I’m putting aside precious reading time to try and formulate a review for y’all so you should be grateful (and not attack me for my rating)

So clearly, I had a very very sad childhood since I had not read Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or any other of those “must-read-or-else-you-never-experienced-happiness-as-a-child” kind of books. But I was actually a pretty happy kid. Go figure.



Harry Potter #1 was a GOOD book. It was fascinating, it was adventurous, it was different, and it was also average.

Now, I don’t mean average in a bad way, I mean that there was nothing in the book that made me gasp or cry or shout out in frustration or anticipation. It was a good book, nothing more nothing less.


(s)

I just want to say !! ALL OF YOUR JUDGEMENT IS CLOUDED by your nostalgia !! – there I said it, bye.

Everyone read this book as a kid, and yes that’s AWESOME im soooooooo happy for you and that you get to experience your childhood all over again with rereads. However comma as a person who’s reading this book with purely unbiased (im giving myself too much credit here) eyes, I have come to the professional conclusion that this book will not IN FACT knock your woolen socks off.

But it’s definitely fun to read.

The writing is clear, it’s easy to binge, its short and to the point without over-wordy prose. The plot was interesting. The characters were fun (thought Harry Potter is suffering from a serious case of Special Snowflake Syndrome).

So yes, it was a nice read. But so were many other books I read this year and this one definitely didn’t instill some newfound love in my soul for magic and wizards and woolen socks – I already have enough there, initially.


(s)

I’m just fricken glad I’m starting to get all the references all you muggles throw around all the time.

Don’t worry, I will most definitely be continuing with this series. :)))

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

3 stars!!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. I'M FINALLY STARTING THIS SERIES AFTER YEARS OF IGNORANCE. (more like I've been bullied into this)

but hey, now I'll know what the colourful hat sorting names mean. :)))

Buddy read with the wonderful, Lacy and Peer Pressure

Oh look! A cute, funny children's book, just the right length, with a nicely constructed, self-contained plot and a good ending.

Well, obviously we want to turn it into a huge, bloated, ridiculously self-important seven-volume series. Nothing else would make sense.

There are no words to do this book justice.

n  n

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone was first published exactly 25 years ago on 26 June 1997. On this special occasion of celebrating 25 years of Harry Potter, I will share my personal experience with this book here.

Some years ago, I was a young child when the first Harry Potter book became a sensation. I was a lazy kid who thought that books, especially novels, were overrated and a waste of time. My only acquaintance with them was a couple of the Secret Seven books by Enid Blyton.

My father is a voracious reader. He knew I would start loving books if I found out how amazing books are. He never forced me to read. He just told me the importance of reading and kept a few books like the Secret Seven, Sherlock Holmes, and the first Harry Potter on my table. I still never bothered even to touch it.

One day I was stuck in my home and had nothing else to do. So I simply took the Harry Potter and the philosophers stone and decided to read just five pages. After that, I could not put the book down (just like all other kids); I discarded eating my lunch and finished reading it in just a single sitting. From that day onwards, I started loving books. I never stopped reading after that day. I am proud to say that after high school, I have been following a routine of reading at least ten pages from some book every day. I didn't drop this routine even during tough Med School exam time. This hobby has helped me a lot in developing my personality. It gave me patience and empathy and helped me a lot to become a Doctor. I have to thank my father, J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series, Enid Blyton, and Nandanar for developing this reading habit in me.

My favorite character in this book is Harry. It is because of his simplicity, vulnerability, and innocence. There is one more important reason why I love Harry. Yuval Noah Harari perfectly mentioned it in his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Harry was removed from his distinguished family and brought up by ordinary muggles, and he arrived at Hogwarts without any prior experience in magic. Nothing was given to him on a silver platter. He had to struggle and work hard to become the best. All the hard-working people who had to struggle in their life will find Harry as their inspiration. He is not the best in everything he does. He is vulnerable with all the negatives and positives like every one of us. JK Rowling shows every young kid you will succeed if you work hard despite the hardships through Harry's character.

Later, every character became my favorite, and they were like my close friends. When I enter a great educational institution or library in my life, the first thing that comes to my mind is, wow, it looks like Hogwarts. That is the standard that JK Rowling built through this book. Hogwarts (even though fictional) is the gold standard for educational institutions for every book lover in this world.

Harry Potter is the book in which I have seen the best world-building. It is amazing to see the author giving mannerisms to certain characters keeping in mind that they will be used for the final book several years later.

