I think for any adult who is around 28-38 in the UK who loves reading, Harry Potter is sure to crop up in conversation at some point and it is one of the books that truly ties every reader in that age range together.
I was born in 1995 so I was bit young to read the books as they were published and my first intro to the series was through the movies. However I remember my dad buying me The Order of The Pheonix in 2003 when it was released.
I did at the time start to read it but only the first two movies had come out so the plot-line with Sirius Black and Voldermort’s return made no sense to me (As these come up in the third and fourth movies respectively) so over the next couple of months I bought the first four with my pocket money.
I remember surprisingly finding The Goblet of Fire to be very hard to get hold of so I had to wait a little while and I ended up getting it by chance on holiday to Butlins and then finally when we came back being able to read them properly.
I also can remember the midnight launches for the final two books in the series in 2005 and 2007 and reading The Deathly Hallows within a weekend of it coming out. The series was definitely a cultural moment which united readers of my age at the time and sadly I don’t think any other book since has quite reached that level of phenomenon for children’s readers. However they are definitely books I would recommend, especially if you like the movies as they expand on the movies so much.
Also with the new HBO series coming out next era they will have a second wave of popularity, however for me it probably won’t be the same as being there waiting for the next book to come out and the next movie the first time around.
I think this also marked a time when I was reading lots of books related to movies and TV shows I was watching. I read Tracy Beaker, Alex Rider, The Hobbit and Doctor Who Tie-In books based on TV shows and movies I watched at the time.
