For me?
Neither!
My wife says the books & my kids say the movies so we have a split desicion :rolleyes:

The books, definitely

I enjoyed the movies, don't get me wrong, but there's just something magical about the books, something the films just cannot convey.

I used to loathe Harry Potter. Then when the latest book came out, I became intrigued. So I bought The Sorcerer's Stone, and read it in about a week. I was hooked after that. I read all six books in less than two months. I can't wait for the next (and final ) book.

Wow! that's pretty impressive. It'll probably take me a month to read book 5 and another month to read book 6 but I'm excited. I want to get "caught up" as it were. And yes I agree, the books. They just add so much detail and the movies leave out so much (mostly due to time)

It took me 2 wks to read book 6 (have i mentioned that?)

I've been reading book 5 for about 2 weeks now and I'm only half-way through. A buddy of mine who loves Harry Potter didn't like this book as much (he felt there was too much whining in it) but so far I like it. I don't know where I'd rank it yet with books 1-4 but I have enjoyed this book, despite its length

Yeah it is kinda long!

Previous posts in the "Books you just read discussion"


July 30, 2005

Just finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone today. I started it on Wednesday and am very proud that I finshed it in just 4 days. A very fun and exciting book that was hard to put down. The movie was pretty much dead on when you compare it with the book, except for a few minor changes here and there which is to be expected. I plan on starting Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets tomorrow



August 3, 2005

Just finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets today. I started it on Sunday and am very proud that I finshed it in just 4 days. A very fun and exciting book that wasn't as hard to put down as was The Sorcerer's Stone. The movie was a little bit different from the movie moreso than the first book/movie. In this movie, a lot of lines said by a particular person is said by a different person in the book. I at least somewhat understand the ending a little bit better. I plan on starting Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban tomorrow



August 10, 2005

Just finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban today. I started it last Thursday and am very proud that I finshed it in just 7 days. This was probably my favorite Harry Potter book so far that I've read. The movie is the one out of the trilogy that's probably furthest away from the book. I plan on starting Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire sometime this weekend (I've been reading for 2 weeks straight and would like a couple of days off). I'm not going to try to read Goblet as fast and the first 3. I just want to read it before the movie comes out in November, which I should be able to do



January 30, 2006

Last semester I read this and enjoyed it the most out of the first 4 books. It was the longest up to that point but in some parts it felt like it wasn't long enough. I can't wait until I can read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this summer.

Ive read all the books and seen all the movies. No comparison. Books are better.

Well, I'm very proud that I got this book done is only 26 days. The length of the book didn't bother me as much except I felt it didn't provide a lot of "suspensfulness" as the other books did. In book 1, they're looking for the Sorcerer's Stone, book 2 the Chamber of Secrets, book 3 trying to figure out who how Sirius broke out of Azkaban and why he's after Harry/fighting dementors, book 4 the Triwizard Tournament. What really disappointed me in this book was just not a real interesting "central theme" as the other books had. I plan on reading The Half-Blood Prince before I go back to school in August.

SPOILERS

I loved the whole Harry vs Umbridge feud and the fact that Ron, Herminone and Malfoy were made prefects. Also that Ron, Ginny, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are all playing Quiditch. And I was VERY surprised to hear that Sirius died (I had no idea that was coming). But what pissed me off most about this book is that it was like reading a journal of Harry. It was like, today I went to Defense Against the Dark Arts class, got detention from Umbridge, got kicked off the Quiditch team and that's it. Then when it got to the end I was TOTALLY pissed that the fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort was so short and that Voldemort just ran with Bellatrix. The last 2 chapters were good (The Lost Prophecy and The Second War Begins) but overall I was disappointed with this book.

END OF SPOILERS

So have you read the 5th one?

Yeah that's my review of it right above your post :rolleyes:

Oh rite silly me! :rolleyes:

Here's a site with the "tentative" release date for the 7th and final book in the HARRY POTTER series July 7, 2007

Also, do you guys think book 7 will be the longest of the series, surpassing even The Order of the Phoenix?

Better yet, who read the news that apparently two characters will get axed in the last book?

