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alysonhere's review against another edition
3.0
The stories and experiences that Melissa writes about are really insightful. It tells you a lot about what it’s like to be a fan of such a huge series,although I doubt the amount of people who don’t know what it’s like will actually pick it up to find out. There are a lot of moments in the book where, I could imagine, every fan wished he or she was Melissa. Lemme think… well, she’s friends with the Jamie Waylett aka Crabbe, she’s held an original copy of Beedle, she’s been on tour with Harry and the Potters, she’s interviewed Laura Mallory (you all know you wish you could at least meet the woman), she’s sat in Dumbledore’s chair, she’s met JK Rowling, she’s interviewed JK Rowling, she’s been inside Jo’s house, she’s just so essential to the community in so many ways.
One of my favorite chapters was when Melissa interviewed Laura Mallory. I can’t imagine having to talk to the lady who went so far to ban the Harry Potter books from libraries without even reading the book because God told her not too. She’s so firm in her faith it’s almost frustrating. I mean, you have to at least try to hear the other side out sometimes. And I think this is one of those times. But, I admired how Melissa seems to have handled the encounter and she wrote about it without making Laura Mallory out as a terrible fiend. I have no idea if I could even manage that much.
The only problem with the book I had was the actual writing. The style just didn’t sit well with me personally. Some of the metaphors Melissa uses and the way she explains things and describes events seems confusing to me, or at least a little wordy at times. But, that’s just my opinion and Harry, A History just goes against my general writing preferences.
But, other than that, I would certainly recommend this book to all Harry Potter fans whether or nor you are an extremely obsessed one or a casual movie-goer. It really gives you a sense of what you’re contributing to. And for those people who aren’t into Harry Potter, the book might give you some insight on why we fans are so crazed.
One last thing, there is a website for Harry, A History that has a bunch of fun extra tidbits. Vault 27 has some extra pieces from Melissa’s interviews that didn’t make it into the book which is worth a visit.
One of my favorite chapters was when Melissa interviewed Laura Mallory. I can’t imagine having to talk to the lady who went so far to ban the Harry Potter books from libraries without even reading the book because God told her not too. She’s so firm in her faith it’s almost frustrating. I mean, you have to at least try to hear the other side out sometimes. And I think this is one of those times. But, I admired how Melissa seems to have handled the encounter and she wrote about it without making Laura Mallory out as a terrible fiend. I have no idea if I could even manage that much.
The only problem with the book I had was the actual writing. The style just didn’t sit well with me personally. Some of the metaphors Melissa uses and the way she explains things and describes events seems confusing to me, or at least a little wordy at times. But, that’s just my opinion and Harry, A History just goes against my general writing preferences.
But, other than that, I would certainly recommend this book to all Harry Potter fans whether or nor you are an extremely obsessed one or a casual movie-goer. It really gives you a sense of what you’re contributing to. And for those people who aren’t into Harry Potter, the book might give you some insight on why we fans are so crazed.
One last thing, there is a website for Harry, A History that has a bunch of fun extra tidbits. Vault 27 has some extra pieces from Melissa’s interviews that didn’t make it into the book which is worth a visit.
lauraeydmann82's review against another edition
4.0
Having been a big Harry Potter fan, and having listened to the podcast presented by the author I have been intrigued by this book for quite a while now, and picked up a copy cheap on amazon over Christmas.
I was interested in this look at the phenomenon, regardless of whether you like the series or not, it has had a huge impact on the world, children’s literature and the book world in particular. I wanted to see what it was like from someone who was more involved with the books and from someone in America, and read about the different offshoots and tangents from the books – like “wizard rock”, Laura Mallory and the attempts to ban the book in bible belt America, and the films.
This book didn’t disappoint in this respect – Anelli goes through the different aspects of the books – the wait between each novel, the fan fiction, the “shippers” (fans who theorised about relationships in the book) who fought against each other over plot points, the genre of music – Wizard Rock, the Internet presence of fans on the net, the Warner Brothers legal wrangles over merchandise and use of the Harry Potter name etc. and it is interesting and in some cases a little scary to see what happened during the height of the Harry Potter fame. I thought I was a big fan until I read this book and about fans who theorised and fought with each other over whether Harry would end up with Hermione or whether Ron would, and fans who have created bands and music, fan fiction, websites and more – all dedicated to the books.
