Devourer of Books

I’ve been out and about, running around this week, but Wednesday night I managed to skim the top few posts in my Google Reader and get on Twitter briefly and thank goodness I did!  If I hadn’t, I might never have known that Michelle over at GalleySmith is hosting a Harry Potter Reading Challenge.  All you have to do is read (or listen to) the series between August 1, 2009 and July 31, 2010.

It seems like many of the people planning to participate in this challenge are doing so because they haven’t read the books and figure that it is time to get around to it at this p0int.  This is not quite my situation>  I was first exposed to Harry Potter when on a vacation with my family in high school.  My mom and sister were reading the first two books (and my sister didn’t read much at that time, so that was big).  I thought the books sounded stupid, but I finished the reading I had brought with me, so I started stealing the Harry Potter books from them, so as to avoid a bibliomergency.  I was hooked.

In the 10 or so years since then, I’ve read almost all of the books multiple times.  When “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” came out I read the entire thing in one day, then read it again the following weekend.  My husband (then fiance) got mad at me when “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” came out because I even took it to dinner with us and read it under the table at the little Thai restaurant.  ”Deathly Hallows” is actually the only one I haven’t read at least 3 times at this point.  I may have read it twice, though.

Even though I’ve read the books so often, the release of the 6th movie has had me wanting to read them again, so this is a great excuse.  I evidently only have in my possession books 4, 6, and 7, so I’m thinking about getting some of the earlier ones on audio from the library after having heard so much amazing stuff about Jim Dale’s audio versions.  I thought I had the 5th book as well, but it must have dissolved in my tears.  That is one of the ones I have reread the most often and it just kills me every time (as does the 6th book).

Oh!  And if you are contemplating joining this challenge but aren’t quite convinced, here’s a little something to help sway you: Michelle is giving away box sets (one hardcover and one paperback) of the entire series to two people who sign up to participate by August 15th.

Related posts:

1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and the Prisoner of Azkaban (audios) I’m moving along quite nicely on my Harry Potter Reading...
2. Library Loot – October 2, 2009 Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and...
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling...
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (audio) Okay, okay, I’m growing more and more attached to Jim...
5. The Debutante Ball 2010 Reading Challenge Hooray!  The time has come to s ign up for the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.