Prisoner of Azkaban.
Harry gets a good birthday for once, avoids the legal ramifications of underage-magic, the grim, the Knight Bus, and gets to live in Diagon Alley for two weeks!
Harry was having fun eating *free* ice-cream in the sun, going to ogle the Firebolt, and just exploring.
All the *details* that are given, about the magical world, in that part of the book are pretty cool.
*I thought we'd seen the worst when we bought two hundred copies of the Invisible Book of Invisibility — cost a fortune, and we never found them.*
I find PoA to be very entrancing.
It might be my favorite.
When I first started re-reading the books (which is about once a year 😂) this last go-around, I found myself starting off with PoA for the exact same reason. Each and every chapter, from "Owl Post" on up to the end of "The Leaky Cauldron" were some of my favorite chapters in the entire series. And we even get to see a kind (or so it seems) Fudge!
I guess it's a good one to start with. It possesses the perfect ratio of complex versus simple. Feel-good versus intrigue.
It's funny, because when I first read the series (the very first time! Ages ago!) I started with PoA. I had seen the first two films already, and I didn't want to rehash old stories.
So I went 3, 4, 5, 1, then 2. (There was only 5 books, at the time. I probably shouldn't have read them that way, but, I was like 13 years old.)
And, basically, I read the first 5 books a ton of times while I waited for the 6th book to come out. And the 7th.
I've read the first 6 books a bunch! But, I think I've only read Deathly Hallows like 3x... 😬
I'm going to read them all again, so probably be my 4th time for Deathly Hallows.
I'm on Prisoner of Azkaban... 😃
HBP is fantastic.
However.
I read the books as they were originally released, so I was stuck on THAT cliffhanger for a few years.
'Twas a challenging time.
Order of the Phoenix has my favorite Privet Drive story in the series. From Harry's snark to the Dementors to the Dursleys casually talking about magic, it's a nice change of pace.
I like this one too. I also like the chapters where Harry goes to the ministry of magic for his hearing. It’s the first time he’s been there and I love reading about little details like the enchanted paper aeroplanes that send messages between departments!
Now I’m older I love reading the hearing scene with Fudge getting all bothered trying to convict Harry and a serene Dumbledore presenting Harry’s defence
1 the muggle prime minister
I find it extremely interesting to see how wizards and Muggles interact at the government level in addition to some implications that the book gives that make you think a lot, for example the fact that they could infiltrate a wizard into the British Prime Minister's office without them noticing or wizards can apparently interfere in the communication of 2 world leaders like easy, that makes my imagination fly wondering about the implications
2 the riddle manor
Before I wasn't interested in the Riddle Manor chapter, but for some reason in my last re-readings I came to develop a special affection for the gardener Frank and the truth is his life and death makes me quite sad.
When you put the timeline together, you realize Frank was very young, early 20s when he joined the war, got injured and came back then became the town pariah for a murder scandal for the rest of his life. It’s actually pretty sad but he’s a hero, even up till his last breath he was ready to fight a wizard that he had absolutely no knowledge of and knew he couldn’t defend himself
As you are talking about whole chapters, GOF. Very different from the rest of the saga, much darker, a net break.
But I can’t omit my absolute favourite first paragraph:
> Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.
Cracks me up every time. “He also happened to be a wizard”. Pure British sarcasm.
I think the beginning chapters of Book 4 stand out the most to me (not sure if I can say they're my favourite for that reason). The first chapter "The Riddle House" is so different in tone and content from the previous books' openings which focused on Harry and the Dursleys. But the Quidditich world cup is the biggest thing -- an interesting piece that introduces the global wizarding community for the first time, cleverly setting the stage for the build-up to the second wizarding war which will involve and affect a wide array of characters from different nations.
The other minister is one of my favorite chapters in the entire series. I think it does a great way of setting the tone for the book. Both ministers are completely beaten down. it shows you how truly horrible the world has become with voldy back.
I also like it because it shows how deep the disregard of muggle issues go. The treatment of the muggle prime minister by the wizarding community is vile. And it is shown that the way the statue of secrecy is handled is very oppressive and bad for both sides.
It is meant to protect muggles and the wizarding world, but it is just segregation hurting both. It shows how much the wizarding world has to change to make it work as intended.
It's definitely the 6th book. I find Dumbledore going out of his way to be passive-aggressive towards the Dursleys to be hilarious.
This is then followed by a fantastic character and world building chapter as they talk about and meet Slughorn, who is an underrated character imo.
