While I do not support the author of this series, I still really enjoy this book and it has helped me through some of the hardest times of my life.

Here’s a link to support a transgender organization if you have the money to donate: https://www.transgenderlegal.org/supp...

Now onto some other stuff~

Number of times read as of March 2023: 6

Favorite moments/quotes from this book (spoiler warning in case you haven't got a chance to pick up this book yet):

"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid"

"Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left 'to hide that horrible scar.'"

"...he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney."

"...Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches."

"The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.
'What's this?' he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared ask a question.
'Your new school uniform,' she said.
'Oh,' he said, 'I didn't realize it had to be so wet.'"

"Twenty four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window."

"Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent."

"' Harry Potter ,' chorused the twins.
'Oh, him,' said Harry. 'I mean, yes, I am.'"

"'Oh, are you a prefect , Percy?' said one of the twins with an air of great surprise. 'You should have said something, we had no idea.'
'Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it,' said the other twin. 'Once -"
'Or twice-'
'A minute-'
'All summer-'"

"'If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or-'
'Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet.'
'Great idea though, thanks, Mom.'"

"...their younger sister began to cry.
'Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls.'
'We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat.'"

"'How exactly do they sort us into house?' he asked Ron.
'Some sort of text, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking.'"

"Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced- all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased"

"'Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?'
Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cance she was going to use on him?"

"...never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."

"...the three of them were out in the freezing courtyard during break, and she had conjured them up a bright blue fire that could be carried around in a jam jar."

"'Send him off, red! Red card!'
'What are you talking about, Dean?' said Ron.
'Red card! said Dean. 'In soccer you get shown the red card and you're out of the game.'
'But this isn't soccer, Dean'"

"...the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban."

"'And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is,' said Ron. 'It'd be safe to ask them.'
'Very safe, as they're both dentists'"

"I supposed she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid - we know we're called Gred and Forge."

"They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater."

"I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."

"Chess was the only thing Hermione ever lost at, something Harry and Ron thought was very good for her."

"'You're worth twelve of Malfoy,' Harry said. 'The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin.'"

"And I gave Mmalfoy a black eye, and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle singled-handed!"

"Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tapdance across a desk."

"The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were ticling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows."

"'So light a fire!' Harry choked.
'Yes - of course - but there's no wood!' Hermione cried, wringing her hands.
'HAVE YOU GONE MAD?' Ron bellowed. 'ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?'"

" Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind, Two of us will help you, whichever you would find "

"Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery"

"I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat."

"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."

"Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

"'The truth,' Dumbledore sighed. 'It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.'"

"If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark."

"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."

And since I'm trying to be transparent about problematic content in books, especially in books that I enjoy, this book has a problem with fatphobia. The way that fat people are described is awful and people's weight often become the butt of jokes.

Doing a listen of the entire series, Stephen Fry edition.

The first HP novel is already a classic. I have read it in the original English and the (slightly disappointing IMHO) French translation because my kid, just a few months after starting reading, plunged head first into this book and only resurfaced after the last one. I never made it past the 3td book but admittedly really enjoyed this book. It is the most light-hearted and funny of the series despite the darkness of the One Who Cannot Be Named. The universe created by Rowling is one of the most complete and compelling ones ever for kids - that I will freely admit. I obviously would love to witness a quiddich match and go to a class dealing with mandrakes and eat in that fabulous dining hall. That being said, it seems to be quite a lonely life - the idealisation in a sense of pensions for kids of rich (or in this case) magical families is perhaps a tad disturbing when you want to be a more hands-on parent and these parents apparently have no issue with only seeing their kids on holidays and during the summer. I am not sure I could do that, but that is just me perhaps.

An extremely entertaining and memorable tale that my kids both adored in both book and movie form!

Just finished reading HP1 aloud to my son in English and found it to be very enjoyable. The plot does stick together, the characters are endearing (I love Ron's little side remarks about Hermione in the beginning), and the imagination Rowling deployed to create this magical universe is astounding. I cannot believe that this first book is already 20 years old! It has really aged well. I cannot really point to any weaknesses at all. It was entertaining and a pure joy to share with my son - his first time through in English! I believe I will set a 2017-2018 goal to finish all 7 books this time around! Finished #2 on audiobook so on to Azkaban now.

