30 days of Harry Potter meme- day 2
day 02. Your favorite book *s*
i'm going to cheat a little on this one since a lot of questions let you answer more than one option.
because I can't really pick just one favorite.
so I will pick and elaborate on my pick for top 3 books.
#1- Prisoner of Azkaban
#2- Sorcerer/Philosopher Stone
#3- Goblet of fire
Prisoner of Azkaban
the first time I read all of the seven books, Prisoner of azkaban was the one that i liked the best.
the initial reason at the time was because it was the first books where Harry didn't had Voldemort looming over him/being a threat for the entire year. it was also the book that expanded and fleshed out more about the wizard world; the Knightbus, Hogsmeade with the three broomsticks, the Shrieking Shack, Florean Fortescue's shop, the leaky Cauldron,etc. It had the trio having fun as teenagers, which in retrospect they really deserved that moment of peace, laugh and happiness before everything went dark. It introduced some pretty Awesome characters like Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. (who both became individual favorites of mine).
It had, for a still children book, rather good mysteries (the overall one and How did Hermione managed to go to all her classes- which the answer was one of my favorite parts of the book because of it pieced so many things together).
it did have some moments that weren't so enjoyable to read, the pending execution of Buckbeak, the way both Harry and Ron got mad at Hermione for telling about the firebolt and for the "supposed" death of scabbers, Harry getting a Big harsh lecture from Lupin about "throwing away his parents sacrifice" so he could sneak to Hogsmeade; which was doubly painful to read considering how Harry completely disregarded Hermione's concern as a friend.
Fortunately, All three of the trio had shining moments that made up for that and i personally think made their friendship grew; such as Harry wanting to share his firebolt with Ron, and wanting to save him when Padfoot dragged him into the shrieking shack; Ron sort of apology to Hermione and promise to help her with Buckebeak case *which i think the intention counts*, Harry thanking Hermione for helping him save Sirius.
i also liked how in it Harry felt he had some semblance of family back with Sirius being his godfather, and how sirius helped make his stay at the Dursleys bearable.
Philosopher/Sorcerer Stone
sorcerer stone became a favorite on the very simple basis of it being the first book, that introduced Harry, his friends and the magical Wizard World, with the unique feature of being a world parallel to our own.
*which funny enough, now with the park, it's the closest to reality we all have to be able to experience that wonderful world*
It also had Harry transition for his horrible circumstances at the Dursleys, to his place in the wizard world where he found good, loyal friends Ron and Hermione and was able to find a place that was closer to a home and a family, and finding things he loved, like flying and having a good, enjoyable Christmas. Not only that but the final chapters of the book highlighted each member of the trio for what they were good for, Hermione was smart and a brave and caring friend, Ron was brave, loyal, a good strategist, and someone willing to make sacrifices for the sake of his friends; and finally harry who despite never having anything in his life, despite the fact he was risking a lot by trying to protect the stone, and he was willing to risk his life for his new home and friends. and the fact one of the themes of the book seemed to be about hope.
Goblet of Fire
The Main reason goblet of fire is included in the Favorite book list is because it expanded even more about the Wizard World (The World Cup Ireland vs. Bulgaria, and the yule ball were among my favorite parts), not to mention it has an exciting,adrenaline filled overarching plot (the Tri-Wizard Tournament- which include other wizard schools of other nationalities which i though was awesome) and another big mystery just as good as the one in the previous book.
although I admit I cringed and was rather put down by the fight and "cold holder" between Harry and Ron. As someone who has a lot of guy friends this was familiarly irritating because the argument was all one big missunderstanding and both guys were being too hard headed to say "i'm sorry".
when they finally went back to being friends, I was ectastic, not only because it's clear in the books till now how important a friend Ron is to Harry, and vice versa.
Also, I was pretty proud of Ron to actually say "i'm sorry, guess i acted like an idiot." which, again, having a lot of guy friends I seen how hard it is for a guy to actually say sorry, specially out of pride; so i felt it was a good character development for Ron.