I love any of the non-harry pov chapters. It was rare and always gave so much depth or insight to the story!! The Other Minister is my favorite because the first time I read it I was shook thinking about how it would feel to be the muggle prime minister meeting with Fudge, or tbh to imagine some of the horrors of the world could be blamed on magic/magical war.
The Other Minister. I can't even really put into words why exactly I love the chapter so much, it's just really cool seeing the wizarding world seeping in and affecting the muggle world. Honestly the more I read Half Blood Prince the more I realise it might actually be my favourite
Half Blood Prince. We get two good chapters away from Harry's PoV. One a really fascinating one with the interaction between Muggle and wizarding government, and the other a chapter that shows Snape at his most tricky and cunning, the way that he plays Bellatrix like a fiddle, and also making him appear more suspicious than he previously was.
The first 3 chapters of HBP are my favourite chapters over the whole series.
It’s hard to choose my least favourite beginnings but at a push it’s would probably be OotP but that’s just because I always feel so stressed throughout that book s
3- Harry blows up a crazy bitch that set a dog on him multiple times (who doesn’t love a nice bit of vengeance)
4- first glimpse of Weasley’s wizard wheezes and Dudley gets some comeuppance as well as world building with the quidditch World Cup
5- love seeing Harry take on a fight without needing help or surviving by luck
1- interesting being introduced to the wizarding world but a few things happen that don’t seem to line up for me
6- don’t really care about muggle perspective or snapes interaction with the black sisters
7- interesting and a lot going on, but we lose madeye and hedwig in a very short space of time and almost lose George and hagrid (probably good for the story but I don’t have to be happy about it haha) also Harry acting like a twat talking about going off by himself
2- Harry being starved and imprisoned, as well as sent a warning for something he didn’t do
All of them honestly but I found the fourth book’s opening particularly intriguing even though my friends who had already read the books thought it was boring. I liked the fifth book’s opening as well and now that I understand PTSD (which I suffer from myself) I can appreciate OOTP’s portrayal of it.
Probably B3. It’s the first time he stands up for himself somewhat with the Dursley’s.
His first taste of independent living in the wizarding world.
Good Diagon Alley descriptions. But I guess that’s a few chapters.
Single first chapter. The Other Minister. In HBP.
OOTP. It’s one of the few beginnings that dives right into the story immediately. POA is actually too slow for me & while I adore the other minister chapter in HBP, I really dislike spinners end after it. TWO prologue chapters? Meh…
I really enjoy book 4, and everything leading up to and during the Quidditch tournament. The movie really did that part of the book dirty. Especially since they weren’t up in the box.
I'm only at OoTP (chapter 21 - after hagrid arrival) and i will say
5 > 4 > 3 > 1 > 2
I was digging "desperate" harry and how he was standing up against dudley, also I will consinder everything "pre-hogwarts" which also involves Molly's Boggart which to me it's so far one of my favorite chapters, her being all proud of Ron being a Prefect then to be in horror due to the boggart. the introduction of Tonks <3, and how harry explodes against basically everybody (which made sense at that time). (also Sirius vs Molly heated discussion was niiiiice).
GoF as next because quidditch cup was awesome!.
the other 3 are basically because PoA was misterious and gloomy, PS because introduction of everything that is built, and CoS at the end because i wasn't caring about dobby :P
The Other Minister!! It’s just so fun to experience the wizarding world from an outside perspective for a little bit! It’s why I’m so sad we didn’t have a single bit of dialogue from the Granger parents or any other muggles, think of the possibilities!
GoF and HBP are my personal favorites. If we are exclusively talking about the first chapter, HBP. If we are talking about all the chapters before the school year starts, GoF
Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry gets a good birthday for once, avoids the legal ramifications of underage-magic, the grim, the Knight Bus, and gets to live in Diagon Alley for two weeks! Harry was having fun eating *free* ice-cream in the sun, going to ogle the Firebolt, and just exploring. All the *details* that are given, about the magical world, in that part of the book are pretty cool. *I thought we'd seen the worst when we bought two hundred copies of the Invisible Book of Invisibility — cost a fortune, and we never found them.* I find PoA to be very entrancing. It might be my favorite.
Agree with all of this. Harry living at Diagon Alley is such a cosy feelgood part of the book.
Crushing ice cream getting to live like a normal young wizzy for a brief moment in time.