Somehow, I managed to avoid the entire Harry Potter franchise my whole life, a fact I'm not proud of but am very happy about because I got to go into this book knowing absolutely nothing and it was spectacular.

I loved every moment of this book, it was fun and magical, and I got utterly lost in the Wizarding World as I learnt all about it alongside Harry. So clever, beautiful plot – this book series is iconic and for such good reason.

There’s not much else I could say that hasn’t already been said a million times before. This book series is a classic, and I am honoured to have read it. I am having the best time reading the books, I’ve already moved on to the rest of the series, and I cannot wait to be finished so that I can go back and reread them.

It's Always Great, Coming back Home..

There's a reason us, the Fans, feel that we're connected, no matter where we from, different culture, ethics, ages..we're all graduated from there..

..Hogwarts.. even like we were in same class,classmates, no matter which edition we read..

..Cause Harry Potter is not just a story..it's a Life..

The Boy Who Saved Flourished the Book Industry

It's One of the most important novels in modern history, Sorry, it's The Most Important ONE.
This Review also for those who hate the series !
Please bear with me..

Without it, most Book stores & publishers may have the same fate of Video Stores like Blockbuster LLC, which, despite being super popular in the 90s, closed all the stores by 2013, shutting down forever.

Yes, without this Novel, and with the rapid change in technology, the ease of making e-books and reading it in PCs, Smartphones, Tablets..etc, the publishing and trade of new paper books may decrease rapidly.
It'd be limited for religious or educating books, classics, small novels. Even those could be just electronic too, and the Books be just like Good Ol' Video Tapes.


A Dystopia, right? very gloomy idea to the world without This novel, The One.

Well, in the case you think I'm exaggerate..Let's have,

n  A Brief !! History of Literature in the 90s
-------------------------------n

Well, let’s back to early 90s , where TV is in every house, even in every room, Video sets are there too, rental video stores everywhere, satellite receivers and cable channels growing fast packed with channels for kids & teenagers, making them attached more & more into screens, not to mention Video Games, Game boy and Nintendo…

Those of this new generation who read are “weirdos" or "nerds” to the rest of their peers.
And for those “few who read”, book stores mostly got for them comics and graphic novels, which most of them created early this century.


Classic Novels, they read just for Schools and Classes mostly.
And New Novels that make Best Seller are the ones made, or will be made, into movies for Julia Roberts, Tom Cruse or any of the 90s Hollywood celebrity, or the ones by Stephen King because ,of course, will be made into movies too.

Even these new novels didn't live up the selling numbers of Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie -what’s with the British authors and selling numbers :)?- , also in Russia no more Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, no more Hugo in France, in Egypt no more like Naguib Mahfouz & the great authors of the 50s to 70s..

No new Big Hit for novels, most of the selling books are those of Speculation about strange & mysterious things in the world or in religion, Dream interpretation , cocking books or celebrities rumors.


While in US & UK, Top Selling books mostly the Self Help ones, or those teaching Computers Programming and Web Sites -this brand new huge technology leap back then-


No new novels to attract the new generation of kids and teenagers, There's few Successful Highlights though, like R.L.Stine’s Goosepumbs in 1992 which made a very good success, and translated in many countries including Egypt.


And in Egypt there’s also a very successful project by respectful Publishing house that made “Pocket Novels” for youth, by brilliant Egyptian writers presenting huge variety of novels of many genres, Sci-Fi, Action Thriller, comics, Romance .etc.


There’s also “Reading for All”, project by the first lady “Susan Mubarak”, reprinting a huge verity of important books and novels from all over the world in very cheap prices.


But all these effort didn't attract “more and more” of new youth readers as intended, it just made more and more books for those few who already reads.
The vast numbers of those who don’t just read will increase if there isn't a BIG new attractive Reading Experience to get them into reading, specially with the more channels, more movies.
But the BIGGEST Obstacle for them to read came out in 1994, and became a real phenomenon by 1995..