Anelli managed to get two interviews with Jo Rowling – who loves the Leaky Cauldron fan website (Melissa Anelli’s website dedicated to all things Potter). She spoke of the different ways the fans had reacted to different aspects of the books, the films and the legal issues with Warner Brothers when she sold the film rights. The story of how Jo Rowling managed to write the first book and get it published was also pretty amazing in itself, being turned down by several publishers and the huge auction for the American rights. The story of Laura Mallory and her attempts (as well as others) to get the book banned in America because of the worry of it making children turn to witchcraft was both scary and ridiculous too.
Because I have listened to the podcast, I knew some of the names of the people that Anelli discussed regarding the world of the fandom, but I think anyone from the staunchest Potter fan to a muggle will be able to pick this book up and get on with it. The story is an interesting one, whether you are a Harry Potter fan or not, and a fascinating look into a phenomenon that got a generation of kids reading again. There are a few bits in the book where the level of fandom really did go over the top of my head – I really found it difficult to get so worked up and excited, but on the whole the story of Harry Potter and how he came to be one of the most famous fictional literary characters is most certainly a good one.
I was interested in this look at the phenomenon, regardless of whether you like the series or not, it has had a huge impact on the world, children’s literature and the book world in particular. I wanted to see what it was like from someone who was more involved with the books and from someone in America, and read about the different offshoots and tangents from the books – like “wizard rock”, Laura Mallory and the attempts to ban the book in bible belt America, and the films.
This book didn’t disappoint in this respect – Anelli goes through the different aspects of the books – the wait between each novel, the fan fiction, the “shippers” (fans who theorised about relationships in the book) who fought against each other over plot points, the genre of music – Wizard Rock, the Internet presence of fans on the net, the Warner Brothers legal wrangles over merchandise and use of the Harry Potter name etc. and it is interesting and in some cases a little scary to see what happened during the height of the Harry Potter fame. I thought I was a big fan until I read this book and about fans who theorised and fought with each other over whether Harry would end up with Hermione or whether Ron would, and fans who have created bands and music, fan fiction, websites and more – all dedicated to the books.
Anelli managed to get two interviews with Jo Rowling – who loves the Leaky Cauldron fan website (Melissa Anelli’s website dedicated to all things Potter). She spoke of the different ways the fans had reacted to different aspects of the books, the films and the legal issues with Warner Brothers when she sold the film rights. The story of how Jo Rowling managed to write the first book and get it published was also pretty amazing in itself, being turned down by several publishers and the huge auction for the American rights. The story of Laura Mallory and her attempts (as well as others) to get the book banned in America because of the worry of it making children turn to witchcraft was both scary and ridiculous too.
Because I have listened to the podcast, I knew some of the names of the people that Anelli discussed regarding the world of the fandom, but I think anyone from the staunchest Potter fan to a muggle will be able to pick this book up and get on with it. The story is an interesting one, whether you are a Harry Potter fan or not, and a fascinating look into a phenomenon that got a generation of kids reading again. There are a few bits in the book where the level of fandom really did go over the top of my head – I really found it difficult to get so worked up and excited, but on the whole the story of Harry Potter and how he came to be one of the most famous fictional literary characters is most certainly a good one.
alorena92's review against another edition
4.0
Probably the most must-read book if you're a Potterhead. Even though I've found friends along the way who completely understand me, very few understand my love for Harry Potter, and Melissa sure is someone who gets it. It made me cry like I always do when I look back at this heart filling story. It does cover a lot of aspects of the fandom that, personally, I didn't get to experience, which sometimes I had to drag through, but overall great book. It definitely is really for us.
meet_cute_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
I may not have run a popular Harry Potter fansite or toured with Harry and the Potters or interviewed J.K. Rowling, but I too feel very priviledged to have been on the inside of the HP phenomenon. I was a late convert, not reading the books until a friend (who I will forever be endebted to) drug me to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As a bookseller, I had already worked one HP midnight madness party (for Order of the Phoenix) and truly thought everyone WAS mad for caring so much about something that was clearly a hype machine. However, after watching (and enjoying) the film and getting tired of my friends's reactions to the fact that I hadn't read the books (which were something akin to the reaction I would have gotten if I had told them I couldn't read at all), I decided to give the series a try. I devoured them. In two weeks, I read the first 5 books. I was hooked.