Rereading the 25th anniversary edition of this book will give you a special feeling. Harry, Ron and the Weasley family, Hermione, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Hedwig, platform 9 3/4, Hogwarts Express, Hogwarts, Quidditch, Nicholas Flamel, Draco, Snape, and even Voldemort will all bring nostalgia to everybody's mind who grew up reading Harry Potter.

Harry Potter is not just a book; it is an emotion! I am feeling blessed, like the author, the publishers, and all the fans of Harry Potter, for being able to celebrate this book for the last 25 years.

i think everyone has that one book that made you fall in love with reading, one book that opened your eyes to a world beyond the one in which you live, one book that burrowed itself inside your heart and became a part of you, one book that will forever feel like coming home every time you read it.

i know im not original when i say harry potter is that one book (and series) for me, but this is what got me into reading. it gave me a childhood far more magical and imaginative than i could have ever asked for. the series taught me the value of empathy, that courage comes in many different forms, the importance of having and being a true friend, that love is the greatest power above all, and most importantly, it taught me to believe in magic. i would not be who i am today without this book and i love that stories have the power to do that, to change lives for the better.

i owe so much to this little book that became such a massive part of my life. and to think it all started with a young boy who lived under the stairs. <3

↠ 5 stars

Come along with me on my re-read of the epically magical series “Harry Potter”.

Re-read again, this time it was the illustrated edition!

EDIT NOTE in 2012: Since this apparently isn't obvious, I wrote the review years ago. I do not necessarily have those opinions now. I wouldn't know; I haven't read Harry Potter since. With a degree and five more birthdays behind me I do not necessarily agree with everything I said when I was seventeen years old. I'm happy to chat about the definition of literature with you, or what I think about the Harry Potter phenomenon now or whatever, but try and be civil and don't attack me right out of the gate.

EDIT NOTE in 2011: I've edited this review to take out some teenage arrogance, but the rest is as-is. A few years later and with a degree in hand, including modules in Children's Lit, I could probably write a better review, but people seem to like this one!


I really don't like Harry Potter. It's one of those little concealed but apparently not widely known facts about me, which shocks everyone when I say I love books and they're all, "yeah, rite, Harry Potter is so awesum rite?" and I say "...no, it really isn't." I confess: when I was eleven or twelve or so, I read them. I also read the Sabrina the Teenage Witch novels. I read everything and wasn't very discriminating about it. I did enjoy them. I continued to enjoy them until I got to Order of the Phoenix, and then I decided that all the hype aside, I just wasn't interested anymore. Bear in mind, then, for the rest of this "essay", that I have only read up to and including The Goblet of Fire.

Cue a few years of irritation while everyone insisted I must read the rest of the books, and how dare I prefer Tolkien and Ursula Le Guin (and later, Susan Cooper). I have really no objection to people reading the books and enjoying them, taking part in the fandom that surrounds them, dressing up in witchy costumes to go and pick up the most recently released volume at midnight. Have fun with that! As far as I'm concerned you're welcome to. I'm even quite happy to concede that yes, Harry Potter did get more people reading. Whether it got them reading literature or not is another matter: how many people, I wonder, have discovered a mania for reading after reading Harry Potter and then gone onto the likes of Crime and Punishment and War and Peace, or even Lord of the Rings? Not that many, I'll bet. I think they're probably reading Twilight and the like, more often than not. Not that it matters -- as long as people are reading.

But in any case, I. Don't. Have. To. Read. Them. Just because I like books, does not mean I like those books. And I detest it every time someone shoves them in my face as 'great literature'. I actually had to study Harry Potter, for my English Lit/Lang A Level (for those unfamiliar with our system: A Levels are exams you take when you're about eighteen, which among other things determine whether you can go to university). One of the questions we had to figure out how to answer was whether we thought Harry Potter was good literature, whether we thought it would stand the test of time, and how it was suited to the time it's currently in.

It was then that I figured out that, yeah, there are things wrong with Harry Potter beyond just the hype that was irritating me so much and the feeling that Rowling in no way matched up to the giants of fantasy and sci-fi, like Tolkien. I studied it alongside Tom Brown's Schooldays, by Thomas Hughes. Do note that I didn't like that book either. But it's a well written, well shaped, well considered book -- and it doesn't use the same cheap tricks as Harry Potter does. I'm not going to say much about that, since it's not a book I liked: if I'm going to compare/contrast, I'll compare with my favourite book that is also supposed to be for younger readers, Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising.