..it’s Playstation, The giant Japanese Gaming leap..
Football, Crash, Pepsi man, even the comics heroes also have their games, so why reading Superman, Batman’s comics when you can play them..

n  ~~~~~~ A beat. ~~~~~~n

So by 1996, with this growing leap in Gaming, also the Computer 3D games getting much improved, Books get replaced bit by bit by a gaming controls.

So do you think it’s wise for publishers to publish a book for new writer?

Of course not, it may not even cover it’s publishing cost.

So it was very normal when in this year, 1996, when Joanne, a 31 years old lady from England , handed the manuscript of her first novel to 12 publishing houses, all of them rejected it...

A manuscript of over 200 pages of a novel, that she had hard times in her personal and professional life while writing it, and for children??? Seriously is there still any Child left who still read? it’s 1996, the Era of Playstation and Video Games.

But then, the Modest “Bloomsbury“ agreed to publish it , with 2 advises for her, first that she’d get a day job, since it’s a little chance of making money in children's books. - later she received a grant from the Scottish Arts Council to help her continuing writing.-
But the significant advice was to change her pen name cause young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman..
So with her name & her grandmother’s "Kathleen" come the 2 initial of her pen name..

n  J . k . Rowlingn

And in 26 June 1997 , with 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries, come out in UK, to our World The Greatest..

n  n  
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stonen

And Bam!! , everything happened so fast..
Before the end of this year the novel was awarded many important literary awards in the UK.

An American important publisher, Scholastic, won the rights to publish the novel in US, with a huge check Rowling would never dreams of.
Just with small change, 'Philosopher's Stone' to be 'Sorcerer's Stone', as the American publisher feared 'Philosopher's' may not be that attractive to young readers..
And Thanks to Harry Potter, now Every young readers worldwide know much more about Philosopher's Stone's legend.

In 1998 Book Two released in UK , 1999 in US, winning more literary prizes. And becoming NO.1 Top Selling Book in UK , US and many other countries which start to publish the translated first book.

n  n

And on 8 July 1999, The n  First Breaking Recordn made when Book Three sold 68.000 copies in just three days after its release in the United Kingdom.. and more copies when it released late 1999 in US..

With the fast growing popularity of Harry Potter among readers, more records had been broken..

The 3 books takeover the Top Spot in all charts of Best Selling Books for weeks & months, and it's even still in hardcover editions.
This conquer of the Top Spots made some literary magazines & newspapers separate the 'Harry Potter books' selling records from the rest of the top selling books, splitting the lists into 'Children Books' and 'Adult Books' sections, under pressure from other publishers who were eager to see their books given higher ranking.

And then it was year 2000 , where everything is about to change ... forever..

The Playstation 2 is out there, and even higher leap in Computer Games..

But even with this much of temptations, thousands of children, teens and parents gathered in the Midnight of 8 July 2000 in UK and US at the same day in front of stores, not in front of Cinemas as usual, not electronic stores as Apple stores as happening theses days, But it was in front of Bookstores, for The First time in the Book Stores History, to buy a copy of...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
And They didn't mind to find out that the book is over 700 page, it was even for their pleasure, more than double the size of any of the first 3 novels.. double the thriller, double the fun..

Over 3 million copies sold at that day only in the US , a New World Record, totally unexpected one.
Huge story, bigger plot , mysterious and very well written.

And more literate prizes for Rowling... more translated editions to more than 40 language.

And a huge budget for the upcoming first movie of the series, which beautifully visualize the magic of the novel by the faithful producers and the director...and it also made some Cinematic Records back then, but that's not our subject now.

n  ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~n

With the announcement of pushing the publishing date of Book Five to mid. 2003 , and with 2 movies out so far, The Hunger for reading Harry Potter kept on..

So, As more readers from this generation start to increase , Publishers and Book Stores start to promote for more books for those readers who are hungry for more..
Older Fantasy books , like Lord of the Rings -which was a super successful movie by then too- Narnia , Golden Compass and many other novels start getting more reprinted editions. And so Book Stores prosperity increased as it get more and more readers.


