I didn’t, though I’ve caught the movies on cable and I rented one on DVD (pickings were slim at that particular video store), but I can’t remember which. There was a magic cabinet and some kind of snake-puzzle-statue thing in it.
I never even heard of Harry Potter until late 2001/early 2002. By then, it would never, ever occur to me that I should read them. For starters, as an adult, I don’t seek out YA fiction. Secondly, when I was at that age, I didn’t read YA books. I read Stephen King, and romance novels, and whatever books I could sneak away from my grandpa’s bookshelf. I stook firmly to the adult section of the library. In other words, HP would never appeal to me, regardless of my age.
Later, I did read a few excerpts of various books. holy hell. I have no idea how anybody, anywhere, could get through more than one or two pages. Rowling may have interesting ideas (I don’t think she does, but whatever), but she has no style, no nuance, and she’s not really engaging. I also watched the first movie and…wow. That was dreck. I think given a choice, I’d watch Battlefield Earth rather than sit through that again.
Never read 'em. I really have no interest. A couple of friends have offered to loan me their copies but I’m not really into YA lit. I’ve read a few YA books (Example: The Giver because it’s dystopian) but I really have no interest in reading YA fantasy. I don’t read adult fantasy either.
I have no interest in seeing the movies either.
I read the first couple to see what all the fuss was about. But they didn’t really grab me and I never bothered reading the others.
I would’ve been 10-21 as the books were published. Never read any of the books, never saw any of the movies. No reason why, I read a lot when I was younger but never got into the books. My friends were crazy fanatics so I think that kind of deterred me if anything.
Nope. Too many things on my To Read list already.
My wife read the first one but gave up a bit through the second one–she found the story boring and too many things about the wizard/muggle divide unexplained or poorly dealt with (which ruined the fantasy element for her).
I haven’t had the desire to read them and frankly, I’m surprised at the number of Dopers who haven’t read them as well. I would have expected 90% of the free world had read them all from cover to cover given their hype.
It’s just not my style of book to read. I don’t care for flibertygibbets and galongkabongs language and fantasy has never been high on my list of likes. There are a couple Piers Anthony books I like and I LOVED the Hobbit. On the other hand, I just couldn’t get completely through the LOTR.
ETA: I’m an old fart (49) so YA fiction isn’t m’ thang.
Why are there so many of us 49-year olds in this thread? :dubious:
Late 30s, no kids - I read the first three because so many people I knew were reading them. I’d intended to read the fourth when it came out in paperback, but just didn’t care enough at that point to buy and continue reading.
I read the first four, but then I decided that, being an angsty teenage boy, I didn’t really care to read books about other angsty teenage boys.
raised hands
I don’t know, I just catch the movies. After watching the movies, I wasn’t inspired to read the books at all, so I pass up on reading the books. Besides, I hate long series glares at G.R.R Martin
Never read them. Born in 1984, so I would have been 13 when they started being released.
After going through Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, the Harry Potter books just seemed a bit too juvenile for me. I read the first 20 pages and decided it was not for me. After seeing part of one of the movies (they were running around in a hedge maze in winter, no idea what the setup was) I decided I had definitely made the right decision. It was… silly, for lack of a better term.
At least we know this one finishes. 
I haven’t read any of the books although I helped a Japanese friend reading a few pages of the English-language version a few years ago. As for the movies, I’ve seen some clips of the earlier films but not more than a scene or two.
Read the first one on strong recommendation from a couple of friends; it was… pleasant enough, but not enough to compel me to read any more of them, even though I think I got two box-sets of the first three as gifts. The later hype really turned me off as well, to an extent only rivaled by The Matrix and the iPhone.
At this point I have a kid, so i figure I’ll have to read them in a few years anyway, so I’m putting it off lest i have to do it twice!
Thanks for all the replies.
I thought the first couple were exceptionally well-written, if not life-altering.
I haven’t read them or seen any of the movies. When the first book came out I was a few years older than the target audience. Even though there were plenty adults saying that they enjoyed it, I wasn’t really interested. When the first (or maybe second) movie trailers were on TV and there was this “house elf” in them, that clinched it.
I’m of the opinion that the elves in a fantasy setting are a pretty good barometer of whether I’ll like it. I prefer elves more in the style of Lord of the Rings, and I’ve found that they tend to correlate with other artistic choices I like. Conversely, I dislike diminutive “faerie folk” type elves and the artistic choices that seem to correlate with them. So when I saw this “Dobby” creature in the trailer, I decided that the Harry Potter series was not for me.
The following exchange recently took place while a family was driving in MIchigan:
Daughter (9): Mama, will you let me see The Half Blood Prince when it comes out?
Son (11): You haven’t read it first, you can’t see it until you read it. Right?
Daughter (9): I don’t read the books. Why would I do that if there is a movie coming out. A movie saves time and probably money.
Son (11): Because a book is a MOVIE for your BRAIN! It paints a picture. It takes to all over the world or, in Harry Potter’s case, into an entire NEW WORLD.
Daughter (9): so does a movie…
Son (11): (Starts frothing at the mouth and goes int WARBGL mode)
Daughter (9): LALALALALALALALALALALALALALAALALALALALALALA!
Son: If you don’t read, you aren’t going to get into a good college. If you don’t go to college, you won’t be able to get a good job!!!
Daughter: ( doing an invasive tactic) Ooooooh! Doggie!
Son: Don’t change the subject!!!ARGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WARGBL!!!
Me: ( to my husband) The role me is that discussion being play by our son. The role of you is being played by our daughter.
It was a near exact discussion we’ve had for twenty years.
Aged 34 here. Have read only books 1 (of my own volition, back when the phenomenon was fairly new) and 3 (at the behest of my wife, who said it was her favorite.)
Book one was terrible. The writing was wretched, the characters shallow, the world ridiculous and the ending sacrificed all chance it had of redeeming itself with its absurd “GRIFFINDOR WINS! YAY!” conclusion. It physically pained me. To this day it hurts my brain to try to understand how these books ever got started if the first book is as bad as it is. I consider it an insult to good childrens’ literature, and every time I see someone say something like “Yeah, I tried to read book 1, but I couldn’t get into it. I don’t like that kind of thing with the wizards and the fantasy and stuff.” I just want to jump in and scream, “That’s not why you don’t like it! You don’t like it because it SUCKS!” Ahem.
Book three was better. I still feel no urge to ever touch it again, but it didn’t cause me the same level of physical discomfort that the first book did.
I saw the first film because some other people wanted to watch it, but I seem to have completely obliterated it from my mind, because I remember essentially NOTHING about it. I also saw the 5th (I think - Order of the Phoenix) and I found it to be a valiant attempt by the filmmakers at making an entertaining film out of what seemed like impossibly terrible source material. Kudos to them.
So yeah. The whole franchise vague enrages me with it’s (what I consider to be) completely undeserved popularity. On the plus side, it makes accepting Twilight that much easier.
Age 47 here. Haven’t read them. I haven’t read s.f./fantasy since my twenties, and I haven’t read children’s books since, well, since I was a child, so there’s just nothing about the books that really calls me to read them.
I saw the first movie and just thought it was OK. Generally I’m not a big fan of s.f./fantasy movies either.