I totally agree -- Cedric is much more of a "presence" in the books than he ever was in the film(s). I wasn't "in" to fandom stuff until after I'd finished reading GoF (I was using the Yahoo!IMer w/a friend, and Googled "Harry Potter" -- who knew where it'd lead!? LOL!!), so I was pretty unaware of rumors, etc. I had friends who'd enjoyed the books, but I was in grad school (yes, then, too! :-P) and working and I kept saying I didn't have time! Which leads to your next question, really. My MIL, who was still teaching 2nd grade, had given the three oldest grandgirls (my two, and my oldest niece) the first couple of books, and I'd bought PoA for my oldest when it came out in paperback. She'd read the 1st book multiple times, and reallly wanted to go see the movie. I took her right after it opened, but refused to deal w/the crowds of opening day (HA!!), and then took her again a week or so later. It was after we saw it the 2nd time that I told her, "Okay, bring me the 1st book..." and you know how that turned out! LOL!! They both read all the books/saw all the movies, etc., though I think I was always more "connected" w/it than they were, largely b/c of making friends in fandom, etc.
When DH was released, it was kinda a weird situation, but rather fitting, too, b/c of it being my MIL who got everyone interested, initially. It was being released at midnight on that Fri/Sat AM **of the day our whole family went to the beach for vacation**. And our family left home around 6 AM -- and I really didn't sleep during the day, much, so I was *mostly* up for over 24 hours before I finished.
I had called around the small town near the beach, and found a place that was doing a whole party, etc., thing for the release, and pre-ordered something like 7 or 8 copies (3 for me and my girls, two nieces, my MIL and my SIL; okay, maybe 7? My BIL had his delivered to the house the next morning via UPS.). My girls, my two oldest nieces and I went to most of the party thing, and my SIL and Hubby came for a bit to see what was going on, etc. We got all the books and trekked back to the beach house -- about 30 min's away, total. And, of course, all the kids read in the van on the way back, so they were all ahead of me before I even got started! We made coffee and stayed up to read. The nieces pooped out eventually, and my younger daughter fell asleep with it open on her lap sometime the next morning. My oldest and I were the only ones who made it all the way through before sleeping.
And all week at the beach, those of us who'd finished would meet up, standing out in the water, where the sound of the waves would cover up our conversation, and we'd discuss it after people finished reading. Of the 14 in the family, by the end of the week, all but 4 had read the book. One SIL who just doesn't like to read that much; the two youngest nieces, who were too young then (but the youngest, at least, has read all of them now, and she just turned 12; she finished SS the week before she started first grade!!); and my FIL, who just doesn't "do" fantasy "stuff" in reading ;-) Even my hubby, who doesn't really read fiction, period, ended up reading it that week. He'd read all the others before, by making various "deals" w/the kids as they were in school ("I'll read xx if you do xyz with school/cleaning rooms/whatever"), and he kept saying, "I can't figure it out... people get so sad, and then they're happy again." I wouldn't *tell* him, of course, so he did read it. It was just awesome to get to be with everyone while doing that!!
(So, yeah... sorry, I get going on this, apparently!!)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2015-05-06 01:34 am (UTC)When DH was released, it was kinda a weird situation, but rather fitting, too, b/c of it being my MIL who got everyone interested, initially. It was being released at midnight on that Fri/Sat AM **of the day our whole family went to the beach for vacation**. And our family left home around 6 AM -- and I really didn't sleep during the day, much, so I was *mostly* up for over 24 hours before I finished.
I had called around the small town near the beach, and found a place that was doing a whole party, etc., thing for the release, and pre-ordered something like 7 or 8 copies (3 for me and my girls, two nieces, my MIL and my SIL; okay, maybe 7? My BIL had his delivered to the house the next morning via UPS.). My girls, my two oldest nieces and I went to most of the party thing, and my SIL and Hubby came for a bit to see what was going on, etc. We got all the books and trekked back to the beach house -- about 30 min's away, total. And, of course, all the kids read in the van on the way back, so they were all ahead of me before I even got started! We made coffee and stayed up to read. The nieces pooped out eventually, and my younger daughter fell asleep with it open on her lap sometime the next morning. My oldest and I were the only ones who made it all the way through before sleeping.
And all week at the beach, those of us who'd finished would meet up, standing out in the water, where the sound of the waves would cover up our conversation, and we'd discuss it after people finished reading. Of the 14 in the family, by the end of the week, all but 4 had read the book. One SIL who just doesn't like to read that much; the two youngest nieces, who were too young then (but the youngest, at least, has read all of them now, and she just turned 12; she finished SS the week before she started first grade!!); and my FIL, who just doesn't "do" fantasy "stuff" in reading ;-) Even my hubby, who doesn't really read fiction, period, ended up reading it that week. He'd read all the others before, by making various "deals" w/the kids as they were in school ("I'll read xx if you do xyz with school/cleaning rooms/whatever"), and he kept saying, "I can't figure it out... people get so sad, and then they're happy again." I wouldn't *tell* him, of course, so he did read it. It was just awesome to get to be with everyone while doing that!!
(So, yeah... sorry, I get going on this, apparently!!)