More countries welcomed the Harry Potter phenomenon.. The English edition AND the local translated ones , both been sold everywhere worldwide.


Even in Egypt English edition sold at many books stores. And, hopefully, some New Book Stores specialized in English novels and books start to open in Cairo & Alexandria by 2002-2003..

And in summer 2002, after the Movie wild success, Nahdet Masr publishing house got the rights and published the Arabic edition.
Although it cut some of the lines for length issues, the edition still hold the magic of it ..making a very good sales.

n  ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~n

The good news is, the literary movement didn't stop there, Harry Potter and Reprinted Classics. No , there's more new books come out for the increasing demand from the readers..

By 2002 ,Life of Pi, Man Booker winner make very good sales numbers.

And in April 2003 Dan Brown (previously published 3 novels, making good sales) released a novel that made Huge Fuss around and making a new sales records, The Da Vinci Code..
The funny thing that there's a reference in this novel that Harry Potter is 'the Second Most Selling Book in History after the Bible', a speculation that happens to be true in less than 5 years after that.

A month later, May 2003, Khaled Hosseini released his first novel, The Kate Runner which also made a very good records too. -Don't you agree if there's no Harry Potter before, this Afghan-born author would have a chance? He'd be rejected by 12 publishers like you know who :)-

And all that didn't affect the main reason for this new 'Literal Renaissance'.
All that didn't affect the Records Breaker to break records one month later..

On 20 June 2003 book Five 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' comes out..

Ten thousands of all ages conquer the Book Stores in UK, US and other countries too at the same day to get The One Book they've been waiting for at least 2 years. Shipping agents like FedEx made the delivery to many countries to get the book at the same time.

A New world Record ,5 millions copy at the first day only..
For the first time in France a non french language book placed in no.1 of the bestselling book....

Some kids got a headache called 'Harry Potter Headache' as they read the whole 850 pages of the book five, the biggest so far, at the same day without resting.

And in Egypt, September the same year, the Arabic edition of book three comes out with unexpected sales records, first edition run out of the stores by the first week only, though it's nearly the beginning of the School year, and the movie of this 3rd book still filming.
ِAnd the price of it get higher 20% in 2 days and still with increasing demand..

More English books and novels sold in Egypt too, along with the Arabic ones, publishing more books for new Egyptian authors and writers along with more of the famous ones, Alaa El Aswany's debut Novel 'Yaqubean's Building' making a very good selling numbers..
n  n
And in July 2004 the Arabic edition of Book Four makes a price war between book stores and magazines stands.
January 2005 , an abridged translated edition of Book Five make many readers angry in Egypt , specially that many already read the English edition before, so the publisher release an unabridged one by May.

n  ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~n

And on 21 July 2005, A Higher Record that breaks all the previously ones

n  n

6.9 million copy of Book Six sold in US in its first day only...
A huge book, it may not be as the fans' expectations of being full of action , but it get a twist that blow minds about one of the most interesting characters, Professor Snape. That made many fans and even big authors like Stephen King and Salman Rushdie talk about for months..

With Pre-Final Book of Harry Potter is out, it followed by a massive variety of New Novels, New Series, New Authors..
Twilight series, Percy Jackson series, and much more, more Books Sales not only in US, UK but worldwide..
More Novels hit the top sales..
A Real Prosperity.

But still Harry Potter is the Records Big Breaker...

At the midnight before 21 June 2007, Everywhere around the Globe, the scene of thousands of people lining in front of Book Stores was repeated...even Bigger than any time before..

A Huge Record for Pre-Orders online reach to One Million copies by Amazon only, and total sales of 11 millions copies in UK and US in the first day only.

The book sold at the Same Day almost in Every Single Country..


even in Israel which made a big religious fuss because the Book Stores opened to receive and sell the book at the releasing day which was their holy Saturday, But it's Harry Potter after all, the world's most unusual, unexpected phenomenon and sales records breaker.

And that's not bad, it was the Miracle of bringing back readers to Book Stores...

