Harry Potter audiobooks - Definitely not a Dung Bomb...

It's been close to three weeks since I finished listening to the audiobooks of the British versions of the Harry Potter books, narrated by Stephen Fry. I still haven't gotten over the experience, and this post is an attempt to get it out of my system. I wouldn't be writing here if I weren't a big Harry Potter fan. I have enjoyed reading the books like all of you, if not like some of you, who have read it a million times. But listening to Stephen Fry narrate every line so beautifully, has only increased my appreciation for the books from a more emotional point of view.

Stephen Fry is a class act. He manages to provide a unique tone to almost every character in the seven books, be it the bossy tone of Hermione, or the dreamy voice of Luna, or the smug tone of Draco. More importantly he accurately brings out the emotion connected with every line in the book. I have to admit, I enjoyed reading the first 4 books more than the last 3, but I loved every line of the last three books when I listened to them, as I was overwhelmed by the emotional content in these books. Therefore it is not surprising that most of my now-favourite moments from the books can be found in the last three. Probably the funniest bit was the Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor in the 6th book.

“. . . but now that big Hufflepuff player’s got the Quaffle from her, I can’t remember his name, it’s something like Bibble — no, Buggins —”

“It’s Cadwallader!” said Professor McGonagall loudly from beside Luna. The crowd laughed.

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Ginny and Demelza scored a goal apiece, giving the red-and-gold-clad supporters below something to cheer about. Then Cadwallader scored again, making things level, but Luna did not seem to have noticed; she appeared singularly uninterested in such mundane things as the score, and kept attempting to draw the crowd’s attention to such things as interestingly shaped clouds and the possibility that Zacharias Smith, who had so far failed to maintain possession of the Quaffle for longer than a minute, was suffering from something called “Loser’s Lurgy.”

“Seventy-forty to Hufflepuff!” barked Professor McGonagall into Luna’s megaphone.

“Is it, already?” said Luna vaguely. “Oh, look! The Gryffindor Keeper’s got hold of one of the Beater’s bats.”

The grace with which Fry shifts between McGonagall, Luna and the narration is fantastic. I have listened to this bit umpteen number of times. Some of the more powerful scenes in the book literally brought me to tears, none more than the one featuring Harry and Dumbledore after they have viewed the complete version of Slughorn's memory (chapter 23 - The Horcruxes.) I just couldn't get enough of the below lines in the end of the chapter, especially when narrated by Fry:

But he understood at last what Dumbledore had been trying to tell him. It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew — and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents — that there was all the difference in the world.

And of course, Harry's bouts with himself, regarding his feelings for Ginny, or the developing romance between Ron and Hermione have been dealt with brilliantly, with the latter deserving a separate post. I have never been appealed or been touched by the representation of emotions, more particularly those concerning love and sorrow, in books in general. To a good extent, same has been the case with the Harry Potter books. The fact that Ron and Hermione end up together, didn't make much of a difference to me when I originally read the books. But listening to the audiobooks helped me catch hints that went previously unnoticed by me. I was particularly impressed by how Fry surprised by me pointing out hints hints laid out by JKR in the first three books. The ones that caught my attention the most were:

Chapter 1:

Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand — not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: “Wingardium Leviosa!”

Chapter 3:

It was dusk, and Ron and Hermione had just turned up in the common room, pink-faced from the cold wind and looking as though they’d had the time of their lives.

Chapter 5:

“What do you think about this?” Hermione demanded of Ron, and Harry was reminded irresistibly of Mrs. Weasley appealing to her husband during Harry’s first dinner in Grimmauld Place.

Of course, there is also the more obvious "perfume" moment in Book 5. But my point is about how delicately Fry appears to stress on these little things cleverly laid out by the author. Needless to say, the chapter on Snape's memories served as a fitting conclusion to the masterclass of a character that was Severus Snape. Snape's worst memory was his worst, not because he was preyed upon by James and Sirius, as it was made to believe in the 5th book, but because he had insulted the only person he had sincerely loved, by needlessly calling her aMudblood. I am only more in awe of Snape and JKR than ever before.

I highly recommend the audiobooks to any one who has enjoyed reading the books. The books are available on Amazon for a princely sum. Make sure you get the Audible format (.m4b file) as they not only contain chapter-based skip-points but also have chapter art (interestingly from the Scholastic version of the books.)

Those who prefer to look beyond the legal boundaries, this should act as a good source. The .m4b files are playable on iPod, iTunes, Quicktime and VLC media player. The chapter and the Chapter art feature however, function only on iPod, iTunes and Quicktime.