Extra Credit: First Time Reader

Coming into this class I was a little nervous.  I had read only 3 of the Harry Potter books when I was younger, only seen 2 of the movies and barely had any Harry Potter knowledge.  After the first day of class I was even more nervous; thinking about the amount of reading we had to do and seeing that I was 1 of maybe only 10 people who hadn't read the whole series was overwhelming and I already felt behind.  To my surprise the reading was nowhere near as bad as I thought.  Yes, it took me hours to sit there and stay on track for our reading schedule, falling behind a few times; but it was so enjoyable.  I loved picking up my book and transporting myself into the wizarding world.  I couldn't read it fast enough, Rowling always left us with a cliffhanger and seemed to leave holes everywhere she could.  After finishing the series and seeing what happened in the end I knew I was going to have to re-read the series over again.  The amount of detail and planning that Rowling used was at the very least impressive.  I didn't know how Rowling was going to tie everything together in the end and make everything all right (especially everything with Snape).  Rowling wrote a series that you can't just read once when you've finished it, you had to go back and fill in all the blanks that you didn't understand the first time.  My biggest surprise was that Dumbledore had planned his own death and that Snape was not really a death eater.  When I finished the last book I was so disappointed that it was over,   Rowling's work keeps the reader interested and drooling for more, she leaves people to assume and waits til the last minute to tie it all together.  She has turned me into a Harry Potter lover and only left me with fan pages and alternate stories to feed my reading needs.