And while we're ranking books . . .

We all love the Harry Potter series, or we wouldn't be here. (I'm assuming, but I think it's a safe assumption!) But if you're like me, you love some more than others. What's your favorite Harry Potter book? Your least favorite? Or, if you want a real challenge, rank them all from your favorite to your least favorite!

I'm interested to see everyone's responses. (And our post count is scandalously low! Come on, people, talk!)

I keep changing my mind. At the moment:

1. PoA
2. DH
3. GoF
4. PS/SS
5. CoS
6. OotP (loved the movie, tho!)
7. Book 6 (can you believe i'm forgetting the name right now)

Subject to change. Your milage may vary.

Here's mine:

1. PoA
2. HBP
3. SS/PS
4. DH
5. OotP
6. GoF
7. CoS

3-5 are particularly fluid, though all can vary based on mood and inclination!

HHHMMMMM hard but let's give it a go...but I retain the right to change my mind from moment to moment 8)

favorite
1. GoF
2. SS/PS
3.HBP
4.OotP
5.DH
6.PoA
7.CoS

Hmm, these are going to keep changing order for me, but I'll try. Favorite to least favorite:

1. HBP
2. DH
3. SS/PS
4. OotP
5. PoA
6. GoF
7. CoS

8) Poor Chamber of Secrets isn't doing so hot. Has anyone followed the series since book one? Did CoS get really bad reviews with people thinking this great story line was going to die a horrible death?

Hehehe. It must have had decent and even good reviews, look how well the series has done. I didn't start reading the books till March of 2002, so I can't say. :)

I checked the reviews -- they were all positive (even Kirkus, the most hard-hitting of the usual review sources, said only good things). Booklist even gave it a starred review. As I see it, CoS is still good -- when we rank it last, it's just the least of a great series, not a "bad" book.

hmmm, Kerian likes HBP. What about it do you like? I'm just curious, because maybe I'm missing something. (It's my least fav.)

HBP spoiler!

Yeah, I like it. Maybe all the horcrux stuff? Harry learning about them with Dumbledore?

END HBP SPOILER

1. Deathly Hallows
2. Goblet of Fire
3. Half Blood Prince
4. Philosopher's Stone
5. Chamber of Secrets
6. Prisoner of Azkaban
7. Order of the Phoenix

Like everyone else, this could change, especially since I still have only read Deathly Hallows once.

1 PoA
2 OotP (I think the politics are very subversive)
3 PS (she sets up the world so well)
4 Gof
5 HBP
6 DH (I loved much of it just not the most well written)
7 CoS

Sorcerors stone is still my favorite!

I am so not good at ranking.

1 HBP (I spent the most time pondering about it)
2 DH
3 PoA
4 CoS
5 OotP (but Umbridge still scares me)
6 SS/PS
7 GoF (only because the imagery frightened me the most here)
8
9
10

I added 8-10 so that none of the books has to be at the end of the list. :o)

#14 LOL that's great!!

good idea!

#14 juggling:
Very cute.

1. PoA
2. SS/PS
3. OotP
4. GoF
5. CoS
6. DH
7. HBP

I enjoyed all the books, but the last two just didn't have the same magic - the other five I've read multiple times.

Hi, I'm new to this group, having just finished the books yesterday (I read the first four, lost interest for a while, then read the last three this weekend and am now crazy about it).

1. HBP
2. DH
3. OOP
4. POA
5. PS
6. GOF
7.COS

Any book that has a lot of Snape in it tends to make me very happy. Except Deathly Hallows, which of course reduced me to a sobbing, hollow shell of the human condition.

Hello and welcome to HE 8) and yeah that was how most of us felt after finishing the books 8)

#19 -- Oh, thank goodness you're here, ellevee! I have such a literary crush on Snape, and everyone else keeps giving me strange looks . . .
;-)

#20: Thanks for the invite! Yeah, can I sue Rowling for ruining my mental well-being?

#21 No, seriously, I have a PROBLEM with Snape. Like, seriously. I love him. More than is healthy, probably. I want more Snape. I demand it! ...Please?

#22 -- I think we need to form a support group. Maybe something along the lines of a 12-step program? "Hi, my name is foggidawn, and I'm obsessed with Severus Snape. . . ."

Great idea, foggi, I'll join too!
Snape's last words will haunt me forever. :o(

But here's the problem: what if it's an obsession I don't want to get over? ;-)

Then we reread all the books up to Chapter 32 in Deathly Hallows. Then Snape can live forever! :o)

Hehe. Does Voldie kill Harry? Does Harry kill Voldie? The world will never know! Because DH ends when it reaches chapter 32. ;)

CAN we start a support group? I'm rereading the whole series now, and whenever he comes into a scene I want to start yelling, "Stay away from snakes! RUN!" Of course I DON'T... because then subway rides would be kind of uncomfortable.

