If You Watched the TV or Film Adaptation
The 8-part film series closely follows the 7 core books (with the final book split into two films). If you've seen the films, you can confidently start with the first book, as the novels contain a wealth of detail and subplots not shown on screen.
Reading Order Notes
Publication Order: The Harry Potter series should almost always be read in publication order. Each book represents one year at Hogwarts, and the overarching plot involving Voldemort builds sequentially from book 1 to book 7.
Chronological Order: In this case, publication order and chronological order are identical.