Also I loved the introduction of Moody, even if he didn't turned out to be who the right one, He came across as a fascinating, somewhat funny and very excentric character.
i'm going to cheat a little on this one since a lot of questions let you answer more than one option.
because I can't really pick just one favorite.
so I will pick and elaborate on my pick for top 3 books.
#1- Prisoner of Azkaban
#2- Sorcerer/Philosopher Stone
#3- Goblet of fire
Prisoner of Azkaban
the first time I read all of the seven books, Prisoner of azkaban was the one that i liked the best.
the initial reason at the time was because it was the first books where Harry didn't had Voldemort looming over him/being a threat for the entire year. it was also the book that expanded and fleshed out more about the wizard world; the Knightbus, Hogsmeade with the three broomsticks, the Shrieking Shack, Florean Fortescue's shop, the leaky Cauldron,etc. It had the trio having fun as teenagers, which in retrospect they really deserved that moment of peace, laugh and happiness before everything went dark. It introduced some pretty Awesome characters like Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. (who both became individual favorites of mine).
It had, for a still children book, rather good mysteries (the overall one and How did Hermione managed to go to all her classes- which the answer was one of my favorite parts of the book because of it pieced so many things together).
it did have some moments that weren't so enjoyable to read, the pending execution of Buckbeak, the way both Harry and Ron got mad at Hermione for telling about the firebolt and for the "supposed" death of scabbers, Harry getting a Big harsh lecture from Lupin about "throwing away his parents sacrifice" so he could sneak to Hogsmeade; which was doubly painful to read considering how Harry completely disregarded Hermione's concern as a friend.
Fortunately, All three of the trio had shining moments that made up for that and i personally think made their friendship grew; such as Harry wanting to share his firebolt with Ron, and wanting to save him when Padfoot dragged him into the shrieking shack; Ron sort of apology to Hermione and promise to help her with Buckebeak case *which i think the intention counts*, Harry thanking Hermione for helping him save Sirius.
i also liked how in it Harry felt he had some semblance of family back with Sirius being his godfather, and how sirius helped make his stay at the Dursleys bearable.
Philosopher/Sorcerer Stone
sorcerer stone became a favorite on the very simple basis of it being the first book, that introduced Harry, his friends and the magical Wizard World, with the unique feature of being a world parallel to our own.
*which funny enough, now with the park, it's the closest to reality we all have to be able to experience that wonderful world*
It also had Harry transition for his horrible circumstances at the Dursleys, to his place in the wizard world where he found good, loyal friends Ron and Hermione and was able to find a place that was closer to a home and a family, and finding things he loved, like flying and having a good, enjoyable Christmas. Not only that but the final chapters of the book highlighted each member of the trio for what they were good for, Hermione was smart and a brave and caring friend, Ron was brave, loyal, a good strategist, and someone willing to make sacrifices for the sake of his friends; and finally harry who despite never having anything in his life, despite the fact he was risking a lot by trying to protect the stone, and he was willing to risk his life for his new home and friends. and the fact one of the themes of the book seemed to be about hope.
Goblet of Fire
The Main reason goblet of fire is included in the Favorite book list is because it expanded even more about the Wizard World (The World Cup Ireland vs. Bulgaria, and the yule ball were among my favorite parts), not to mention it has an exciting,adrenaline filled overarching plot (the Tri-Wizard Tournament- which include other wizard schools of other nationalities which i though was awesome) and another big mystery just as good as the one in the previous book.
although I admit I cringed and was rather put down by the fight and "cold holder" between Harry and Ron. As someone who has a lot of guy friends this was familiarly irritating because the argument was all one big missunderstanding and both guys were being too hard headed to say "i'm sorry".
when they finally went back to being friends, I was ectastic, not only because it's clear in the books till now how important a friend Ron is to Harry, and vice versa.
Also, I was pretty proud of Ron to actually say "i'm sorry, guess i acted like an idiot." which, again, having a lot of guy friends I seen how hard it is for a guy to actually say sorry, specially out of pride; so i felt it was a good character development for Ron.
Also I loved the introduction of Moody, even if he didn't turned out to be who the right one, He came across as a fascinating, somewhat funny and very excentric character.