There's nothing wrong with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone being an amateur first novel. 'cause that's what it is. I'm sure many people's first novels don't even see the light of day, and yet Harry Potter somehow made it to a publisher's and was accepted. The thing is, people mostly refuse to recognise that and the cheap tricks J. K. Rowling uses. For example, her character's names. 'Draco Malfoy'. Mal, the French for bad, immediately obvious. 'Draco', suggesting dragon? Or perhaps 'draconian', which has negative connotations aplenty (not that I'd necessarily attribute those particular ones to Draco). Not very subtle, is it? 'Dumbledore'. Who doesn't get the image of a well-meaning, if strange, old man? 'Minerva', straight out of Greek myth: a goddess of knowledge. Gee, I wonder why Rowling chose that for a female teacher... 'Remus Lupin', 'Sirius Black', 'Mad-Eye Moody'... Do I even have to say anything?

And 'Harry Potter'. Nothing striking about that: perfectly ordinary, as names go, right?

Yeah. And that's the point. Harry Potter himself is not a real character -- certainly not at first. He's a cypher, a convenient space into which a kid can very easily insert himself or even herself. He's brave. Okay, generic hero characteristic. He has doubts. Again, the same. He has a Tragic Past. Don't we all? Or don't we all like to think we do? Look at the Mary Sues/self inserts people write in fandom -- so often they're people with incredibly dark, melodramatic pasts that they rise above. Harry Potter is a convenient place to insert yourself. The other characters are archetypes more than anything -- Hermione, the know it all girl; Ron, the loyal friend; Dumbledore, the mentor; Malfoy, the rival...

All of that is actually what makes Harry Potter a highly readable, enjoyable book, for young people and even adults. It's targeted very precisely toward the readership of today. Maybe that makes J. K. Rowling a better author than I might paint her as, that she can know her audience so well -- there's that view, I'm sure. But it's all very basic, and I tend to look on it as cheap tricks. The whole chapter, in the first book, about the Mirror of Erised -- how sad does it make you feel for Harry? It's sentimental, it's sad -- and it's meant to do that, very obviously. There's a whole chapter written just to enforce the love between the members of Harry Potter's family.

Susan Cooper does it in a single paragraph that makes me want to cry every single time I read it, coming after all the build up of guilt and pain in the relationship. "Bran went to [his father] and put his arm round his waist, and stood close. It was the first gesture of affection between the two that Will had ever seen. And wondering, loving surprise woke in Owen Davies's worn face as he looked down at the boy's white head, and the two stood there, waiting."

That paragraph does for me what Rowling's whole chapter cannot. It's so effective, actually, because Cooper spends a whole book leading up to it, showing us Owen and Bran's relationship. Rowling shows us Harry's parents, but in an unsubtle way that actually throws me out of it because I think, "Oh, yeah, this is the chapter in which we're supposed to feel very sorry for Harry."

There's also a very easy, blunt misdirection. You're supposed to hate Snape, supposed to believe he's the one to blame for everything, and at the end, you're supposed to be as surprised as Harry when it's Quirrel waiting there for him. At the age of eleven, I think I went right along with that, but when I reread it for A Level, I had to wince at how heavy-handed the misdirection was. I understand that later in the series Snape comes into it more, and I don't know whether the misdirection turns out to be not that misdirected when it comes down to the real truth: but in the first book, you're meant to believe it's Snape all along, and I don't think J. K. Rowling does a very good job of giving us clues that it's not actually Snape, because she's so busy blackening him to lead people astray.

It's also very black-and-white. Questions aren't raised, by this story -- and that's a thing I think is actually important in literature. Raise questions, discuss issues, end with a question. I don't know what to call stories that don't fit into that, really. I'm going to go with 'novels' as opposed to literature. Harry Potter is a novel. It's a story. I don't think it has any real lasting values. Susan Cooper's books, while also quite basic, discussing the Light and the Dark, do end with a question. If man is left on earth, to do as man will, will man be Light or Dark? The immortals leave earth, and say that the world -- for better or worse -- belongs to humans. Right now, a lot of people think the answer to that question would be 'worse'. But Harry Potter does not raise this question, does not raise any question, and does not answer one either. That's why I don't think it will last except perhaps as a phenomenon to be studied: the 'Potter mania' and what caused it.