I don't want to get over my obsession. I have a problem, and I am fine with it. I love him on the page and on the screen. Although I'm worried about Alan Rickman. The last two books are rather physical. Plus, how are they going to film his final scene for a kid's movie?

Interesting note: I knew how the book ended, because like I've said I was never really into the series until my friend bullied me into finishing it. Order of the Phoenix caught my attention, and now I'm crazed. But even knowing what would happen, and claiming to be prepared, when i got to the scene I had to close the book and walk away for a few minutes to prepare myself. Didn't work. Snape FOREVER.

well the movies will most likely be rated PG or even R. Parents just have to decide if their child could handle it or not.

1. PoA
2. SS/PS
3. OotP
4. HPB
5. GoF
6. CoS
7. DH

Book 7 was far too rushed and had too much of a storybook ending.

#30-Storybook ending? There are some here who would disagree because their favorite characters didn't make it.
*Poor, poor Snape...* :o(

#30 I liked the ending. I was content.

#31 EXACTLY. Good ending, but heartbreaking. WHY SNAPE?! WHY?!

*Wails* It was so pointless! He didn't have to die! (I expected it, but still!)

Okay. I'm all right.

*Mutters to self* It's just a book, it's just a book . . .

;-)

I think 30 is referring to the ending, ending Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, children going off to school happy, happy... just the way I like it

But that's only a happy ending for the main characters. What about all of the strong minor characters we've lost?

well. some of the good had to die or it would have been a storybook ending.....

Snape I could understand. He's the kind of tragic figure that must die. But Lupin AND Tonks? That was too much, and too contrived; it was just to manufacture another orphan.

*sniffle*
why fred, why.....

The REAL question is .... will they all die in the movie? Or will hollywood tone it down for the kiddies?

No kidding. I've wondered how different the final movie would be from the very last book.

I don't know if I'll be able to see 7. Knowing whats goign to happen might make it too hard

Oh, gosh.

*contemplates watching certain scenes*

Do you think anyone would find it odd if I went in with several boxes of tissues?

please, I'm just worried about going wiht my best guy friend, he'll so mock me when I cry

Opportunity to cry on his shoulder, g! Look at the bright side!

It'll make him feel manly!

fd, the theaters should give out free boxes of tissues with movie seven

#42 foggi:
Not at all. I think it would be smart. I should do that!

G, what foggi and polly said (#44 and 45)!

that probably freak him out, he's only a 15 year old boy

My husband just laughs at me whenever I cry at movies. I don't care, I'm a crier, I know that. Plus, I always feel better when I'm done. Anyone know when movie HBP will be out?

For all who need it (myself included), I give you Harry Potter Tissue Box covers:

#48 meg:
According to IMDB, HBP will be out on November 21, 2008. DH is estimated to be out in 2010. :)

#49 el:
I didn't even know those existed. Too cute! :)

hehe, someone else who looks stuff up on IMDB.

Yep! I'm keeping a list of when some books that are being and have been made into movies will be in theaters. :)

My aunt says she wouldn't have married my uncle if she had known he didn't cry at the end of White Christmas. That part when the troops come out gets me every time. We sit and cry together. And then when it starts snowing and everything is going to be okay. ooh! I am almost crying now!

I always cry at that moment too compskibook. (But then I also just cried about an elephant being reunited with other elephants on nature 10 minutes ago)

Actually out my window looks about like the lodge at the end of White Christmas. The park across the street looks like someone iced it like a cake.

I love Danny Kaye.

Oh and the Court Jester. That is the best Danny Kaye movie Ever.

"The pellet with the poison . . ."

I love Secret Life of Walter Mitty. "ta pocket ta pocket ta pocket...."

Oh I forgot that! I need to rent that again soon. Was that also a book before it was a movie?

#56- I agree. The Court Jester was my favorite. I love the sword fight where he keeps shifting from super swordsman to inept swordfighter every time someone snaps their fingers.

We just watched White Christmas this evening. We all loved it.

jp, come chat with us! :-)

Oh yes JP that is a brilliant fight scene. He had such a gift for physical humor.

I am glad your family liked White Christmas. I love it. But my husband and I watched it together the first Christmas we were dating and cut paper snowflakes so it has extra associations.

Has anyone seen Holiday Inn? I understand it is the earlier (non-musical) film that White Christmas was based on. I keep intending to rent it.

I have two sisters and we always sing the Sisters song and drive the rest of the family nuts.

Lord help the mister who comes between me & my sister
and Lord help the sister who comes between me & my man!