And it's not just Harry Potter...
Now, that n  'All was well.'n , thousands of topics went online asking 'what to read next'....
Indeed, although there's the e-books, e-readers..etc, still there's thousands of new books and novels published and sold every year , in every where in the world.

The gaming devices is increasing? yes, But not as expected though by the 90s and early 2000s 'remember Nokia N-Gage?'.. but so does the reading devices which first come out by Sony in 2004,make big step by Amazon's Kindle in 2007...the ebook applications on every device.


New books and series come after that, and still on, making super sales, attracting more readers... more writers come with more books and novels, some are just a rip off others and some are really original and brilliant. in UK, US , Egypt ..everywhere all over the globe..

No matter a Playstation 4 is out, or new Xbox, the Books still there...with its most beloved magic..

The magic of books is back and , I believe, to stay..

Don't you see with me that the magic of Harry Potter is one of the main factors of this magic?

n  
“This boy will be famous. There won’t be a child in our world who doesn’t know his name”
n

That's what Rowling wrote at the very early pages of her first book.. The one that rejected by 12 Publishing Houses in 1996..

Well, what about now?

God, Talked too much in the "Brief" introduction , didn't I?

Well, that's it for this review... I guess some still think it's just the Propaganda that made that all....
Well I'll try to prove them wrong by the upcoming next 6 reviews at the other 6 Books of the series..
Links will be here as soon as it'd done ..

But for The First one... sorry to add one more , but 20000 characters aren't enough.

The Ultimate Review of Book One

Now I'll be back to go around Hogwarts...


For the Zillionth time I guess..

Hope to see you there too, come on and try first year :)


From Hogwarts

Mohammed Arabey
The Craziest Potterhead of Egypt


Re-reading the new edition -Guess I'm addicted to new editions BUT this one really rocks.."Bloomsbury-2014"
from 12 Sep. 2014
to 23 Sep. 2014

المقال بالعربية من هنا

¿Cuántas veces he releído la saga de Harry Potter? Hace muchos años que perdí la cuenta...

In the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling perfects the most important rule of story telling: be interesting. Her prose might not be great (although it is good), her plots and mysteries might be a little convoluted. But damn can she tell an interesting story, build a fun world, and put great characters in it.

From the first sentence, she lets you know what fun you're in for. There's just that magical touch to it only she seems to have. And she keeps it going through the whole book (and the six others in the series) without missing a beat.

The Sorcerer's Stone is packed with mystery. It starts early and picks up speed, burning through pages, right to the reveal, which is quite the surprise--no Scooby-Doo ending here.

But the thing that really makes this book stand out is the characters. Harry Potter ended up getting on my last nerve in the series, but in this book, he's crazy likable. The minor characters are what really make the series, though. They have more personality than the protagonist of most books.

This series might not be the best, but there's nothing like it. It's just magical. Plain and simple.

Do I even need to list all the reasons why this book was a joy to read?
The writing style was easy to read, but wasn't simple or standard. It still had its unique twist to it, which lead to me finally reading one of those books, where you just can't decide what age group it was written for. I genuinely believe that the story would be enjoyed by everyone; whether it's my 10-year-old brother or my grandma (who is about to turn 80) - they all would have a pleasant and joyful reading experience. I also totally did not expect to laugh so much while reading - there's some really dry and wonderful humor in here.

Despite this being my first time reading Harry Potter, the story wasn't new to me. I was a huge fan of the first five movies when they were released (but for some reason never bothered to watch the rest?? I don't understand my younger self...). My obsession was quite big for a while, but after the initial enthusiasm had ceased, I never watched any of them again. In retrospect I've got to say that this was a good thing, because I now got more and more excited every time I recognized a name or remembered a scene that came up.

If I had to criticize anything, it would be about the length of some of the more intense scenes. I guess they could have done with a bit more build-up. However, that's really just nitpicking, and the main reason for that complaint is my wish for the book to have more pages so I could be staying in this world for a longer duration and finding out more about the (lovely) characters.
It also needs to be taken into consideration that this is just the first installment of a series with seven parts. Looking at the length of some of the later books, I'm sure I will get my wish fulfilled in the near future.

5/5 stars




https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...