That's why I don't like Rowling's writing. It's not particularly refined, it's unsubtle -- and that's okay, you know, I'm not saying you can't enjoy that, can't find it refreshing. I don't. I'm also not saying that 'novels' are bad -- they're good, they can provide valuable escapism, they can be incredibly rich fodder for the imagination, and I suspect Harry Potter is, for many children. But I don't call it literature, and I myself don't like it.

Note: the three star rating is because honestly, when I first read it, I did love it.

Publishers have my sympathy. If I try to put myself in the place of an editor picking this manuscript from the pile I can say with some certainty that I would not have recognized it as the ticket to a multi-billion dollar prize. I would have thought to myself that it was a good fun read, revisiting the magic-school trope and doing a fine job for children in the 8 to 12 range. If I hadn't had anything better land on my desk I might have published it, but then again, like quite a number of publishers, I might have passed in favour of a book I liked better.

I read this maybe 15 years back so I could share in what was exciting my three kids at the time. And I've read it twice to my daughter, Celyn. We read the first 5 some years back, and now she's 12 we're going to read the whole lot. She's very disabled and can't read for herself (she can't hold the book or see the page for starters...)

Having just finished I've checked the shelves to discover we have two copies of book 1 and two copies of book 3, but none of book 2. So JKR will be getting some more of my money shortly!

To the review... I liked the book. I have no idea why it has sold a gazzilion copies more than any other children's book or why so many adults are so taken with it. JKR writes solid enough prose, though her addiction to adverbs in dialogue tags irks me no end, he said testily. She writes a fun and inventive story, though the internal inconsistencies would have distressed me even as a child. Why do the finest wizards in the land leave a great treasure guarded only by a series of puzzles rather than actual defences? If in the final scenes the puzzle poem hadn't been left to give the solution to the potion test ... or the key hadn't been left in the same room as the door that wouldn't yield to magic ... would that not have been a better way to defend the treasure? Yes ... it was more fun this way, but ... dammit ... kids aren't stupid...

But yes, funny and inventive magic, school dynamics of making friends and enemies, the hijinx, the evil baddie, the chosen one... it's all good. Celyn certainly enjoyed it. She's on team Hermionie.

The only other thing that really bothered me was the repeated insinuation, present even in the term itself, that 'muggles' are somehow lesser. That the random gift of magical ability somehow makes you better.

I remember that later on (and hinted at in this book) the idea of mud-bloods (wizards born of muggles) is offered up as a proxy for racism and we're invited to condemn Draco Malfoy for his views (rightly so). But all the time I read this I'm feeling the hypocrisy embodied in the whole idea of muggles, which, albeit voiced without open malice, is really the same damn thing.

I will report back on book 2 when we're done.

EDITED IN FROM THE COMMENTS:

>>Aliyah wrote: "Personally I believe the trope is so familiar to you because of JK Rowling. She made this style of fantasy more popular."

>My reply: Personal beliefs are fine and dandy, but in this instance ... badly wrong.

My first encounter with magic schools was in The Worst Witch series (1974) which centres on a magic school and which I began in 1974. Followed by A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) which also centres on a magic school and which I read in 1975.

The mechanics of reaching a boarding school on a dedicated train laid on for the purpose and of sorting a boarding school into four groups to be housed in four towers was something I encountered at a still younger age in the early 70s in my mother's copy of First Term at Malory Towers (1946).



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...

We don't support transphobes in this house

“He’ll be famous, a legend, there will be books written about Harry, every child in our world will know his name!”

This line was written 1997, in the very 1st chapter of the very 1st book of a series that been rejected by many publishers. But I've talked about that before.
So let's see here, with this beautiful Illustrated Edition,

chapter by chapter, Reviewing & Analyzing -from my simple reader perspective- of the first Harry Potter book, why this line isn't exaggerating. Why this line came true..

Chapter One : THE BOY WHO LIVED

A two sides chapter..
First, It starts “Perfectly Normal,Thank You Very Much”. What's supposed to be a normal day for a very normal man, Mr. Dursley..

Mind his encounter with a peculiar Cat that won't be “shoo”-ed.
(n  -Fun Trivian; that's the only encounter between the 2 stern characters, Mr. Dursley & Professor McGonagall.-)

Mind the Owls’ hyperactivity during the day, Mind those weird men in weirdest costumes.
(-okay, in case you didn't read it before, it's October 31, 1981, he may didn't mind much because of, you know, it's Halloween day.)