Working at B&N gave me behind the scenes action on the HP world. I got to see the gleam of excitement in a child's eye as I preordered the next installment for him or her. I was gleeful at the opportunity to hand over a brand new copy of the Sorcerer's Stone to a newbie. ("Oh, I envy you.") I got to dress up as Lavendar Brown and quiz an endlesss line of HP fans of all ages on their knowledge of the series. I got to help kids make their wands, I painted their faces with their house mascot and got to see the elation or disappointment on their faces when they got sorted, merely by random selection instead of based on their talents and strengths. I got to stare at the tower of Deathly Hallows in the receiving room that summer in 2007, reaching out and touching them as I passed, almost without knowing it. My body simultaneously hummed with excitement and drooped with sadness by the prospect of what was inside those pages. I got to see it all, firsthand. Those magical HP moments made 9 years of retail books sales worth it.
It's hard to put into words what it is about these books. I think that's part of why they're so good. They're universal. They're timeless. They're not really about witches and wizards and magic at all. They're about prejudice and loneliness and friendship and grief and loss and fear, things every single human on the planet has experienced at one time or another, whether wizard or muggle.
Sure, this book reads like 300 pages of Melissa Anelli's blog but she really hit the nail on the head about why it matters so much: community. Whenever you meet another Potterphile, you are instant friends. I met one of my closest friends(who, non-coincidentally, urged me to read this book after it sat on my bookshelf for years)when she commented on my lightning bolt necklace.
We each have our own Harry story to tell and our own reasons for loving him. Lots of times they will overlap or be similar, but they all mean a great deal to us.
Working at B&N gave me behind the scenes action on the HP world. I got to see the gleam of excitement in a child's eye as I preordered the next installment for him or her. I was gleeful at the opportunity to hand over a brand new copy of the Sorcerer's Stone to a newbie. ("Oh, I envy you.") I got to dress up as Lavendar Brown and quiz an endlesss line of HP fans of all ages on their knowledge of the series. I got to help kids make their wands, I painted their faces with their house mascot and got to see the elation or disappointment on their faces when they got sorted, merely by random selection instead of based on their talents and strengths. I got to stare at the tower of Deathly Hallows in the receiving room that summer in 2007, reaching out and touching them as I passed, almost without knowing it. My body simultaneously hummed with excitement and drooped with sadness by the prospect of what was inside those pages. I got to see it all, firsthand. Those magical HP moments made 9 years of retail books sales worth it.
It's hard to put into words what it is about these books. I think that's part of why they're so good. They're universal. They're timeless. They're not really about witches and wizards and magic at all. They're about prejudice and loneliness and friendship and grief and loss and fear, things every single human on the planet has experienced at one time or another, whether wizard or muggle.
Sure, this book reads like 300 pages of Melissa Anelli's blog but she really hit the nail on the head about why it matters so much: community. Whenever you meet another Potterphile, you are instant friends. I met one of my closest friends(who, non-coincidentally, urged me to read this book after it sat on my bookshelf for years)when she commented on my lightning bolt necklace.
We each have our own Harry story to tell and our own reasons for loving him. Lots of times they will overlap or be similar, but they all mean a great deal to us.
larissadistler's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful book. I loved revisiting all my favorite moments in Pottermania with Melissa. I wish so much I could experience each book in the Harry Potter series for the first time all over again. It was so magical.
I'm back on the Leaky Cauldron and listening to Harry and the Potters again. I didn't even know about Draco and Malfoys. Reading Melissa's take on her interviews with Jo was lovely. I'm so jealous!
This is not one of these books that picks apart the series and tells the reader how to feel or how to interpret it.Essentially, this book is one woman's love story with a book series and her Harry Potter life. I am glad she has shared it. It's a story I can relate to.
I'm back on the Leaky Cauldron and listening to Harry and the Potters again. I didn't even know about Draco and Malfoys. Reading Melissa's take on her interviews with Jo was lovely. I'm so jealous!
This is not one of these books that picks apart the series and tells the reader how to feel or how to interpret it.Essentially, this book is one woman's love story with a book series and her Harry Potter life. I am glad she has shared it. It's a story I can relate to.
daumari's review against another edition
4.0
You could boil it down to "HP Fandom: The Book" as told by one of the witnesses to the phenomenon, and for that, I love it. I started reading them when I was roughly the same age as the characters, so I missed on some of the earlier nuances when they happened (the PotterWar and H/Hr vs H/R), but as someone who dives straight into fandom whenever I find a piece of media that I like, it's oh so relatable.
