My Favorite Harry Potter Books Ranked

It’s time once again for another list-oriented post!

God, I love these things.

My boyfriend and I have just started playing the LEGO Harry Potter Collection together. About a day after The Gaming Diaries (a blog I really enjoy following) recommended the game to me, I found myself in a GameStop. What a kawinkadink!

I bought the game for me and Danny, and we dove into the strange LEGO world of Harry Potter. (We are rapidly becoming LEGO video game veterans. Which is maybe something I should not brag about.) We have worked our way through most of Harry’s early school years at Hogwarts, and it has gotten me reminiscing about the Harry Potter books. It’s been a while since I’ve read them, but the series was a huge part of my life. (Still is.)

And aside from my Hogwarts house analysis, I haven’t written much about them.

So welcome to my list of favorite Harry Potter books!

Please bear in mind that I’m a Below Average person and that these rankings are entirely subjective.

Let’s do this:

7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Funnily enough, this is my sister’s favorite book from the series. And let’s get something straight. I don’t dislike any Harry Potter book. I just like some of them more than others. Prisoner of Azkaban never appealed to me for multiple reasons.

For one thing, I couldn’t get behind how emotional magic got. I know the Patronus Charm is now one of the staple spells of the Harry Potter universe, but when I was a kid, I thought it was kind of corny how only “happiness” could make the Patronus Charm work. And is it just me, or did no one ever explain why chocolate helps after a Dementor attack?

Another thing that bothered me was how easy it was for an innocent man to get framed for a crime he didn’t commit. This is a world of freaking wizards who can do magic. Why couldn’t one of them suss out the fact that Sirius Black did not kill Peter Pettigrew? Did no one think to use Veritaserum on Sirius?

Did like the idea of school trips to Hogsmeade though. That seemed nifty.

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Call me old fashioned, but I missed the simplicity of Harry, Ron, and Hermione at school. I get that as the seventh and final book, things had to get gritty and real as they sought to destroy Horcruxes out in the world. But I found myself missing Hogwarts more than I thought I would.

There’s something about the school that centers a Harry Potter story. Without the school as the primary setting, it didn’t feel like a Harry Potter story. It felt like…well, it felt like a story.

Of course, it is extremely difficult to finish off an epic tale and leave everyone satisfied. I like The Deathly Hallows for that sense of finality you get when you close the pages. Once it ended, I was perfectly content knowing that I might never visit Hogwarts in a book again.

Annnnnnnnd then The Cursed Child came out.

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

People call this the darkest book in the Harry Potter series, and they would not be wrong. Sirius Black, the beloved godfather of Harry Potter, just bites the dust in this book. And I remember when I read the part when Harry is yelling at Dumbledore afterwards, I was crying.

That’s not to say the book doesn’t have its positive features. Having Harry teach proper Defense Against The Dark Arts classes and start Dumbledore’s Army was legitimately bad-ass. And Professor Umbridge is one of the most terrifying villains I have ever come across in a book.

And I like Stephen King.

However, this book also includes Harry’s whiny teenager phase. And snogging.

4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

More than any of the other books in the series, The Sorcerer’s Stone is a kids book. I read it in elementary school, and that’s what hooked me on the series.

The reason it ranks so high on this list is because it’s the original. It’s the first. It’s the one that started them all.

The Sorcerer’s Stone was not only Harry’s introduction to the Wizarding world; it was ours.

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The best villains in stories are usually those that you don’t know too much about. If you’re going for a big bad that maintains that same level of terror in you, it’s best to keep a lid on the details of his or her sordid past.

Voldemort was the constant terror of Harry’s life, and in The Half-Blood Prince, we got to take a closer look at his past in all those lessons that Dumbledore started giving Harry. He became more nuanced, and Wizarding history got a bit deeper, or at least our understanding of it did. Our examination of his early childhood did not diminish our wariness of his current form.

Plus, you’ve got to love all that romance stuff that was happening while Voldemort’s past was being showcased to us.

Ron and Hermione. I’ll never understand it.

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I don’t know why I love The Chamber of Secrets so much.

Maybe it’s because we got introduced to the lives of an ordinary Wizarding family like the Weasleys.

Maybe it’s because Gilderoy Lockhart is one of the most hilarious teacher caricatures in the history of Hogwarts.

