When it comes to Harry Potter, I was a late adopter. For years, I chuckled at the avid readers who camped out at book stores the night before the latest book’s release. My wife is hard to buy for, so when she mentioned half-heartedly that she should read Harry Potter because all of her friends were fans, I bought her the boxed set of the first 6 volumes. She read about 10 pages to humor me, and has not picked them up since.
Months later, looking for something to read one day as I left for the airport, I grabbed the first book of the series from her bedside table. I was instantly addicted, and proceeded to plow through all seven books during the next 4 months. I can’t articulate what is so great about these books, but rarely have I enjoyed reading anything more.
Now, having finished them all, I find myself depressed and empty. I knew this would happen, so I nursed the last two books, never reading more than a little bit at a time. Still, I am left aimless in Harry’s absence. Which is why I turn to you, the blog readers: what should a recovering Harry Potter addict read next to restore meaning to his life?
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Welcome to the club… I have yet to rebound and now find myself “chasing the high”, so to speak.
read them aloud to your kids?
In the modern fantasy catagory the His Dark Materials trilogy and the Bartimaeus trilogy are both excellent reads.
I’ve been a swords and sorcery fan since I was in 7th grade or so.
If you want humor – I highly recommend the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.
For light fare – the Xanth books by Piers Anthony are good
For more serious but still fun – The Belgariad series by David (and Leigh) Eddings is a good time waster
For deadly serious – The Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe or the Thomas Covenant books by Stephen R Donaldson
These are all books I have re-read many times.
On similar subject
I also have to highly recommend the Fables comic series by Bill Willingham. Outstanding writing and great art. Buy the Graphic Novel format books. It’s about fairy tales personified and living in this world.
try philip pullmans dark materials trilogy, I was forced to read it whilst waiting for the final HP book and ended up finding them much more enjoyable.
Artemis Fowl, Eragon.
Maybe you have already read The Lord of the Rings, but if you haven’t, do so now. It will keep you busy for an eternity. That is, if you get crazy and pick up everything that is out there.
- Hobbit
- 3 Lord of the Rings books
- The Silmarillion
- History of Middle Earth; 12 books showing original
writings and different versions of the stories.
Also, pick up any book in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. They are satire fantasy novels. The usual characters of witches, trolls and dwarfs but hilarious and silly. And, there are about 25 of them in the series.
One thing that helped me: I watched the entire 14-episode run of ‘Firefly’ on hulu.com (NBC’s online portal – it’s free, so the price is right) and got the special edition DVD of ‘Serenity’, the movie follow-up.
Then I was sad and empty again because I’d reached the end of that particular universe. It’s a vicious cycle.