Harry Potter reread open thread, book one

[avawatson]

So Rowan MacBean (@macbean221b on twitter) was looking to do a reread of all the Harry Potter books. This was late June or early July. I jumped on it, since I'm that heathen who never got past the slog of book five, and a few others signed on, but since we're all reading it at (probably) different times and at different paces, we were looking for a common space for a conversation. And because tumblr utterly sucks for threaded comments...well, we're utilizing my LJ space. *ta da*

Some notes: I just turned on anon commenting on my whole blog for this. If you don't have an LJ account and are commenting anon, just sign off so we know who's saying what. Also, captcha is turned on at the moment, but if that gets to be super annoying then I can turn it off. LJ comment threading works just like ao3 comment threading basically, so it shouldn't be entirely too foreign.

@the twitter people who signed on to do the readalong -- you don't have to use these threads, and livetweeting is of course still useful if we're on at similar times. I personally tend to be on way late in the nights and don't nearly get to catch up on day tweets. Personally, if you do livetweet, bringing your comments back here would be lovely, but of course not necessary. This is mainly just for conversation if you like it! And if you wanna use this space for live-commenting, you are very welcome to. (It would basically be you making a comment and then replying to that comment over and over again. It sends a million emails to me but I don't mind!)

@the non-twitter people who responded positively to the reread, you're free to look in on here as well, assuming we get a conversation going!

@Rowan, I don't know if we're going to do one big open thread or one post per book, but I've gone ahead and named this one the "book one" thread obviously. Anything's amenable for change though, so just...lemme know!

P.S. I'm making this thread slightly early so that anyone (looking at you, Chelsea) can get comfortable with the threading/commenting system here. This isn't the most official thing ever, but we were thinking maybe starting the reread on Harry's birthday -- July 31, which is this Friday.

Edit: P.S.S. I forgot one more thing! Introductions are in order, since we definitely won't all know each other. Please also feel free to make introductions in the comments below, including your HP fannish history, your house, OTP, sensitive spots, and whatever else pops into your head. <3

Comments

So here's a test comment so you can check it out, Chelsea.

[avawatson]

You should be able to comment inside this or outside this. Grabbing someone's attention on LJ works like @ tagging someone on tumblr (but a lot more reliable), but I'm not sure that it actually works with anon commenting. Maybe you make an LJ though?? I mean, it's up to you entirely of course. I barely use mine either, as you can see. Before I hooked up my twitter account here, it was a barren wasteland of angst, just like my soul.

Oh, and one other thing, HTML does work. You can just type in the < and > and it works. The preview is nice. Again, the threading works like ao3 comment threading. Mm, what else.. Quotes and gifs and and stuff work too. I think that's all I can think of; anything else, I think you'll stumble upon on your own.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

Hi, guys! I think we should start with intros here? Because I don't know everyone who wanted to join in. So I'll go first!

I'm Rowan. macbean221b on Twitter, macbean on Tumblr, and one of those names on pretty much every single site except this one. I actually started out on LJ as weasleycest4eva, which I created to troll/mock HP fanfic. Um... I've grown up since then. Heh.

I came to HP when one of my nephews who wasn't a good reader asked me to read the series with him to help make sure he was understanding. I was a snotty teenager who hated anything mainstream at the time, so I REALLY didn't want to, but I couldn't say no to that kid, so I said I'd read them myself first and then help him get through them. I was hooked by the end of the first chapter and tore through the first four books (the fourth one had just been published) in one weekend. My nephew never did finish them.


So. HP-relevant things:

- I'm a Hufflepuff!
- ...There is a lot of ancient and fairly embarrassing HP fic on this journal.
- Remus Lupin and Professor McGonagall are my favorite characters.
- Luna and Neville are my favorite student characters.
- I think Dumbledore is a fucking dickhead.
- I think the Weasley twins really belong in Slytherin.
- Snape/Lily is my nOTP.

And you'll get to hear all the rest of my opinions as we go along. XD

[avawatson]

Aaaand the thought that we should've done intros obviously died like a mayfly. I'll edit the post above so that that's more obvious.

