Reading Harry Potter as an Adult | Harry Potter and the Chamber ofSecrets

The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny. But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone, or something, starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects: Harry Potter himself?

Confession time: I didn't like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that much
reading it now as an adult.

I KNOW.

I'm not sure if maybe I never noticed before, but Chamber of Secrets is probably my least favorite book in the series. It makes me a little sad.

A lot of sad actually.

But it's a different experience reading these now that I am not very close to Harry Potter's age, and I'm only just realizing how crazy dangerous some of these events are and he's just a child (again, I feel so McGonagall saying that, but it's true!)

I have to also admit that there were a few things that I disliked, and even found a little annoying. For example, I didn't really like Dobby, who never really bothered me before. I never really adored him or anything but now I had a difficult time seeing what the appeal was to him in the first place. Is that terrible?

Just writing this is depressing me, but I'll point out that I am rating this one three stars this time around which is lower than I ever thought I would rate a Harry
freaking Potter book.

I am looking forward to reading the third book in the series, but also a little terrified. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorites (the favorite) because it introduces the character of Sirius Black (who is for sure, my favorite) but what if I don't love it as much?! I'm scared I'll come to the end of the series and feel like I've been living a lie LOL.

That's impossible, though...right?