# Dumb Harry Potter question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707 "2003-07-07T04:31:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/1 "2003-07-07T04:31:44Z")
Now playing catch-up, I’ve started reading the HP books, from a borrowed set. The first and second are obvious, but what is the order for 3 and 4? ---
**Author:** ![PRNYouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PRNYouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PRNYouth)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/2 "2003-07-07T04:34:07Z")
Three comes before four. 😃 Seriously, the order is as follows: Sorcerer’s Stone (originally Philosopher’s Stone) Chamber of Secrets Prisoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Phoenix Happy reading. You’ll enjoy them, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/3 "2003-07-07T04:34:17Z")
Prisoner of Azkaban is year three at Hogwarts, and book three. Goblet of Fire is year four at Hogwarts, and book four. Is that what you were asking? ---
**Author:** ![BooksWoods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooksWoods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooksWoods)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/4 "2003-07-07T10:26:25Z")
I’ll probably be skewered for this, but I am reading HP aloud to my kids and I find it excruciating. I hate all the creepy Wartmughoggle type names. The writing style (she turned around slowly, picked up her wand, straightened the curtain, looked from Harry to Ron… GET TO THE POINT) is cumbersome and too drawn out and all I see when I read it is the next movie, with all the kids at Hogwarts, jaws dropped at the latest special effect. oooh. ahh. I’ll take Tolkien any day. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/5 "2003-07-07T10:35:11Z")
Considering that the first 4 books were written before the first movie came out… (and the first one written before she was even sure it’d get published)… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/6 "2003-07-07T10:52:05Z")
There’s a certain style to some writing where the pacing, especially the sort we’re used to in film and television, is dictated by the length of the sentences and paragraphs. Comic timing, suspense, joy, can all be manipulated into more relatable believability if you pace out the sentence structure just so. The HP books have a goodly chunk of that in them, most likely because JKR is as influenced by movies and TV as we are. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/7 "2003-07-07T14:02:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PRNYouth \* > \*\*Three comes before four. > > 😃 > \*\* Smartass 😉 ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/8 "2003-07-07T14:03:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BuckleberryFerry \* > \*\*Prisoner of Azkaban is year three at Hogwarts, and book three. > Goblet of Fire is year four at Hogwarts, and book four. > > Is that what you were asking? \*\* Thanks, PRNYouth and BuckleberryFerry; that’s what I was after. ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/9 "2003-07-07T16:02:57Z")
Not to point out the obvious, but all the books I’ve seen have the year/series number on the spine. With the possible exception of the mass market editions of 1 and 2. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/10 "2003-07-07T17:22:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BooksWoods \* > \*\*I’ll probably be skewered for this, but I am reading HP aloud to my kids and I find it excruciating. I hate all the creepy Wartmughoggle type names. The writing style (she turned around slowly, picked up her wand, straightened the curtain, looked from Harry to Ron… GET TO THE POINT) is cumbersome and too drawn out and all I see when I read it is the next movie, with all the kids at Hogwarts, jaws dropped at the latest special effect. oooh. ahh. > I’ll take Tolkien any day. \*\* Of couse, you could get Jim Dale to do the reading for you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pergau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7c8e57/32.png) [@Pergau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pergau)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/11 "2003-07-08T14:10:45Z")
Get Stephen Fry to do it, forget Jim Dale. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-harry-potter-question/186707/12 "2003-07-08T14:39:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BooksWoods \* > \*\*I’ll probably be skewered for this, but I am reading HP aloud to my kids and I find it excruciating. I hate all the creepy Wartmughoggle type names. The writing style (she turned around slowly, picked up her wand, straightened the curtain, looked from Harry to Ron… GET TO THE POINT) is cumbersome and too drawn out and all I see when I read it is the next movie, with all the kids at Hogwarts, jaws dropped at the latest special effect. oooh. ahh. > I’ll take Tolkien any day. \*\* Oh yeah, Tolkien didn’t have any hard to pronounce names and he moved the plot distinctly forward with every sentence.