How do you feel about Snape in general? I see a lot of stuff about him, know a lot of Snape fans, and it's fascinating to me to see so much...diversity in opinion, I guess. He seems polarizing, and I don't think I ever really got to the parts of the books that really dug into that.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if you didn't finish the series, you didn't get into the real meat of what divides people over Snape. My opinion: He's a fascinating character, and I love reading about him, but I don't think any of the things people point at as things that redeem him or excuse other things he did amount to a hill of beans.

hay

[(Anonymous)]

This is me commenting, but I'm definitely gonna make an LJ of my own so that it doesn't get confusing. I wish I could @ whatever B's LJ is, she'd be so proud. I need to tag her in this anyway - she wanted to join.

Re: hay

[(Anonymous)]

me.... as in Chelsea... ugh I suck already

Re: hay

[avawatson]

HAHAHA, this is also the pain of anon posting -- you can't edit. And lordstarfish can you see this if I tag you manually?

Re: hay

[lordstarfish.livejournal.com]

eyyyyyy yeah I can see what's up - I'll have to read this post tomorrow & comment again but omg I'm excited to read :D

[(Anonymous)]

Hey! This is Jen - jensaysthings on Twitter and allthethingsjensays on Tumblr. I'm on anon for now, but I'll set up an LJ in the next day or so. I'll probably start book 1 a day early, since I happen to be on vacation at the moment, and HP makes good beach reading.

[jensaysthings.livejournal.com]

Jen again - back with an LJ account and an actual computer for typing.

So HP, stuff. I read the HP books for the most part as they came out, starting with the first three books.. My younger brother got me into it, and I would always wait anxiously for him to finish his copy so I could read. That said, my original reading of HP has been largely superficial, so I'm looking forward to digging back into it with more depth and the insight of knowing where it's all going.

What else? I wasn't much of a shipper when I read the books, so I'm willing to be convinced of just about any or all ships. I'm a Ravenclaw.

I've read the first few chapters of the first book and already in the first chapter I'm getting hit with some serious Hagrid feels.

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

I've loved HP since my husband read me the first chapter in 2003. Snape is my forever love. I went through a hating-Dumbledore phase, but I feel like I get him better now. I'm a Ravenclaw. My LJ is full of my HP meta. I'm always interested in writers, so JKR is as real to me as any of the characters. I'm always running around giving talks at HP conferences or guiding kids through reading the books. By this time next year, I should have a book on Snape out and hopefully another HP book in the works. My OTP was Snape/Hermione for years, but I've read so much amazing and healing SSHG fic that I'm now more interested in Hermione/Kingsley or Hermione/Viktor. I can happily ship Snape with most characters except Bellatrix or the Carrows, but my NoTP is Snape/Lily.

[avawatson]

I am SO interested in the fact that you ship Snape with most everyone (a fact I think I rather knew about you and a couple others on the podcast?), and yet the notp thing with Snape/Lily, same as Rowan. I am interested in a way that I hope I can ask you about later during the read, because I feel like I have nothing to bring to the table at the moment. Like I said in my comment to Rowan, I quit reading pretty much before Snape became this rather divisive character, and so everything about the Snape love strikes me as very outsider-looking-in.

Also, I knew you were working on a book or three, but I didn't know one of them was a Snape book!!! That's so exciting!?!!

I'm also starting to draw parallels between the shipping in HP with the shipping in MCU now, as it's sort of freeform in the way that Sherlock fandom is not (seemingly; my fishbowl might be very small), right up until some notp forms.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Snape! I'm (almost) always up for having my opinions challenged. :D

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

So here's a question: what kind of pace is everyone looking to read at? I don't want to read the whole book tomorrow in one sitting and have everyone else be on, like...chapter five.

[headcumbernerd.livejournal.com]

This is tricky, because I feel like the first few books will go by much faster than the last half. Due in part to their shorter length, and also their subject matter/maturity level. Hmmm but I'd like to be around the same timeline as everyone else.