Maybe because the mystery of the Chamber was just that compelling.

Who knows.

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Hands down my favorite.

I loved everything about this book. The tournament, the other Wizarding Schools, the headlines, the champions.

Plus, while it was heart-wrenching to read through, I liked how Ron and Harry got into that big fight after Harry’s name came out of the Goblet. It must have been difficult for Ron to have to be the famous Harry Potter’s best friend. And while it was a dick move to be jealous of your friend who has been thrust into a life-threatening situation against their will, it was, dare I say it, relatable. I think Harry, and readers, took Ron for granted prior to this book.

This big tome of a book was the first Harry Potter book (for me at least) that took a turn for the serious, the more mature. With the death of Cedric Diggory, the stakes were definitely raised.

Also, one of the great things about reading the series as a kid was how you grew up alongside the characters. I never felt that this was more apparent than while reading The Goblet of Fire.

So which Harry Potter books are your favorite? I understand if you can’t pick. It took me days of ponderous thought to come up with this list.

A Truly Criminal Movie: The Crimes of Grindelwald Review

I write about movies occasionally for my work with TheGamer. It is super conducive to my work if I go out of my way to see big movies as soon as I can.

It is also super conducive to my pleasure.

So when Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald came out, I texted my friend Bubba and asked if he’d like to see it with me immediately. He was totally game, and we showed up to the movie theater an hour earlier than we needed to. And since the theater we went to was out in the boonies, all we could really do in the meantime was walk circles around the place until it was time to go in.

After all that loitering, both Bubba and I were pretty amped for the movie, even if it ended up being bad.

Boy, was it a bad movie.

Now, before I have a bunch of Harry Potter fans leaping down my throat and screaming that I’m not appreciating it for the lore-fest that it is, let me tell you about my own Harry Potter fandom. I would never call myself a Potterhead, but I have read all the books, seen all the movies, caught up on the news on Pottermore, and occasionally peeked at a Harry Potter wiki page from time to time.

So I know my Harry Potter.

And I still thought The Crimes of Grindelwald sucked harder than a Dyson vacuum cleaner.

 Side note: I debated before writing this about whether to include spoilers or not, but honestly, I shouldn’t have worried about it at all. This movie is so bad, you don’t need spoilers to understand what’s wrong with it. So what follows should be a spoiler-free review.

I’ll break down my below average review into four parts: the characters, the plot, the setting, and the lore.

1. Too Many Characters and Not Enough Time

So let’s start with the characters.

We met a neat collection of characters in the first Fantastic Beasts movie, and a lot of them are back for the sequel. I grew to like those guys in the first movie, so I did not mind their return in The Crimes of Grindelwald, not even stuttering and eye-contact-avoiding Newt’s.

We just don’t get enough of them in this latest movie.

They’re established characters, I get that. They don’t need to have their origin explained again. But could we at least have a little character development for them? Just a tiny bit of rational development is all I ask.

What little time we have for their personal arcs is not enough. Their development is either so hastened along that it makes no sense or missing altogether.

Part of the reason these characters don’t have enough time is because a bunch of other characters get introduced and time has to be devoted to them. But see, these brand-spanking-new characters get little development as well.

The one character I enjoyed the most in this movie was Leta Lestrange, and I can honestly say it’s because her character had time to develop. (At least a little.) We got to linger and ponder on her motivations and her future choices in a way that we did not with the other characters.

I had no problem with the acting whatsoever. I think everyone in The Crimes of Grindelwald has proven themselves to be talented actors.

It’s honestly the fault of the writing.

2. There Is Such a Thing as Too Much Plot

I’m not fond of most of the Harry Potter movies. They can’t do the books justice. There is so much richness in the books, the movies just fail to capture all of it.

But it’s no easy task to condense a 700-page book into a 2 hour movie. I can’t say I would do any better.

The first Fantastic Beasts movie was great because of how streamlined it was. It did not have to deal with de-cluttering the plot of a book. It was created to be a movie and that’s what it was.

For some reason, The Crimes of Grindelwald feels like a dense book is behind it and the director just kind of failed to smooth away unnecessary plot points.

If you’ve watched the film already, you know what I’m talking about. There are too many moments that we just don’t need later on. For example, do you remember Bunty? (This is not exactly a spoiler, so relax everybody.) Now, it may take you a while to remember who Bunty was, but once you do, can you honestly say that Bunty was a necessary addition to the story?

