My favorite has to be Prisoner of Azkaban, for a variety of reasons. It was my first foray into Harry Potter, it features my favorite character Sirius Black, it’s really the first step into the more mature books, it doesn’t feature Voldemort or an avatar of Voldemort, and it really does a lot to flesh out the world outside of Hogwarts.
Now it’s your turn!
To me its either The Prisoner of Azkaban or Order of the Phoenix. I really enjoyed Azkaban. Order of the Phoenix was great, Umbridge is one of the few antagonists of any series that I despise. She’s awful, but of course that’s the point.
I’ll put the books in order with my favourite first
Chamber of Secrets has some good moments, but for some reason whenever I’m reading the series I just want to get it out of the way. Maybe its because I know the next 3 books are a lot better.
I definitely think Chamber is the weakest.
I wish this poll had multiple voting options… because I’m between Prisoner of Azkaban and Deathly Hallows (excluding the epilogue, though).
So I guess my order would be:
I was going to…but I like to force people to pick one because sometimes it makes them really think about their choices and that drives their discussion of it. Grok?
Deathly Hallows for me. Prisoner of Azkaban a close second. DH was fantastic and answered most of my questions from the previous books and gave a glimmer of a happy future for Harry and crue. 
The Goblet of Fire remains my favorite, I guess because it’s so much fun! The Quiditch tournament at the beginning and all the other schools really expanded the world of magic in my mind, and Rowling’s visual descriptions of everything just worked for me. The Half-Blood Prince is a close second, I loved the political overtones. My least favorite read was The Order of the Phoenix, which ironically turned out to be my favorite yet of the film adaptations. But I haven’t seen the new one yet.
My favorite book is definitely the Order of the Phoenix. Despite the fact that it’s 900 pages, it is the fastest book of the Harry Potter series I can read. Yes…faster than the first two. I find it the most interesting, has the best character interactions, and the chapters near the end are great. Some awesome stuff there. And I didn’t really like the first two books at all, so I was happy when I read the third one because I realized these are really good!
Not sure there. It was a good Snape book.
Ok, I’m a freak. I liked Sorceror’s Stone best. I have to agree with Sean - the whole discovery of who he is and discovering a whole other community that he never knew existed, that was the best!
No Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Though the Ages, or Tales of Beedle the Bard?
Actually, Quidditch Though the Ages was the first HP book I read.
Well. They’re kinda ancillary, yeah?
Deathly Hallows is my favorite but I love them all. I feel like it ties up the majority of the plot threads. I consider the chapters ‘The Forest Again’, ‘King’s Cross’, and ‘The Flaw in the Plan’ masterpieces.
I tapped Goblet of Fire, since it was the first one I got to read upon release. I’d read the other three before the first movie came out, so number four was the first time I got to crack open a fresh story and wonder along with everything else what was about to happen. I liked that it started off a little differently than the others with the World Quidditch Cup, and of course, the Tri-Wizard Tournament was kick-sB.
However, I’m awfully swayed by the idea kicked around here of the joys of discovery found in the first book. The series is famous for getting “darker” and “more grown-up” as it goes along; and you have to remember that the first book still had a kid whose parents were brutally murdered when he was a baby, a man possessed with the spirit of an evil wizard living in the back of his head, and a scene where said evil wizard drinks the blood of an innocent unicorn to restore his strength; still, there was an awe and lightness to the first adventure that I find sort of nostalgic.
My least favorite is Order of the Phoenix, but not because of any weakness in its plot, theme, or character. Those are good as always. I just found its length to be unnecessary, and felt that it was due more to unedited overwriting than to the needs of a long story. I felt tired and a bit numb after finally getting it thru it the first time, and I was pleasantly shocked at how well they distilled the story for the movie (longest book=shortest movie, quite a feat).
That said about OotP, Delores Umbridge is without par my favorite of the Potter villains, for being just so purely cruel and hateful while smiling all the way. Imelda Staunton’s portrayal of her in the movie takes the cake. She’s the ultimate villain-you-love-to-hate, a grinning, mincing little fascist in pink (and Stephen King agrees with me). I kind of wish she’d gotten her memory wiped or turned into a toad or something at the end of the series instead of just thrown in prison.
Umbridge kind of reminds me of Kai Winn. I hated Umbridge way more than Voldermort, and I hated Kai Winn way more than Dukat, The Female Changeling or Weyoun.
1 - Goblet of Fire - So many different enjoyable action pieces. Quidditch World Cup, The trials, and a great DADA teacher who turns out to be part of the very thing Harry loathes the most, coupled with a truly DARK ending. My only complaint was whow the film nailed Harry and Cedric’s return far better than the book, which swept us along with Harry without hitting us with that emotional weight of a proud father greiving over his son.
2 - Order of the Phoenix
3 - Soceror’s Stone
4 - Deathly Hallows
5 - Half-Blood Prince
6 - Prisoner of Azkaban
7 - Chamber of Secrets
One thing of note is that after pumpkin pasties, pumpkin juice, and butterbeer, the quality of the food kind of drops off. A lot of… erm… English “cuisine.”
I think Order of the Phoenix. Its got tons of emotional weight to it and also its the first time we really get the “this sh** just got real.” It can be said that Cedrics death started it but his death had nothing on Sirus. I actually refused to believe that he was totally dead until Deathly Hallows ended. I was always expecting a Deux Ex Machina and having him come back somehow. After Serius died i didn’t think anyone was safe. I knew that Dumbledore had to die so he wasn’t a surprise. But i half expected that Hagrid would end up biting it or any of the Weasleys. I even kinda thot that Ron or Hermonie had the potential of dying. But it all started in Order of the Phoenix. Also it was the first Harry Potter i bought for my self. The previous ones were gifts…
I will reserve my answer until I finish the last book, Deadly Hallow, which I recently started. Every new book I read becomes my favorite.
I just love Harry Potter, can’t believe it took me so long to read these books. And now I’m so happy I have.
Order of the Phoenix is by far my favorite. I just love a rebellion/resistance/underground storyline. Harry’s whinyness grates a little, but the story and camaraderie completely make up for that.
Having said that, I was completely sucked into the universe by Sorcerer’s Stone, which I read in one night in 4th grade.
I always felt like Half-Blood Prince was the first half of the Deathly Hallows story, and that it needed DH to complete it. I liked HBP much more when I read it the second time and got to read DH right after.