Is 5 chapters a week too many? Too few? and then wait for everyone to finish the current volume before we move on to the next?

[avawatson]

My five cents: I don't feel like 5 chapters a week is too much, but I remember the first couple books flying by tbh. I obviously slowed down enough during book five that I just quit reading because ugh every time I had to go back to Harry and His Brooding Puberty, ugh. Reading one chapter at a time is honestly going so slowly it drives me up the wall; I've never been a patient reader. I go til I'm exhausted (whoops).

Intro

[headcumbernerd.livejournal.com]

I am Chelsea, the one Caroline refers to as having no idea what's going on. HeadCumbernerd on twitter (and here now, too) and intricatearticulation on tumblr. Guess which one fit within the character limit for LJ.

- Ravenclaw to my core

- I'm basically Luna with a dash of Hermione.

- I have a thing for Tom Riddle? He's a total dickhead, but the actor who played him in...Chamber of Secrets I think? Fucked me up.

- I really, really do not like Snape. Never did, and especially didn't like the whole "redeeming twist" at the end of the series. I've only ever been able to like him in fic. Speaking of, I just finished "Stealing Harry" per B's encouragement, and I adore that Snape. *shrug* Lily/Snape = NoTP

- I feel like I should write a note to the above, cuz I didn't like Irene all that much until I listened to the passionate, emotional meta drinkingcocoa laid on me in some TPP episode at least a year ago...and my mind changed completely. Here's an official challenge to you, then, to change my mind about that greasy bro.

- I picked up the first HP in 3rd grade when I had read all of the books in our tiny little "box" in the classroom within the first week. Twice. So my teacher gave me the book she was reading to us since it was too much to read on our own... I was hooked immediately. Like, reading past my bedtime with a flashlight under the covers - hooked. I went to all of the midnight premieres of the books in my pajamas, and all of the movie releases as well. Mostly in regular clothes, though.

- I'm rambling. Ummmm Drarry is really great, I also love Hermione/Draco. I've heard Dean/Seamus is a thing and I would like to mark myself as extremely intrigued.

Re: Intro

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

I recommend EVERY SINGLE THING COPPERBADGE HAS EVER WRITTEN ABOUT ANYTHING. Holy crap. I haven't read him in yeeeeears but he was my favorite fanfic writer before I met mydwynter. XD He'll convince you of any ship he feels like convincing you of. He beta read for me once and I almost died of ecstatic glee.

(Caroline was asking earlier on Twitter how we defined BNF. Copperbadge was a BNF. Like, there should be a fandom dictionary with a picture of him in ~2004.)

(P.S. I AM SO JAZZED ABOUT USING MY LJ ICONS AGAIN)

Re: Intro

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

"Redeeming twist"? Heh. My guess is that those who did not see that one coming are those who have never been as mean to people as Snape has been. *shifty eyes* His behavior is exactly the guilty behavior of someone who has no one to blame but himself and knows it, not that it makes the dunderheads around him any more tolerable. *very shifty eyes* *hides*

Re: Intro

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

P.S. If it helps, read Snape as JKR's image of herself. The arrogant, intellectually gifted, young-adult abuse survivor who made a terrible mistake about love, back when she was arguably too young or inexperienced to know any better, that had catastrophic consequences for a defenseless infant.

In an earlier draft, she wrote Harry-on-the-doorstep to be three months old, as her baby Jessica was when she took the baby and went into hiding from her abusive first husband. (Jessica's birthday is late July and they fled the home in late October.) She later revised baby Harry to be a year older than that, but you can see tiny hints of the infant version, most notably in the oddness of Harry-on-the-doorstep being treated as an infant who wouldn't be able to walk or talk. Harry at 15 months would most certainly have been able to walk -- and climb and run -- considering that he's a natural-born athlete of the small-and-speedy type.

So Snape spends the second half of his life living with the consequences of the inexcusable, idiotic bigotry of his late teens, trying to counter as much of the damage as one person can while still loathing the people he originally loathed.

