Well I have done it again. I read another Harry Potter book. I am slowly but surely making my way through the series. I’ve got a feeling things will slow down with #4 because I’ve heard the books get significantly fatter as you go along. Nonetheless, I am determined to read them all and will continue chugging along to accomplish that goal.

Harry Potter y el Prisionero de Azakaban (Prisoner of Azkaban) might be my favorite of the series so far. I had a lot of fun reading it, mostly because of the nostalgic feeling I was better. As bit of deja vu along the way also. I think when I was a kind I read the book but never finished. Because of that, I felt like I was retracing my steps while also still finding surprises along the way.

There were certain portions of the book that I knew were going to involve a twist, but I couldn’t quite remember. This created a really seductive reading experience where I was chasing the few words, paragraph or chapter that would reveal to me the puzzle piece I was missing. I won’t spoil it for readers who may have not taken the Harry Potter journey, but I felt this way about Hermione’s curious class schedule, Scabbers the rat and Buckbeak.

I really enjoyed the quidditch scenes. The game has always intrigued me. It’s fair to say it’s not just one of my favorite parts. It’s a massive fan favorite. So much so, that quidditch teams and leagues have popped up in ‘real life’. I remember watching the intramural quidditch league play at my university when I was in grad school. It looked like something I could get into. If perhaps, I had a few beers first.

I also really enjoyed the Sirius Black character. From the very beginning of the story he was a mystery. He provided a sense of danger and fear throughout majority of the book. JK Rowling did a good job of building him up. He was a central piece in the plot line even though he only actually showed up in the book a few times. The eventual twist that revolves around Sirius was incredibly well done and unexpected. I really look forward to his return later in the series. I’ve got no idea what it will be like, but I know we are not done with him yet.

Like I said before, The Prisoner of Azakaban has become my favorite of the series thus far. I’ve heard good things about the next book so we will see if it can top was Rawling has done with her third book. Now I am off to watch the movie and pick up all the details I lost because of my limited Spanish vocabulary.