Harry Potter Box Set
J.K. Rowling
Whatever Happened to the Harry Potter Readers?
by Richard DaviesI was not a fan of Harry Potter when J.K. Rowling was writing her bestselling series. Her books seemed to hog the headlines when there were so many other great titles to read. Then I read all seven Potter books to my eldest daughter at bedtime (over many months) and finally understood what all the fuss was about.
The Harry Potter literary franchise ended on 21 July 2007 when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows brought the boy wizard’s adventures to a dramatic conclusion. Rowling’s books had influenced a generation of readers, starting with the publication of Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone on 30 June 1996, and they have been widely acclaimed for generating worldwide excitement about reading.
But what did those fans do after the final book had been read and probably read again? Many readers had talked about feeling sadness and emptiness after finishing the final page in the summer of 2007. AbeBooks decided to investigate.
AbeBooks analyzed the subsequent purchases of customers who bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from our site and this rather eclectic list of 30 books reflects the most popular post-Potter reading. We expected to see Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books, Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy and perhaps some magical-themed literature but our guesses were wildly off target.
It appears to have been an interesting few years for these readers – this list covers self help, dieting, Portia de Rossi’s battle with anorexia, guides to making your dollars go further, some of Toni Morrison’s most brilliant but painful-to-read writing, Steve Lopez’s Soloist book about a homeless schizophrenic musician, lots of prehistoric fiction and a Dean Koontz memoir about a golden retriever called Trixie.
The only series to hook the Harry Potter fans is Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children - set 30,000 years ago - although Morrison, Michael Connelly and Barbara Kingsolver have multiple titles on the list.
If you were a Harry Potter fan, tell us what you turned to after the series ended. Leave a Facebook comment at the bottom of the page.