Snape's trajectory is not a story for people who have always managed to stay on the good side of the line between kindness and hate, even if by inches (e.g., Narcissa with no Dark Mark). It's for people who've already committed a crime, wish they hadn't, can't undo it, don't think that way anymore, but still have time left to do on this earth. What then?

Well, for one thing, he can do everything in his power to prevent others from crossing that line as he did ("Expelliarmus!" is the only thing the kids learn in Defense second year). And for kids who do it anyway, he does everything in his power to prevent them from splitting their souls further, retaining as much hope as possible that they still get to live out their lives better than he did.

Ha, hitting post without even re-reading because my own kids will start bursting in any second!

UK/US versions

[avawatson]

So I probably should've thought of this sooner but now that I'm actually tracking down copies to read, I'm wondering -- thewlisian_afer headcumbernerd lordstarfish jensaysthings drinkingcocoa are you guys reading the UK version of things or the US version?

Because I'm having a devil of a time trying to find an e-copy of Philosopher's Stone, I'm realizing. I read Sorcorer's Stone before (and I assume the other books I read were also US version but I wasn't paying a lot of attention tbh, but book one's title makes it pretty obvious).

Does it matter?

Re: UK/US versions

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

Huh. I've never read the UK version. I can look for it if folks want to do that.

Re: UK/US versions

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

I thought I replied to this but apparently not. O.o

I'm reading the ebook editions available through Pottermore. I tried to get the UK versions but blah blah publishing restrictions and I had to get the US versions.

[lordstarfish.livejournal.com]

Are we still doing introductions?

I'm B - unknownsister on tumblr/@afoolofatook on twitter. LJ feels like it's changed a bit since I abandoned ship a few years ago :0

Hm so I started reading HP a year or so after the second one came out - I was the same age as Harry in the books until the later ones when there was more a drag in the release dates. I did the midnight releases from book three onwards, as I had perfect Hermione hair & a green bathrobe I used for ages.

When the first movie came out, it was a week before my birthday, so I had a HP birthday (& was given my first walkman!). I remember being so mad when the Twilight movies started coming out because they pushed the HP movie releases to July instead of around my birthday (trivial, I know).

On the evening of the last movie's premiere, I got Sirius' Azkaban number tattooed onto my wrist. That night was extremely emotional - I've never been in a room with a hundred sobbing people before. It was all die-hard Potter fans & it was just sniffles from every corner all the way through. It had an extreme emotional impact on me & is a very special memory for the end of an era for me.

I haven't brought myself to re-read the last few books since they were released. Not because I don't love them, but because I love them too much?? I had just graduated high school when the final book was released & it was such an end to everything for me, so I've mentally tied the series ending to big changes in my own life. I'm actually really looking forward to going back & reading them again as an adult & giving myself a new perspective on characters very near & dear to me.

I usually self-sort as Ravenclaw, but an argument for Hufflepuff could be made.

Favorite book is POA, favorite character is Remus Lupin (forever & ever MY SON). My cat is also named Remus, for what it's worth.

I was not in the online fandom during its peak. I never shipped any of the characters together, but a year or so after the series was done, I fell deep DEEEEEP in love with Marauder era fic so Moony & Padfoot is an otp for life. I did enjoy wizardrock for a while, but by the time I got into, people were already fading from it.

Um um um, that's it I think?? I've got an extremely stressful job that's about to end for a few weeks & then I'll be back to very long hours in October, but I hope to keep up with everyone, I'll try to comment as frequently as I can.

Thanks for hosting this, Caroline <3

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

YOUR FIRST WALKMAN. ADORABLE.

I clearly need to be following you on Twitter.

P.S. Your son is my boyfriend.

[thewlisian-afer.livejournal.com]

So I finally started reading last night. I read in the bath for an hour and only got to the beginning of chapter five. I kept stopping and thinking big thinky thoughts about the things that are mentioned already that don't come into play until later, and remembering back to the first time I read this and what was going on in my life and in my head. I'm thinking I might end up scribbling notes as I read and then typing them up here later. Maybe. I dunno. It feels like I'm wandering into navel-gazing territory. But maybe that's okay to do here?

I

D

K.