I actually happened to be discussing this with my family earlier tonight, and I voiced the opinion that the 4th book was a great read, one of the more enjoyable fiction novels I've ever read (which is actually not saying much), and probably the only one of the series which I could actually see myself re-reading.

And then there's the movie, which I considered the worst film I'd seen last year. There's really just no way you can pack that huge book into one, normal length movie, and so my vote definitely goes for the books.

Hagen, you abadoning your film criticism hat for that of fandom?

Hell, I defend Singer's X-MEN pictures for fandom reasons, but I see those movies for what they are: First was average, but watchable, and the sequel was solid friggin good.

You know, more and more, maybe I'm blessed to have never bothered reading up on that brat wizard.

I also heard from a friend of mine that there might be a book 8, for which will be about Harry's life after Hogwarts

I couldn't agree more (especially about the movie). It should have been split in 2 a la the Kill Bills. As for the books, I'd rank them:

1) The Goblet of Fire
2) The Prisoner of Azkaban
3) The Sorcerer's Stone
4) The Order of the Phoenix
5) The Chamber of Secrets

You really don't know what your missing. The same arguments were made when the Lord of the Rings trilogy was made. You're gonna have that anywhere you have a popular book series like this tranform media's from books to movies.

But the difference, Irish, is....fuck LORD OF THE RINGS. :p

Besides, spltting part 4 into TWO movies?

WTF would happen with book 5 or 6 or 7 or any of those insanely-long novels?

This aint DOCTOR WHO. This is a movie, and as a film on its own, I felt Mike Newell quite succeeded in emerging more on Cuaron's blend of Columbus' awfully gay(cheerful, not homosexual) vision of lightness and a twist of reality blackness of evil here and there....except more-so on the idea that shit has hit the fan.

It's amazing, but the most flat films of the series are the first two, which fans apparently like the most, but yet we don't never bothered with that damn kid wizard in the books.....well, Cuaron and Newell certainly are better filmmakers than Columbus could ever hope to be.

Besides Irish, for a so-called self-confessed X-MEN fan, how could you like the blandness that is X3? Hell, even the quite average first movie at least didn't fuck too much with the fundamentals of the source, and actually improved here and there in minor details.

Well you never know with JK Rowling as she mixes the sizes up

Amen.

Whatever your personal feelings towards The Lord of the Rings books and/or movies, you can't deny the same arguments were made when they were at their peak

but Irish, what about the movies themselves? Fuck the books, fuck the fandom, that's all static.

If the films can't cut the mustard on their own, then they aren't worth a damn.

I agree ronnie, but I still felt the 4th movie could have been longer. They got away with Azkaban being 2 1/2 hours (it could have been 3) but Goblet was just WAY too short

Best Books in Series In order: #5,#4,#3,#2,#1,#6.
Best Moives in Series In order: #4,#2,#2,#1

Best books in order : #6 #5# 4# #2 #3 #1

Movies so far: #2 #3 #4 #1

Books: 4, 3, 1, 5, 2 (currently reading 6 and so far it's GREAT)
Movies: 1, 4, 3, 2

Yeah #6 is my favourite. I was crying at the end. Cant wait for #7 it should follow on.

All I can say after reading the final Harry Potter book is WOW! and give me more! I finished this book in 17 days and it didn't go fast enough. The cliffhanger at the end of this book is the best and I couldn't put this book down. Easily my favorite book of the series and I eageraly anticipate both this movie and the final book. I don't want to have to wait another year to read book 7!

SPOILERS I was so happy to FINALLY see Harry and Ginny hook up but was pissed when he broke it off at the end (although I understood why). I'm still waiting for Ron and Hermione to get together. Plus, I can't wait to see what Harry does to Snape, Malfoy and Voldemort. I think the next book will have to be longer than The Order of the Phoenix. END OF SPOILERS



Updated rankings:

Books
1) The Half-Blood Prince
2) The Goblet of Fire
3) The Prisoner of Azkaban
4) The Sorcerer's Stone
5) The Order of the Phoenix
6) The Chamber of Secrets

Movies
1) The Sorcerer's Stone
2) The Goblet of Fire
3) The Prisoner of Azkaban
4) The Chamber of Secrets