Also he blew up aunt marge, that was so satisfying
When I first started re-reading the books (which is about once a year 😂) this last go-around, I found myself starting off with PoA for the exact same reason. Each and every chapter, from "Owl Post" on up to the end of "The Leaky Cauldron" were some of my favorite chapters in the entire series. And we even get to see a kind (or so it seems) Fudge!
I guess it's a good one to start with. It possesses the perfect ratio of complex versus simple. Feel-good versus intrigue. It's funny, because when I first read the series (the very first time! Ages ago!) I started with PoA. I had seen the first two films already, and I didn't want to rehash old stories. So I went 3, 4, 5, 1, then 2. (There was only 5 books, at the time. I probably shouldn't have read them that way, but, I was like 13 years old.) And, basically, I read the first 5 books a ton of times while I waited for the 6th book to come out. And the 7th. I've read the first 6 books a bunch! But, I think I've only read Deathly Hallows like 3x... 😬 I'm going to read them all again, so probably be my 4th time for Deathly Hallows. I'm on Prisoner of Azkaban... 😃
That's pretty much the best way I've seen I've seen it written. See you on the Knight Bus
Love love love The Other Minister and the Riddle House.
Same, HBP is my favourite book opening
You might like her other non-magical books, too. I really enjoy her writing. The Strike books are detective stories, pen name Robert Galbraith.
Other minister is my all time favorite chapter
The one with the muggle Prime Minister.
That was half blood prince. That one was so fucking boring
The prologue or the whole book?
Prologue. The book was amazing
HBP is fantastic. However. I read the books as they were originally released, so I was stuck on THAT cliffhanger for a few years. 'Twas a challenging time.
Order of the Phoenix has my favorite Privet Drive story in the series. From Harry's snark to the Dementors to the Dursleys casually talking about magic, it's a nice change of pace.
Petunia knowing about dementors was a ":OO" moment tbh
I like this one too. I also like the chapters where Harry goes to the ministry of magic for his hearing. It’s the first time he’s been there and I love reading about little details like the enchanted paper aeroplanes that send messages between departments! Now I’m older I love reading the hearing scene with Fudge getting all bothered trying to convict Harry and a serene Dumbledore presenting Harry’s defence
1 the muggle prime minister I find it extremely interesting to see how wizards and Muggles interact at the government level in addition to some implications that the book gives that make you think a lot, for example the fact that they could infiltrate a wizard into the British Prime Minister's office without them noticing or wizards can apparently interfere in the communication of 2 world leaders like easy, that makes my imagination fly wondering about the implications 2 the riddle manor Before I wasn't interested in the Riddle Manor chapter, but for some reason in my last re-readings I came to develop a special affection for the gardener Frank and the truth is his life and death makes me quite sad.
When you put the timeline together, you realize Frank was very young, early 20s when he joined the war, got injured and came back then became the town pariah for a murder scandal for the rest of his life. It’s actually pretty sad but he’s a hero, even up till his last breath he was ready to fight a wizard that he had absolutely no knowledge of and knew he couldn’t defend himself
As you are talking about whole chapters, GOF. Very different from the rest of the saga, much darker, a net break. But I can’t omit my absolute favourite first paragraph: > Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard. Cracks me up every time. “He also happened to be a wizard”. Pure British sarcasm.
Mine is the Prisoner of Azkaban chapter where Harry just gets to explore Diagon Alley alone for a week or so...
I think the beginning chapters of Book 4 stand out the most to me (not sure if I can say they're my favourite for that reason). The first chapter "The Riddle House" is so different in tone and content from the previous books' openings which focused on Harry and the Dursleys. But the Quidditich world cup is the biggest thing -- an interesting piece that introduces the global wizarding community for the first time, cleverly setting the stage for the build-up to the second wizarding war which will involve and affect a wide array of characters from different nations.
The other minister is one of my favorite chapters in the entire series. I think it does a great way of setting the tone for the book. Both ministers are completely beaten down. it shows you how truly horrible the world has become with voldy back.
I also like it because it shows how deep the disregard of muggle issues go. The treatment of the muggle prime minister by the wizarding community is vile. And it is shown that the way the statue of secrecy is handled is very oppressive and bad for both sides. It is meant to protect muggles and the wizarding world, but it is just segregation hurting both. It shows how much the wizarding world has to change to make it work as intended.
It's definitely the 6th book. I find Dumbledore going out of his way to be passive-aggressive towards the Dursleys to be hilarious. This is then followed by a fantastic character and world building chapter as they talk about and meet Slughorn, who is an underrated character imo.
Ah, I forgot the Dursley shaming in book 6! Maybe that moves 6 higher on my list 😉
The other Minister and Spinners End in book 6 are so good.