But a jam-packed plot isn’t the only problem The Crimes of Grindelwald suffers from.

There are times when the plot just doesn’t make sense. Characters do things for no easily discernible reason or magic goes unexplained.

Magic is like the ultimate deus ex machina, and I never thought that would bother me. But it does. The thing about Harry Potter that I loved was that magic was wondrous, but it had rules. It had rules. So while some occurrences might have been extraordinary and inexplicable to Harry at times, they were simply not comprehended by him at the moment.

In The Crimes of Grindelwald, magic is used willy-nilly to accomplish tasks and it leaves me, a long-time Harry Potter fan, wondering how that happened.

And don’t get me started on the plain old nonsensical moments that go unexplained. At one point, a character is told the name of a location, and he somehow ends up there without a map, without transportation, and without a basic understanding of the language spoken in the area.

3. The Background Is Relegated to the Background

The Crimes of Grindelwald takes place, for the most part, in Paris. Each of our favorite characters are able to explore varying locations in the vast city, but not enough time is spent letting us get acclimated to our surroundings.

This might sound like a silly thing to get pissed over, but goddamn it, movies are a way to transport you to places that are wondrous and magical, and in a goddamn universe where magic exists, the setting should be just as important as the characters for crying out loud.

Look, just take a stroll with me down memory lane to the first Harry Potter movie. Hogwarts was introduced to us the same way it was introduced to Harry. We learned to recognize its silhouette, its interiors, its notable rooms.

Hogwarts was a fantastic setting, and it did such a good job of imprinting itself in my mind, that the few times we stopped off at Hogwarts in The Crimes of Grindelwald, my heart went pitter-pat.

This latest travesty of a movie has none of the magic in its other locations. We stop off at the French Ministry of Magic, a magic circus in an alley, and the Lestrange family tomb. No spark of interest in any of these places.

Zip.

Zilch.

At one point, Newt makes a pit stop by the White Cliffs of Dover, and I actually whispered excitedly to Bubba, “Look! It’s the White Cliffs of Dover!”

There’s a problem in your Wizarding movie if the best new location is a Muggle one.

4. Oh, Dear Lore

The Crimes of Grindelwald has some…interesting new additions to Harry Potter lore. I’m sure there are die-hard fans out there who are geeking out over some of these revelations.

I’m not one of them.

I get why franchise-building is a lucrative opportunity that film companies want to pursue. But this latest attempt at making a cinematic universe to match Marvel’s has just made me wearier of the trend.

At the end of the movie, there is a big reveal that sets the stage for the conflict to come in future movies.

But instead of igniting my interest the way it was supposed to, this reveal doused it.

I mean, why should I care about these lore changes when it’s clear these lore changes don’t seem to care about what has come before.

And so…

If you want to see the movie, be my guest. I’m a firm believer in the idea that everyone should form their own opinion about movies and things like that. It makes discussions of said movies way more interesting.

Plus, the movie wasn’t entirely bad. I do love cute CGI animals. The Nifflers make an appearance again, and the Zouwu is weirdly adorable.

I rate The Crimes of Grindelwald a watch-it-so-that-I-can-complain-about-it-to-you-and-we-can-collectively-call-it-a-piece-of-flammable-feces.

How Hogwarts Are You?

My friend Andreya and I have spent a lot of time discussing the nuances of Hogwarts House personalities.

And by a lot of time, I mean a lot of time.

At first, we were just interested in our own. We took the Pottermore quiz (you can find it right here if you haven’t already taken it yourself) and focused a lot of our discussions on the results.

Eventually though, we started using the Hogwarts House personalities to describe people to each other.

If, for instance, Andreya was trying to tell me a story about a fellow classmate of hers who I had never met, she would say something like, “He’s annoying, but in a Gryffindor kind of way.”

Things escalated quickly, and we began to talk for hours about how each House differed from the other.

Just in case you have no clue what I’m talking about when I say “Hogwarts Houses,” let me get you up to speed. Hogwarts is the magical school that Harry Potter goes to in J.K. Rowling’s famous book series. The students at this school are separated into four different houses based partially on their personality and partially on their desires.