It's also kind of weird, because PotterCast was the very first podcast I started listening to, back in early 2008.
It's also kind of weird, because PotterCast was the very first podcast I started listening to, back in early 2008.
book_concierge's review against another edition
2.0
This tells the story of Pottermania and Anelli’s role as webmaster of The Leaky Cauldron – the # 1 website for fans of Harry. I like the Harry Potter books. I enjoy Rowling’s writing, and I’ve enjoyed a couple of the movies. But I’m not obsessed with the phenomenon. By Anelli’s own account, she first heard of Potter when she was buying her college text books. Her mother suggested “something light” to provide some entertainment and escape from all the heavy college texts. Anelli was hooked from the beginning. She quickly was spending virtually every spare moment reading, thinking, talking Harry Potter. In fairness, the book does go beyond Harry Potter to explore the world of children’s-book publishing. And she also talks about how the web-friends joined together to support and inform each other in the aftermath of the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. She nearly lost me entirely in the section devoted to Harry and the Potters and other bands that formed using various themes / characters from the books. Boring. But that was enjoyable compared to the section concerning those who would ban the books because “they teach witchcraft to children.” The most interesting part is the way in which Harry Potter changed the publishing world, the marketing world, the sale of intellectual property to the movies, etc. The best testament to the “power of Potter” is that this book debuted at #18 on the New York Times Bestseller list.
Audio book narrated by Renee Raudman, whose reading of this work is perfectly fine. She sounds appropriately young and enthused when describing the phenomenon, distressed and frantic as she reacts to the Sept 11 attacks, and doesn’t completely put us to sleep when reciting statistics or history.
Audio book narrated by Renee Raudman, whose reading of this work is perfectly fine. She sounds appropriately young and enthused when describing the phenomenon, distressed and frantic as she reacts to the Sept 11 attacks, and doesn’t completely put us to sleep when reciting statistics or history.
labunnywtf's review against another edition
4.0
First of all, I have to reiterate. Joss Whedon fans could kick Harry Potter fans' asses. I belong to both fandoms, I know this for fact.
I started this book extremely excited. Then I got annoyed, and expected to hate the book. It picked back up, though. As someone with a strong fandom family, I just didn't feel hers was as strong. Maybe it's an us vs them sort of thing.
This was really a fun read. I was not deep enough into HP fandom to know half of what happened. I remember the H/H vs H/R war, but I learned about it after the fact, really. I remember reading the JK interviews, but didn't pay much attention to who was doing them and the significance. I probably read them well after the fact.
I didn't like the recurrence of SHAME, though. I've never been ashamed of my fandoms. Once I started reading Harry Potter, I read it in public, private, talked about it, screamed it from the rooftops how great it was. Hell, the only reason I removed the dust jacket from books 5-7 (the only ones I read as hardback originally) while reading was to keep it in pristine condition. But she was so ashamed of being a fan, and of running this website that the fans loved. Even when discussing fanfiction and 'shipping and her own personal belief in H/R, she backed away as quickly as she walked toward it. I just can't relate to being ashamed of fandom love.
Despite any little annoyances, this is a real treat for HP fans and HP fandom. Just a lot of fun.
I started this book extremely excited. Then I got annoyed, and expected to hate the book. It picked back up, though. As someone with a strong fandom family, I just didn't feel hers was as strong. Maybe it's an us vs them sort of thing.
This was really a fun read. I was not deep enough into HP fandom to know half of what happened. I remember the H/H vs H/R war, but I learned about it after the fact, really. I remember reading the JK interviews, but didn't pay much attention to who was doing them and the significance. I probably read them well after the fact.
I didn't like the recurrence of SHAME, though. I've never been ashamed of my fandoms. Once I started reading Harry Potter, I read it in public, private, talked about it, screamed it from the rooftops how great it was. Hell, the only reason I removed the dust jacket from books 5-7 (the only ones I read as hardback originally) while reading was to keep it in pristine condition. But she was so ashamed of being a fan, and of running this website that the fans loved. Even when discussing fanfiction and 'shipping and her own personal belief in H/R, she backed away as quickly as she walked toward it. I just can't relate to being ashamed of fandom love.
Despite any little annoyances, this is a real treat for HP fans and HP fandom. Just a lot of fun.