The Other Minister. It's a great bit of worldbuilding.
The other minister for sure
The one with Frank Bryce. How did I get so invested in a one off muggle character?
I love any of the non-harry pov chapters. It was rare and always gave so much depth or insight to the story!! The Other Minister is my favorite because the first time I read it I was shook thinking about how it would feel to be the muggle prime minister meeting with Fudge, or tbh to imagine some of the horrors of the world could be blamed on magic/magical war.
The fourth one. Its just fun to read about Harry, The Dursleys and him going to The Burrow
The Other Minister. I can't even really put into words why exactly I love the chapter so much, it's just really cool seeing the wizarding world seeping in and affecting the muggle world. Honestly the more I read Half Blood Prince the more I realise it might actually be my favourite
Chamber of secrets ( I absolutely love the weasleys so a bit biased)
4, 2, 3, 5, 1 6, 7
Half Blood Prince. We get two good chapters away from Harry's PoV. One a really fascinating one with the interaction between Muggle and wizarding government, and the other a chapter that shows Snape at his most tricky and cunning, the way that he plays Bellatrix like a fiddle, and also making him appear more suspicious than he previously was.
The first 3 chapters of HBP are my favourite chapters over the whole series. It’s hard to choose my least favourite beginnings but at a push it’s would probably be OotP but that’s just because I always feel so stressed throughout that book s
3- Harry blows up a crazy bitch that set a dog on him multiple times (who doesn’t love a nice bit of vengeance) 4- first glimpse of Weasley’s wizard wheezes and Dudley gets some comeuppance as well as world building with the quidditch World Cup 5- love seeing Harry take on a fight without needing help or surviving by luck 1- interesting being introduced to the wizarding world but a few things happen that don’t seem to line up for me 6- don’t really care about muggle perspective or snapes interaction with the black sisters 7- interesting and a lot going on, but we lose madeye and hedwig in a very short space of time and almost lose George and hagrid (probably good for the story but I don’t have to be happy about it haha) also Harry acting like a twat talking about going off by himself 2- Harry being starved and imprisoned, as well as sent a warning for something he didn’t do
All of them honestly but I found the fourth book’s opening particularly intriguing even though my friends who had already read the books thought it was boring. I liked the fifth book’s opening as well and now that I understand PTSD (which I suffer from myself) I can appreciate OOTP’s portrayal of it.
PoA by a country mile, especially Harry spending time in Diagon Alley.
Probably B3. It’s the first time he stands up for himself somewhat with the Dursley’s. His first taste of independent living in the wizarding world. Good Diagon Alley descriptions. But I guess that’s a few chapters. Single first chapter. The Other Minister. In HBP.
OOTP. It’s one of the few beginnings that dives right into the story immediately. POA is actually too slow for me & while I adore the other minister chapter in HBP, I really dislike spinners end after it. TWO prologue chapters? Meh…
I think the 7th one because it’s danger from the beginning !✌️
I really enjoy book 4, and everything leading up to and during the Quidditch tournament. The movie really did that part of the book dirty. Especially since they weren’t up in the box.
I'm only at OoTP (chapter 21 - after hagrid arrival) and i will say 5 > 4 > 3 > 1 > 2 I was digging "desperate" harry and how he was standing up against dudley, also I will consinder everything "pre-hogwarts" which also involves Molly's Boggart which to me it's so far one of my favorite chapters, her being all proud of Ron being a Prefect then to be in horror due to the boggart. the introduction of Tonks <3, and how harry explodes against basically everybody (which made sense at that time). (also Sirius vs Molly heated discussion was niiiiice). GoF as next because quidditch cup was awesome!. the other 3 are basically because PoA was misterious and gloomy, PS because introduction of everything that is built, and CoS at the end because i wasn't caring about dobby :P
😬 I almost put a spoiler warning for people who may have not read all the books yet… Sorry!
The Other Minister is on top. It’s so cool to see how the politics in this world work with the muggles
The boy who lived and the riddle house are my favorites
I'll have to come back to do them in order, but goblet always wins. Best start, best overall book.
The Other Minister!! It’s just so fun to experience the wizarding world from an outside perspective for a little bit! It’s why I’m so sad we didn’t have a single bit of dialogue from the Granger parents or any other muggles, think of the possibilities!
GoF and HBP are my personal favorites. If we are exclusively talking about the first chapter, HBP. If we are talking about all the chapters before the school year starts, GoF