The Houses and their base traits are as follows:

Gryffindor–Bravery and determination
Slytherin–Cunning and resourcefulness
Ravenclaw–Intelligence and Wisdom
Hufflepuff–Loyalty and Patience

Now, obviously a person can’t be summed up with just a few adjectives. I’ve met more than a few Ravenclaws, and none of them are solely “intelligent” and “wise.”

When Andreya and I discuss a person using Hogwarts Houses as descriptors, we attribute more than these traits to them. We have also gone into more depth concerning each House and what they are like.

And here are our thoughts for your reading pleasure.

• Gryffindors: Alongside bravery, Gryffindors are also very outgoing. They enjoy trying new things, meeting new people, and going to new places. New experiences are part of what they love about life. If you have a group of friends, the Gryffindors are the go-getters, the planners, the leaders. They always have an idea about what to do next. It may not be a good idea, but at least it’s an idea. The best thing about them is how engaging they can be. They ooze personality, so they draw people to them like a magnet. You’re never bored when you’re with a Gryffindor. You might get exhausted or drained after spending a day with them, but never bored. The worst quality a Gryffindor can possess is how unabashedly insensitive they can be. In their rush to find the next thing, they can be pretty inconsiderate. They are not even trying to be mean. They’re just heedless. My sister is a Gryffindor, and she’s responsible for all the scrapes we’ve gotten into. However, she’s also responsible for the best times we’ve ever had as well.
• Slytherins: A huge misconception about Slytherins is that they’re all evil. In the Harry Potter books, the whole of Slytherin House is filled with jerks. In real life, Andreya and I have made Slytherins less one-dimensional. They have a good dose of self-interest and the ambition to achieve their goals. That doesn’t make them bad. If anything, that just makes them honest with themselves. Andreya and I agree that one of the best things about Slytherins is how self-aware they can be. A Slytherin may lie to other people about how things are going, but a true Slytherin will never lie to themselves. And yes, just in case you were wondering, Andreya is a Slytherin. One of the reasons she’s one of my closest friends is that she has a firm grasp of her flaws. She knows she’s a tad self-absorbed and she knows she’s a “trash” person (I have never called her that). But the best thing about Andreya is her ability to adapt to fit a situation. And Slytherins make the best of friends. When you’re mad at someone, a Ravenclaw will be logical about the whole situation and try to smooth things over. A Slytherin will be able to suss out what you want to hear and give it to you, whether that’s some good old trash-talk or a complete denial of the real problem.
• Ravenclaws: I know two Ravenclaws really well: my boyfriend and my long-time friend Mia. They are perfect embodiments of everything the House stands for. Reason is the underlying force that allows them to function, but one thing I’ve noticed is that they can be very passionate. People assume that Ravenclaws are these dried-up scholarly types, but I have found that Ravenclaws usually have an undercurrent of enthusiasm for whatever it is they want to set their minds to. Mia, for example, loves The Lord of the Rings. Even though it is a fantasy series, Mia knows more tidbits and facts about that world than a mathematician knows about Calculus. I swear, enthusiasm that is supported with rationality is one of the most refreshing traits I’ve ever encountered in a person. The best thing about Ravenclaws is that they can always tell you the logical approach to a situation. I don’t know how many times I’ve face-palmed in disbelief at my own stupidity when Danny or Mia told me how to go about a certain scenario that I originally had no idea how to handle. Unfortunately, Ravenclaws can forget about emotions, and in this regard they can share the insensitivity that Gryffindors have. They also have a tendency to get hung up on the little things.
• Hufflepuffs: I’m a Hufflepuff. So I’m probably a bit biased. Just putting that out there. Hufflepuffs are kind of considered to be the throwaway House in Hogwarts. When all the other Founders of Hogwarts were fighting over who would keep the brave students, the cunning students, and the intelligent students, Hufflepuff’s founder simply said that she would “take the rest.” I feel like that’s the undercurrent that should run through every true Hufflepuff. It’s an acceptance of others and a willingness to trust in others no matter how lowly, unqualified, or dumb they appear to be. I think the best quality about us is that we’re the best kind of support anyone could ask for. We know how to bolster others. We’re indecisive as hell though. We have no standards. We’re occasionally too trusting. Being in Hufflepuff is a bit of a running joke. We’re considered the lame ones. The average ones. (Or below average, in my case.)

