I tried reading these book multiple times and I'm just not into wizardry I guess... I can hardly stand the movies, the last one I went to go see I fell asleep 35 minutes in.
I put that as my option, too. The trials were really cool, and it intro'd Moaning Myrtle and also killed off a major(ish) character.
It was those annoying pre-pubescent English accents I couldn't get past... there was just too much of it... and my ears couldn't tolerate another minute...
Started reading 'em around the 2nd book because some of my friends' kids and my little cousins were doing it, so peer pressure got to me. LOL. Quick reads, and I had something else to b.s. with them about. Couldn't tell you which was the best or which I liked the most, but they were great books for what they were.
So I am randomly watching these movies for the first time since they came out. I stopped reading the books in middle school and only made it to Goblet of Fire. I am on a wiki rabbit hole right now, reading about the Byzantine-Bulgarian wars and just realized that the school that is invited to Hogwarts is Bulgarian and their champion is Krum. Krum was the leader of the Bulgarians that defeated the Byzantines, driving them out of the Balkans. Obviously it didn't work out as well for Viktor Krum. Anyways, I just found it interesting.
Half-Blood Prince. Felix Felicis (and Felix Felicis placebo effect) FTW! I actually just finished re-reading the whole series. Perfect bed-time material.
Apparently I only read the worst book, the Chamber. Which may explain why I stopped. But it was probably because I'd rather watch the movies. I'm surprised the first book didn't get more votes given that's the book where we discover a whole new world and it's characters. From the movies, I thought the deathly hallows would be very interesting, but they don't dive very deep into the howels story, even though they did for sure get stranded on an island.
I've read all but the first two and I think, for the most part, they got better and better. I watched the first several movies first though before getting into the books. I think the films and books are pretty close in quality, though they screwed the end of Half Blood and omitted some key things in Deathly Hallows. Definitely enjoyed the movie version over Goblet though.