So, yes, I’m a bit late to the table with all of the Harry Potter hullabaloo. Now, I’ve seen all the films, and thoroughly enjoyed them. And we do have all of the books. Missy’s read them all, some of them more than once. But I never took the time to actually read them myself. I think it had to with the fact that while she was reading book the first, I was trudging through Stephen King’s The Gunslinger, half-heartedly attempting to make it through the entire Dark Tower saga. (I’m still not there yet, 3 books in.) Hey, it took King 22 years to write them all, I’ve got time.
At any rate, with the final book hitting shelves next month (Of course, we’ve pre-ordered it.) and the fifth film launching a few weeks before, I decided it was time to catch myself up. But instead of reading them all, I’ve opted for the audiobooks. I was able to wrangle audiobook copies of all 6 current books, and not just any old copies… Instead of the Jim Dale read American versions (Although I’ve heard he’s quite good.), I’m listening to the original British versions read by Stephen Fry. I’m a huge fan of Fry, his comedy duo with Hugh Laurie (Yes, that would be House.) entitled “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” was always a laugh riot. Catch it on YouTube if you’re unfamiliar. He does an amazing job with the different voices and at times you can forget that it’s only one man reading.
So I’ve just finished the first book, that would be The Philosopher’s Stone, not The Sorcerer’s Stone. Stupid Americanization. Changing colloquialisms in fictional books to make them more familiar is one thing, but changing references to actual historical people, things, and/or events is really unacceptable. Oh well. I’ll begin book 2 tonight. The first 2 books are each only 8 hours long. But as they go on, they get much longer. Order of the Phoenix is, itself, more than 28 hours long!
So wish me well, fellow Potter fans. And I’ll see you all opening night for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!
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