Andreya and I both agree that the traits of several Houses can reside in one person. I, for example, have a bit of Ravenclaw in me aside from Hufflepuff. (We blur the lines between each House and allow people to be more than one adjective.)

And we both agree that Pottermore can sometime not truly capture what a person is like. Instead, based on the answers people select in the quiz, Pottermore will give them the House they want to be in.

Still, it’s fun to talk about. Both Andreya and I are avid Harry Potter fans (along with most of the world), so we clutch onto any reason to talk about Hogwarts.

Any fellow Puffs out there? What Hogwarts House are you in?

Till next time!

Totes Andreya…

As soon as you read about Slytherins, you know they’re the bad guys. First of all, Slytherin just sounds…evil. Second of all, most, if not all, of the villains freaking come from there. Voldemort was from Slytherin, and he’s a Dark Lord. Draco Malfoy was from Slytherin, and he’s a jerk. And the man who created Slytherin, good old Salazar Slytherin himself?

Yeah, he’s a not-so-subtle Muggle-hater.

(In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m referring to Hogwarts Houses from the Harry Potter series.)

So with that bad a rep, you wouldn’t think that a person who got sorted into Slytherin from the Pottermore Sorting Quiz could be a great friend.

Wrong.

They make the best of friends.

Andreya Martinez and I first met at film club. (Yeah, we’re kind of film nerds. Well, actually, if I’m being honest, Andreya is more passionate about film than I am. I joined the club in order to stay in contact with this totally awesome guy, but that’s another story for another time.) We didn’t talk much to each other while we were in the club. We just casually got to know each other. However, we were both left with favorable impressions.

After the film club ended (rather unceremoniously), Andreya and I decided to reach out to each other so we could hang out by ourselves.

Best decision ever.

Despite having completely different personalities, it’s like we suit each other really well. Who would have thought that a Hufflepuff like me and a Slytherin like Andreya could be so compatible?

(A lot of people, apparently. Slytherin/Hufflepuff friendships are uber common.)

Andreya is the funniest person I know. She’s mastered intentional and accidental humor. (I know you can’t really practice accidental humor, but you know what I mean.) Her occasional abrasiveness is totally unique to her, and I find it refreshing. Wit and candor met and had a baby in order to give her the best sense of humor.

She has her flaws, who doesn’t? (Especially a Slytherin.) But, unlike most people, she’s completely aware of them. Some people have this really bad habit of trying to hide their flaws. What gets even more annoying is when they admit to having flaws that aren’t really flaws.

For example, “I don’t know how to be selfish.”

Or “I’m too nice.”

Andreya doesn’t waste her time hiding her flaws. She’s loud and proud of them. She’s admitted to me that she’s selfish and only cares about herself. And I will take that kind of honesty any day over someone who pretends to be kind.

As per the usual Slytherin cunning, she is an expert in getting her way. She doesn’t let trivialities like rules stop her.

Despite what many would consider major character faults, Andreya is the most encouraging friend I have. I’m telling you, underneath the scaly exterior of every Slytherin is a loyal friend in the making. So while she’s quick to sing her own praises, she’s just as quick to sing mine.

It’s because of her that I have this blog. I was going through low times having lost some friendships, but Andreya was able to bring me back up. She told me to focus on the things that make me happy, and I honestly know I’m happier today because she’s in my life.

One of my favorite things that she’s ever told me (when I was being an equivocating, non-confrontational Hufflepuff) is this: “You can’t please everyone, so you might as well please yourself.”

She has a tremendous personality, so if you want to get to know her this is her blog.

I recommend her blog just as fervently as I recommend her.

But the Book Is Totally Better

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard myself say that after stepping out of a theater.

But come on, it’s totally true 99.99% of the time.

The majority of movie adaptations based on books would have been better off left as words on a page. For a number of reasons, these attempts to capture the complexity and goshdarned wonderful-ness of the original books simply fail to captivate me.

My number one example of this phenomenon is the Harry Potter series.

No collection of books is so beloved as J.K. Rowling’s magical masterpiece. The world she crafted was impeccably alluring, and her characters were relatable (well, as relatable as teenage wizards could be). And while it was nice to see Harry’s world brought to life through the prowess of different filmmakers, the films still left much to be desired.

