I Have Never Read a Harry Potter Book or Seen a Harry Potter Movie

I know, it's probably the strangest thing in the world. The Pope has probably seen a Harry Potter Movie. The Queen has probably read a Harry Potter book. I've done neither, and I kid you not. How I managed to survive the biggest fad of the 21st century, I'll never know. Is it even a fad? No, much bigger than that. It's a phenomenon, a cultural icon, a symbol of the importance that literature still has in today's society. I've pretty much jumped on every other wagon in the the last 2 decades of my life. I assure you, I'm not a non-conformist. I listen to top 40 music, wear brand name clothes, and got a MacBook recently for no other reason besides the fact that it's cool. So how could I have missed out on Harry Potter? I mean, it's been around for over 10 years, spawning 8 movies, earning billions of dollars, and yet I'm still at a complete loss on this one. Are there others like me out there? If there are, I think it's time we find out for ourselves what exactly is so great about Harry Potter! I will be starting the series next week, and continue writing about my thoughtsl as I progress through the series.

Well, it's not exactly that I avoided Harry Potter, more that I kind of ignored it. When the books first became popular, I wasn't much of a reader. To this day, I can probably count on one hand how many novels I've read from start to finish. I just don't like reading; every time I had to read something for school I would find some sort of alternative. Reading makes me tired, hurts my back because I can never find a comfortable position to sit, and eventually bores me enough to irritate me even if I'm enjoying what I'm reading. Doesn't make sense I know, but reading is such a boring activity for me, that even if I like the book, the act itself bores me. Which is exactly why I'm going to see if the Harry Potter franchise can change that.

Anyways, I didn't like reading so there's no way I was going to pick up a 700 page book. (those books were intimidating at the time!) When the movies started coming out almost 10 years ago, I was in the 6th grade and really had too much else going on to worry about Harry Potter. I mean, I was a "big kid" starting middle school, going through puberty, and back then I was fresh into my anime phase and really didn't care about much else. I think I honestly thought I was too cool for Harry Potter at the time and that it was just some lame wizard movie with weird British accents and an extremely dorky main character. And you can't blame me for that, everyone my age agreed that Harry Potter was dorky, little did I know that they were all closet fans!

By the time I finished middle school, I think the 3rd movie was out and I even decided that I was going to finally start watching the series. I was over my "it's dorky" stance for a small window. Thing is though, I'm kind of OCD when it comes to TV series or movies or things of that sort. I have to watch things in order, the way they were intended to be. Since the third movie was now coming out, I had to watch the first and second before I watched the third. Well, I never got around to it and I don't know why because I wasn't doing much else with my life when I was 13. Time passed, I started high school, and for a short period I decided I liked being the only person to never be exposed to Harry Potter. In the 10th grade English class, our teacher decided she would use Harry Potter as an example since everyone had seen or read it. I certainly burst her bubble when I was the only one to put my hand up when she asked if anyone hadn't seen Harry Potter. Now I feel like a loser for doing that honestly - hah.

As high school was nearing its end, and the final book was being released, I kind of decided my fate with Harry Potter. I figured the series was ending so there's no point of starting it. Besides, I enjoyed reading spoilers online and telling them to everyone to ruin Harry Potter for them. I even posted spoilers on a forum I visited online. After that Harry Potter was sort of out of the spotlight until now, where I'm starting my 4th year of college and the final movie has just been released. I officially managed to somehow dodge the hype for 10 years... I don't know if I should be proud or feel like an outcast?

As I mentioned earlier, I have finally decided to start with Harry Potter! Perfect timing right, seeing as the series just ended? Now I can bask in all its glory all on my own and annoy people by talking about things 10 years later. My predicament is though, should I start with the books, or the movies? I've asked many people this question, and particularly the avid fans say to definitely start with the books. I mean, it's straight from J.K. Rowling's imagination, to my imagination, and no third party involved to taint things in-between. The problem there is, I still don't like reading. I've recently tried to also get myself to read more books. I bought two novels over a month ago and haven't finished either.

Is Harry Potter exciting enough that it can actually make me read an entire book, from start to finish, of my own will? Whichever I do first, I do plan on reading at least one book so I can get some inspiration from the genius mastermind herself, as I plan to write the next big fad (which will obviously be a successful endeavor). I mean come on, she's totally brainwashed society into this whole phenomenon. She's nothing short of a genius. Or maybe she just got lucky? I admire her nonetheless, even though I haven't the slightest clue about what she actually wrote about yet.

I'm going to either watch the first movie or read the first book next week, and I'll continue to post articles about my progress with Harry Potter, and how I feel about it after reading/watching each of the installments in the series. I'm not saying I'll finish it, the series has to maintain my interest of course. But I really have high expectations for Harry Potter so I probably will, at the least, finish the series. I'm adding a poll where Harry Potter fans can help me decide if I should start with the book or movie. I look forward to starting this "journey" and hope that some people out there will be doing the same. Stay tuned for my series of articles along the way!

• Introduction: I Have Never Read a Harry Potter Book or Seen a Harry Potter Movie
• Part 1 - After Reading the First 5 Chapters
• Part 2 - Finished Reading The First Book
• Part 3 - Chamber of Secrets and First Two Movies
• Part 4 - The HORRIBLE Prisoner of Azkaban Movie