, I went to the bookstore at midnight, my parents slept in the car while I waited for my number, and interestingly enough we left the next day for the same beach house where we had the wedding a few years before, so I got to finish the sixth book in the same place as the fifth.
Another cool fact is that I actually read part of the fourth and all of the fifth and sixth books to my parents, out loud - no mean feat when you have a speech impediment which particularly comes out when you're excited and reading dialogue, heh. But they listened and just asked me to repeat things whenever I wasn't clear, and it was great fun.
Okay, I'll end now. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to reminesce!
NO WAIT, I lied, last fact: the seventh book is coming out on my NINETEENTH BIRTHDAY. HOW COOL IS THAT. *preens*