Recently started a Harry Potter series re-read. I’ve only ever read them one time and saw only the first few movies. I liked the series fine but never got super obsessive. I mean, who would waste that much time on any fictional series. When it was new I was a bit older than the target demographic and wasn’t even aware of it until somewhere around the fourth movie, only then going back and catching up on the books. From there I read the remaining books as they came out, but never bothered watching any more of the movies. Generally I am much more of a reader than a movie watcher. So my thing with movies based on books is that I think, “I don’t want to see the movie until I’ve read the book.” Eventually I read the book. Then I’m like, “Well now why would I bother with the movie?”

Anyway as it is now 2018 in my spacetime reality, it’s been 10-15 years since I’ve read any of the books. And I had forgotten basically everything. Like I could tell you it had something to do with magic, and there was someone named Ron, but it got awful fuzzy beyond that. I remembered the four magical houses. Someone was named Sirius Black, and he was either a murderer or Harry’s uncle or secretly Voldemort, or maybe all three, unless I was thinking of someone else. I play a fair amount of Sporcle and naturally it has about a billion HP quizzes. One of the most played ones on the site is to name the Top 200 HP characters by appearances. I don’t know that I could have named more than ten.

What I’m saying is memory is a funny thing. I remember countless random moments and facts from being alive for 40+ years but somehow not more than a few shreds from a few thousand concentrated pages of reading. Actually maybe that’s a little unfair. Names and plot details were lost, but a lot of the generalities were not. I had rated them all on Goodreads and could sorta remember my justifications for each. I suppose the lack of clarity about these books comes down to what makes memory work or not—keeping it fresh and relevant, building neural connections, applying learned information so it becomes knowledge. I didn’t do any of that with HP. I read it once, and moved on. Though I liked it I didn’t feel the need to re-read, to watch all the movies, to make it into part of my existence. (Though I did go to a Halloween party as Draco Malfoy once, a choice made because I have blond-ish hair and damn if it didn’t look good slicked back. Plus I found a cheap green tie.)

Anyway so it set up something interesting, both in terms of getting to re-live a famous literary series and as a memory experiment. My wife also read them all just once, on a similar timeline, so as I have made it a few books deep into the series, her current brain is the equivalent to my past brain. I can ask her what she remembers about, say, Peter Pettigrew as though I am accessing what I knew a month ago before I started this project. I don’t have to trust my faulty memory, which has since been overwritten by the experience of re-reading.

In addition to the re-reading I decided I might also try to watch all the movies, though I do not guarantee I will complete that part, because, as discussed, I tend to lose interest in the movies once I’ve read the books. To date I’ve re-read the first three books and watched the first three movies:

Book 1: Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone

• Before reading thoughts
  • Very little memory of the story. I didn’t remember what the deal was with the stone at all or how (or even if) Harry ended up facing Voldemort again, but I thought it had done a masterful job introducing the Potterverse. No one had thought about a sorting hat or every flavor jellybeans before. Now everyone has taken multiple online house sorting quizzes and no one fully trusts jellybeans anymore. Admittedly the larger ideas weren’t especially new: wizards, dragons, magic schools, the hero with a thousand faces. But she still had a unique vision for her world that was established here.
• Book reaction on Goodreads
  • I guess in the end I was surprised to not be surprised. Most of the events felt familiar, even if I didn’t remember precise details. Maybe the biggest takeaway was a newfound appreciation for Rowling’s writing. I had been carrying around a bit of smarmy attitude towards her as something of a simplistic narrative writer, and maybe that’s true, but damn she can hook you in. “Another adverb!” I’d gasp exasperatingly, and then realize I’d lost another hour to the book.
• Film reaction
  • Less confident than the first book, and very, very careful not to change anything. So kind of a pointless watch, really. A classic “the book was better” kind of translation where they just kind of blast through the plot points without any depth, because that’s what these kinds of movies do. Like, the miraculous last-minute Gryffindor house cup win wasn’t developed well at all and felt like a total fix. You don’t even save that much time versus a relatively short book. I did enjoy Robbie Coltrane’s delightful Hagrid and Alan Rickman’s simmering Snape. They take such ownership of the roles I can’t read the books without picturing them. The kids are so young though there’s not much in the way of performance there.

Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

• Before reading thoughts
  • I had perhaps that poorest memory of this story, mostly just recalling a disappointing ending. I didn’t even know why it was going to be disappointing. I had no idea what else was from this particular book. Was this the one with Dobby? What’s his deal again? I’d rated it four stars out of five I think because it was still a good, snappy story, but lacking the breakthroughs of the first book.
• Book reaction on Goodreads
  • Yes it’s the one with Dobby but oh yeah that’s his deal. There are lots of things like this actually: it’s the one with Moaning Myrtle, with the polyjuice potion where Harry and Ron infiltrate the Slytherin rooms as Crabbe and Goyle, with Tom Riddle. I definitely underrated the book as a whole even if the ending is rather weak. Four stars still felt right.
• Film reaction
  • More confident but that’s a mixed blessing. Way more polished in look and feel, which is good, but much more willing to take liberties with the story. Not only another classic “the book was better” but doubling down on movie-friendly parts like Quidditch, expanding any opportunity for effects and action, while shoehorning in substantive tracts of narrative through forced dialogue. Maybe you can’t win with a series this popular, where not only such a high percentage of viewers will have read the book, but will have strong opinions about it. If you make it different they’re mad, if you make it the same it’s a waste of time.

Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

• Before reading thoughts
  • I remembered this one being my favorite. But again, wasn’t sure about a lot of details. Just knew it had a really clever ending, something to do with time shifting. And it was the one with Sirius Black. Whoever that was.
• Book reaction on Goodreads
  • I wasn’t disappointed. If anything it was better than I remember: a much more complete book that does everything a good sequel should. And now I remember what’s up with Black and several other major series characters. I think from here out is where I really won’t know what to expect from the books.
• Film reaction
  • This one has a change of directors and with it, a more unique look. A bit more dark and dingy, but a livelier style. And as the most visually ambitious, it’s also the most willing to cheat on the story details. Some of the artistic touches are great, like the whomping willow changing each season. But it also crams even more plot into quick dialogue exchanges before setting up the next action sequence. The ending also feels a bit clunky and underdeveloped compared to the super tight version in the book. I mean, it’s fine, but still doesn’t sell me on it being necessary to watch the movies at all.

So I’ll definitely move on with the books (I’m about halfway through Goblet of Fire now) but not promising I’ll keep up with the movies. Overall they’ve felt a little silly to watch so recently after the books. What you should really do is watch each movie right before starting the following book as a kind of “PREVIOUSLY…ON HARRY POTTER” prep.

To be continued.