58: Marensr: I think The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a short story. I had to read it in 10th grade.

Thanks compskibook. How did I not realize that- or that it was James Thurber I love Thurber. Now I really have to read it.

Actually it bears some similarity to his book Theophilus North which I also love.

I think I fell in love with Danny Kaye when I was little and saw Hans Christian Andersen on TV. I loved it when he sang the Thumbelina song.

My favorite is the Inchworm song. Danny Kaye, and Bing Crosby, two of my favorite actors from that era.

61-M, Holiday Inn really isn't related to White Christmas, though it does have certain similarities. WC has Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye and they are working with sisters to save their former colonel's inn. HI has Bing Crosby and Fred Astair as a song/dance team that falls in love w/the same girl, break up and Bing Crosby goes off to live/run an inn. Of course, there is more to it than that, but I don't want to spoil anything. HOWEVER....HI is the first time the song "White Christmas" was ever performed. That and the fact that they both star Bing is why people either confuse them or think they are related. I love them both.

Thanks meg. You are a fount of information. I do want to see it sometime.

My favorite has always been The Goblet of Fire, I'm a big Viktor Krum fan :-)

Ranking:

GoF
PoA
OotP
HBP
DH
CoS
SS

I know this is probably not the popular opinion here, but I've really never liked Snape and certainly didn't change my mind about him at the end.

#68 Saying that to some here could get you jinxed but others may pat you on the back and agree 8)

I guess I'll have to find an anti-jinxing spell LOL

Nonsense!

(Us true Snape aficionados prefer the subtleties of poison, actually . . . )

Kidding! We respect different viewpoints around here! ;-)

LOL. As soon as I read post #68, I wondered what you would say to that, foggi. :)

*nudges foggi and whispers* Here, foggi, pass this to Jenson...No, no, don't shake it! Hit the deck!

POOF! cough! cough!

Oh, hi Jenson! We were just playing around! cough

*coughes*

A little warning for others next time, juggling?

;)

*waves hand in front of her face prissily* OMG what was that JP?

LOL! I'm not sure. I mixed a little of this, a little of that...Too much sulphur maybe?

Okay, I had held off on resurrecting this thread, but since foggi linked to it...

1. OotP
2. DH
3. HBP
4. PoA
5. GoF
6. SS/PS
7. CoS

Nothing's wrong with resurrecting threads, silly bib! :)

Interesting choice for #1! I just scanned the thread and you're the first to have OotP rated as that. :)

I know, I'm a weirdo. I feel like this is the book where everything changes and I really enjoy the new darker feel of it. I'm a big fan of black comedy, and OotP is very similar to that.

Good thing you resurrected it, I never answered!

1. Tie between DH, PoA
3. GoF
4. SS/PS
5. OotP
6. HBP
7. CoS
8.
9.
10.

(see #14 for 8-10) :)

#79 bib:
"Everything changes"...that was a line on some of the movie posters! You're absolutely right, it is when everything changes.

#80 el:
El!! Why not! ;)
Thank you, Bib!

#14 & #80:
Urgh, suge and I have been discussing something Harry Potterish that I am dying to say, but I want to let her bring it up. She feels so overwhelmed on threads with so many new posts, I thought we should save the thread idea for something she could create and follow up on more easily. If she doesn't bring it up by Monday night, I will drag to her LT to post it if I have to fly clear across the country first to do so. ;)

I think that I first read this post when I was still only a week into posting, and wan't comfortable resurrecting at that point. I think I've shown that I am perfectly welling to resurrect any discussion I find interesting now! I'd actually forgotten about this thread until foggi mentioned it and then, since it was linked I figured I may as well post. I knew no one would care!

Do you know, I could have sworn I'd ranked on this thread.... Something strange is going on methinks....

I'll do it again anyway (or maybe for the first time. who knows?!)

1)HBP
-1) DH

3) POA
4) OotP
5) GoF
6) PS
7) CoS

Although my tops change around a little.

-1 ? after 1?

1) HBP
2) DH

3-6) PS, CoS, PoA, GoF... i can't decide which order. I'd have to re-read them.

7) OoTP. It had some great parts, but the whiney/sulky Harry bits drag it down for me.

I just noticed I never posted how I ranked them either. Probably because I don't think I can. I like them all. Equally.

oops! That was supposed to be equals... missed the button! Sorry MrA!

ahhh, much more sensible. I like everything neat. orderly. logical. symmetrical. Thanks LadyN!

excuse me, i need to even out the towels, they are hanging at different lengths in the bathroom.

#87 Monk!

I can't really rank them...DH is my favorite though. Then probably SS/PS.