I’m okay with the first three films. I was practically a child when I saw The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets. I went to go see the movies on a class field trip. (Isn’t that neat? We saw a movie for our class field trip.) I had read the books, and the movies were more or less as enjoyable as the books were.

By the time the fourth Harry Potter movie came along, I was spotting flaws right and left. The vast and detailed plot of The Goblet of Fire did not fit well into two hours and thirty-seven minutes. Contradictions began to run rampant with no explanation offered for them, and the lack of development for some secondary characters (and even some primary ones) physically hurt me.

That is what happens when books are made into movies. It’s like playing Russian Roulette. Occasionally you’re lucky, and the movie ends up being everything you hoped for. Other times…

There are three movies I love (technically five, but I’ll get to that later) that equaled or exceeded the books they were based on.

• The Lord of the Rings (made up of three movies)
• Cloud Atlas
• Jurassic Park

I was very young when I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think I was about six years old (I liked to read, sue me). However, my parents did not think it was appropriate for me to see a PG-13 fantasy movie at such a young age. So they waited until The Fellowship of the Ring came out on DVD, and then my father watched it alongside my sister and me, supervising us to make sure we were not unduly influenced by fantasy violence. (We had so much fun; we pretended to be Ringwraiths for the next couple of days. We’d grab the pillows from our living room couch and imagine they were our horses. Then we would shriek the highest note we could reach and run around the house. Just like the Nazgûl, get it?)

J.R.R. Tolkien’s incredible work of fantasy was a deeply written collection of lore. As such, the descriptions of places and events were extremely wordy. Entire chapters could have been devoted to describing the city of Minas Tirith. Tolkien gave every race a history, and those histories went back generations. I believe that the movie captured that fantastical history and made it engrossing as hell. Instead of reading paragraphs about, say, the customs of the Rohirrim, we got to observe them in action and learn their customs through their wardrobe and behavior. Not every person could pick up the books and get into them. But the movie delivered the same content, while making it easy to understand and enjoy.

The story of how I got into Cloud Atlas is hilarious. Well, to me, at least. I was in my college computer lab working on a paper. I was listening to music through Youtube, and the trailer for Cloud Atlas came on before one of the videos . Intrigued, I paused my essay-writing to watch it. And just the initial concept of the trailer floored me. It was so cool! It’s almost indescribable. Don’t believe me? Check it out here.

Upon finding out that it was also a novel, I went to Barnes & Noble first thing that weekend and got myself a copy of the book. It was fantastic. I then only had a couple of months to wait before I could see if the movie lived up to its progenitor’s greatness.

And it did.

Some people may not agree with me. I know that a lot of film critics did not look too kindly on the movie. But I’m no film critic. I loved the book, and I loved the movie.

The interesting thing about the book version and movie version of Cloud Atlas is that they feel like different animals. The book is a ziggurat. You climbed up the first half of the story, with each timeline representing a step forward. Then you climbed down the ziggurat, each story-line getting resolved into a graceful denouement. The movie version was more like a tapestry. We got to visit each timeline one after the other, like threads interwoven together to make an intricate weave. The story feels kind of spiritual without being overly preachy. It stimulated my heart and my mind at the same time.

So, while the book and the movie feel dissimilar, they’re both equally enjoyable and, more importantly, equally meaningful. I would highly recommend both to anybody.

I was a total dinosaur kid (and am now a dinosaur adult), so it’s no wonder that Jurassic Park made it onto my list of favorite books turned into movies as well. I have nothing against the Michael Crichton novel. I think he’s a great sci-fi writer with the ability to ramp up tension like nobody’s business. But Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park had what Crichton’s book didn’t: heart.

That movie was made for people who loved dinosaurs. While the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the raptors may have been the antagonists of the movie, they were what made me sit straight in my seat with my eyes glued to the screen. Hell, anytime a dinosaur appeared, my heart skipped a beat. Alan Grant’s face when he rests his body on the triceratops is mine every time I decide to re-watch Jurassic Park. 

And that theme music! My soul sings that melody every time I go to a dinosaur museum. (Or whenever I’m doing something super majestic, which is, sadly, not often.)

So, it is possible to make a great movie based on a book. It’s just not something you see every day. If you have any recommendations for movies based on books that you like, let me know! I’m always on the look-out for fresh attempts.

What can I say? I’m a closet optimist.