Well, what a beautiful return to lovely childhood memories that was. If I felt any human emotions ever, I could almost get worked up about it.





Replace “ones” with “books” and I feel much the same as...is this Sirius? It really has been a decade since I’ve read the books and I’ve never seen the movies.





Okay but really important question: How do people like Snape?! I remember what is supposed to “redeem” him, but he is really one of the most awful characters I’ve read. “Always”? Bleh. I wish Fluffy killed him. Every time he shows up I have a temper tantrum. (See below for visual aid.)





I have to be honest, I was halfway convinced I wouldn’t like this book much at all. I tend to have opinions that are irritatingly against the YA grain, and then I can’t join in the fun. (Okay, yes, I’m mainly talking about Throne of Glass.) Instead, I read the whole thing in one sitting. And it’s the week before finals, too. Ain’t that logical? (Harry is me trying to study; Hermione is my mind reminding me there’s HP to read.)





My only complaint about this is a very English major one: none of the poems/songs have meter! They sound all lopsided. (How nitpicky is that?! The truth is I loved this book, but I still love to complain.)





Now I’m about to die because I don’t own a copy of the second book AND I WANT TO READ THE NEXT ONE. I don’t know what to do!





Bottom line: Who am I kidding? You’ve all read this. And you all know it to be an absolute…

No matter what anyone says I am never doubting Snape ever again. He is the best character in this entire series. He is just misunderstood. Damn you Slytherins!! They just know how to win me over.

Snape: check.
Draco: check.
Voldemort: Check check check!

Oh, i would love to know what house you guys belong to?
And NO YOU CAN'T BE IN TWO HOUSES!! That is literally just not possible.

Just took the quiz and i am a HUFFLEPUFF!
You know who else is a Hufflepuff? My new boyfriend!



WHAT??? Voldemort is afraid of Dumbledore??
Hell yeah. I am already loving this. =D

OMG OMG OMG OMG THIS IS HAPPENING! This is my first time so please no spoilers. I know i know we all have watched the movies but i don't really remember anything from this first one.

My original review was a comparison of sorts between Harry Potter and Twilight. However, this is stupid as the two are incomparable. Honestly, its not even worth discussing. Its not just that Twilight doesn't come close, it is the fact that Harry Potter transcends other similar works. Its peerless. To quote Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction: It "ain't the same fuckin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fuckin' sport."

There was a day when I thought I needed to defend Harry Potter, in the midst of the now dead Twilight craze, and you can see that below in what was my original review. It is a testament to the power of this series, that while various other franchises (Twilight, Hunger Games) have surged into popularity and then faded, Harry Potter remains unwaveringly strong after nineteen years. It is clear readers hold just as much admiration for these books as they always have. Time has not dimmed that.
I will, one day, write an essay about what these books mean to me. Eternal, this is the one that started it all.

Original review (circa 2010)
A note in regard to the on-going Potter vs Twilight debate:
Go ahed, tell me Twilight is better.
Tell me that James is scarier than Voldemort,
That the Cullens are a better family than the Weasly's
That Edward is cooler than Harry,
and Bella is smarter than Hermione.
Tell me that Stephenie Meyer is more talented than J.K. Rowling.

Go ahead,
I dare you.

Those who think the topic of Harry Potter or Twilight is worth debating and arguing over,
are utterly stupid.

Quite frankly-this book is amazing.

I knew I couldn’t go wrong if I picked up this gem!
I’ve literally owned this book since it came out in the 90s and I FINALLY have gotten around to reading it and I’m so happy I made the time to. I heard from someone that between the Halloween season and Christmas season is the best time to read the HP series so after being in a months long reading slump I figured it was worth a try especially right now.
Of course I’ve seen the first movie a million times (the others movies-less and less as they go on), but I didn’t feel I enjoyed this less already knowing how things play out. There’s plenty of scenes that are different from the movie so it was unique material and the writing is so descriptive that reading about the delicious feast or the battle or the quidditch game can make you feel as though you’re there instead of watching it on the screen. The joy of reading is the places it can take you-real or imaginary.
I loved it. I will immediately be starting book two asap.