Books Recommended by Harry Potter Characters

Oh the weather outside is frightfulllll….

I’ve been stuck in my house for the last 48 hours, with no end in sight. Lots of reading time, you say? More like lots of snacking! But while I was pondering my next pick, I asked myself, “What would Hermione do?” (It’s a frequent refrain in my home.) And I realized that we never get to see the characters of Harry Potter read for fun, aside from Harry and his Quidditch books. And that’s a shame, because they have a magical library that for sure has a fiction section.

So here we are. Books I’m imagining all of the Harry Potter characters are reading in their downtime, you know… when Voldemort isn’t trying to kill them.

Limiting to fiction books for fun only. Obviously Hermione would be catching up on homework, and also doing Harry and Ron’s homework, so let’s just pretend here.

Minerva McGonagall

Let’s not pretend that Minerva doesn’t have a smutty book club with Pomona Sprout and Sybill Trelawney. The books they are reading are *not* erotica, and definitely have *some* literary merit, thank you very much. Book recommendations from McGonagall’s reading list include Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (those silly Americans), Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, and the entire Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn (pre-Netflix, of course).

Luna Lovegood

Silly muggles… All fantasy is really written by wizards. Luna loves reading muggle fantasy novels because they always reveal new and interesting creatures that surely exist in the real world… right? Topping her favorites list are Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, and A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, all of which are considered “portal fiction” where a human finds their way into magical lands with magical beings.

Severus Snape

I know it’s a bit of a stretch to assume that Snape does anything for fun, but we can assume he thinks thrillers and murder mysteries are hilarious… the more gruesome, the better. He never minds a few gory descriptive details, and he appreciates the mystery aspect as much as the gore. Some recommendations from his list include The Alienist by Caleb Carr, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, and all of Riley Sager’s thrillers (all male authors, naturally).

Hermione Granger

Having had a taste of muggle education, Hermione is surely fretting about all of the courses she’s missing out on at Hogwarts (there’s no math class..?). In her spare time, Hermione is catching up on the latest literary fiction that has won awards, like Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, and The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, while also working her way through the winners of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Albus Dumbledore

It’s easy to imagine what Dumbledore reads for fun. With his love of whimsy and his appreciation for muggles trying their best, magical realism is where he goes when he has some down time. Books like The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune, The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern, and anything by Neil Gaiman top his list.

Lavender Brown

While Lavender would love to one day be invited to McGonagall’s book club, she’s not quite there yet. Her favorite books are less smutty, but feature a romance for the ages…. mostly YA ages. The common thread in her book list is a happily ever after plus some killer character growth. Her reading list includes The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (for a good cry).

Rubeus Hagrid

Hagrid doesn’t read much, being so busy keeping the Forbidden Forest under control, but when he has time to read, he enjoys books that feature misfits and people who feel a bit othered by society. Topping his list are Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simson, and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger – three very different novels, but all featuring males who just don’t quite fit the mold.

Voldemort

Couldn’t leave old Voldy off the list, could I? When he’s not splitting his soul and murdering innocents, You-Know-Who spends a lot of time imagining what his new world will look like. This usually comes in the form of dystopian novels, with reimagined governments and pesky mosquitos like Harry Potter trying to overthrow them. Topping Voldemort’s list is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, 1984 by George Orwell, and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

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What am I missing? Did I get any of these wrong? (I’d die on McGonagall’s romance book club hill.) Let me know what your favorite character is reading!