HP meme: how & why did you become a fan?

A discussion on deathtocapslock made me think about the topic -how people become fans, in particular fans of HP. In PS it takes so much time just to reach the school & until that I found the book incredibly boring. As sistermagpie noted: "We know Harry's special from page 2, so there's no suspense waiting for him to catch up. I remember thinking that if he didn't just open one of those letters soon I was going to scream." But why did she, me & countless other people continued to read the book? I read the CoS first (after the first 4 books were already published) & it has been my favorite ever since, so I already liked very much the second book & wanted to like the first too. What about other people? Did they watch the movies first? Were the books recommended by friends? How much were they influenced by the advertising campaign? I am really curious.

Please, tell how & when you became fans. What exactly to you like in HP books? What is your favorite book & why?

( my answers )