lorathelibrarian's review
3.0
I was surprised by this book. I didn't really think I would like it, but I got sucked in. It's nonfiction (tell the story of the Harry Potter phenomenon), but reads like a novel or a biography. I skipped over some sections, but mostly I read it all. It was interesting and filled me in on some details I didn't know, particularly about J.K. Rowling herself.
erin_oriordan_is_reading_again's review
5.0
Reading Melissa Anelli's journey from HP novice to HP goddess, becoming the chief editor at the Leaky Cauldron fan website (along with Mugglenet, one of J.K. Rowling's favorites) is like reliving some of the magic of my own Harry Potter journey. (It also reminded me I have a copy of 'Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!' by Harry and the Potters around here somewhere. Wizard rock!) She actually met Ms. Rowling several times and became involved in the fanfare to such a degree that Anelli herself became a fan fiction character. It's a bit surreal, but then again, isn't everything Hogwarts-related? I think my very favorite part was J.K. Rowling's revelation that George Weasley did, in fact, marry Angelina. I said when I read 'Goblet of Fire' that Fred would marry her and they'd have tons of red-headed Weasley children. After I read the final book, I'd hoped George and Angelina would somehow end up together - this confirms it! Long live the Weasleys - yay!
kristaallysa's review against another edition
3.0
While interesting enough, this is certainly not a history of the Harry Potter phenomenon. It instead reads as a memoir of the author, as a Harry Potter fan and editor of a Harry Potter fan site. It also jumps around a lot and doesn't seem to be written in any clear logical order.
raloveridge's review
4.0
This was terribly interesting, and made me want to dig up all the old interviews with JKR.
acarman1's review
4.0
I was a late comer to Harry Potter mania but Melissa was there from the beginning. Her book chronicles the fights over predictions and leaks as well as the groundbreaking impact of the series. Midnight releases, fan fiction and many other things now mainstream for fiction came about because of Harry Potter.
libbith220's review
5.0
This book was amazing! It was so cool to hear one person's experience with the Harry Potter series. I also thought that the writing was amazing. Whatever emotion that she was portraying, I felt it, too.
bookspinesandwine's review
4.0
I refused to read Harry Potter for years (yes, I admit this with shame). When I finally broke down and read them in 2008, all seven books were already released. Since I was a part of the rising Twilight fandom at the time, I knew how exciting it could be and was really sad I missed out on the Harry Potter glory days. (At least the books, I still get to meet fellow fans waiting in line for the movies :) So when I saw Harry, a History on the shelves, I saw an opportunity to read about what I had excluded myself from.
The book did not disappoint. I learned that there were “ship” wars between fans who thought Hermione and Harry would end up together vs. fans in favor of Hermione and Ron. Its funny to read this after the fact since it never once occurred to me that Hermione and Harry would form a romantic relationship. I learned that fans had to wait 3 years between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix. Holy crap I would have died waiting that long!
Anelli took me on a journey to Harry Potter conferences, to an interview with a lady who thought HP was evil, and not to mention interviews with J.K Rowling herself. This book made me feel a little less left out of the excitement. If you are a fan of Harry Potter go ahead and read this book, especially if you missed out on HP conferences and other events like I did.
bpotthast's review
2.0
Boy, what a self-indulgent mess this was. I have to admit, there were enough interesting tidbits for me to keep reading, and it did make me want to re-read the HP books again, but this was like the HP version of [b:Eat, Pray, Love|19501|Eat, Pray, Love|Elizabeth Gilbert|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1269870432s/19501.jpg|3352398]. This should be called Melissa, A History. I am not into the HP intense fandom depicted here, so I just rolled my eyes a lot at things like the shipper wars. The book was also not very well-written; it jumped around a lot in time, which could be confusing, and it wasn't edited well (for example, after "meeting" a friend of Melissa's, in the next chapter we "met" her again). I'm glad I got it from the library and didn't buy it.
virginiacjacobs's review
5.0
Reading this book reminded me all over again of the excitement, joy, and heartache of reading the Harry Potter series. In many ways, Annelli's experiences paralleled my own, although in many other ways they are quite divergent. It was really wonderful to read a book that so accurately captured what it was like to be a Harry Potter fan before all of the books were published.