Stranger things started as we move to The Other Side, with the arrival of an old Wizard to this Normal street at night.
And the Cat is a professor, a huge man in flying motorcycle, and a little boy became an orphan by an evil man's last curse.

How and why, we don't know.. But this Boy who lived that Strange thing, must now lives with his last family, at this very Normal man's.
Good luck Harry, Doorbells Dumbledore!!

A very interesting Epic beginning. A fine example of how to grab attention without confusing readers with too much strangeness and complicated peculiar, invented names as most YA novels does.
-for example the “Put-Outer” that put out the light off street lamps, has a more complicated name but it used way later in the books-

Also it's very well paced, perfectly split between Normal life and Magical one, which is the essence of the series..
..in this Breaking Dawn of URBAN FANTASY as we know it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

n

Chapter 2 : THE VANISHING GLASS
Chapter 3 : LETTERS FROM NO ONE
Chapter 4 : THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS

n
These chapters (First Episode) are like normal, miserable drama.
The boring -with minor strange events- life of the "seems normal / yet Special" orphan boy who lives in the cupboard under the stairs at his mean relatives'. Teased by his greedy, selfish, spoiled by parents, cousin “Duddly”.


(n  -Fun Trivian; these chapters full with HUGE Easter Eggs of later books, Mrs Figg of book five/ Snakes talk of book Two “no Snakes winking though”, & did you notice the motorcycle's owner name in the 1st chapter?-)

But this drama still very funny written in a way, Aunt Petunia stern acts and expressions for Harry, Harry’s wet responses, Uncle Vernon’s spoilings for Dudley.. It's really full of wet, funny unforgettable lines.

And these letters that came to Harry when he turns 11, well, changed everything.

(-Fun Trivia; Urban Myth that Uncle Vernon believed in; Witches & Wizards can't cross the water.. well, how wrong that can be!-)

And this episode ends with the big Revelation;

And the pretty Normal life is going to change forever for Harry, Thank you..very much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

n

Chapter 5 : DIAGON ALLEY
Chapter 6 : THE JOURNEY FROM PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS

Now you know pretty enough of the Harry Potter back story, the dark vanquished wizard. and why everyone in this community were celebrating 10 years ago ‘the 1st chapter’, and why Harry Potter is famous.

So Here, bit by bit you step into this Magical, Unique world.
Cleverly, interestingly, this world is revealed to you, slowly as if told to 11 years old boy who has no clue of it.
This WIZARDING WORLD , is no Normal at all, thank you very much. It's huge realm and community, yet cleverly hidden in our own Normal world.

It'll give you Wonder and Fascination from how to reach it, till being part of it.

And as Harry learns about it, he will also meet these diversity of characters, specifically this amazing family, The Weasley’s.

Yeah,this last line makes you feel that the author joining you the fun herself. It's hard to miss the fun sarcastic tone.

And, Now you see, Harry first lesson before getting to this Strange School is this ;
Wizards and Witches are pretty Normal.. the same as you and me, everyone has the good and bad.. just what you choose to be is what define who you are.


(-Fun Trivia; there's many Easter Eggs in the small details “like Dumbledore’s Chocolate Frog information, which is vital this book, last book and even the next series” also for later books “like the silly Rat spell that won't work on The Rat”-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

n

Chapter 7 : THE SORTING HAT
Chapter 8 : THE POTIONS MASTER
Chapter 9 : THE MIDNIGHT DUEL

n
Now, amidst the Strangeness of the Wizarding World.. the humans there are so true and real. Hence all the situations are true and realistic..

These first 3 chapters at Hogwarts gave me a strong Nostalgia to my first days of almost every school, the college even workplaces.

Harry is 11 and his past Normal life didn’t prepare him to Hogwarts, this magnificent Fantastic Magical School. So the author's lingering on how Harry feels, even how every first year students acts in totally perfect way, and funny too.

No matter how was your experience, you will re-live it but in this Magical atmosphere..
Even you might feel you have acquaintances, colleagues or friends like one of those Harry Potter's characters in one point or another,

There's always this simple true friendly type “Ron”,


eager ambitious knows-it-all “Hermione”,


smug bully Peacock “Draco”,


always lost and confused “Neville”,

funny troublemakers “George and Fred”,

authority lover “Percy”,

this older "pet lover" who knew one of your relatives and being so kind to you as an uncle “Hagrid”,


this older guy you feel he hates you for no reason at all “Snape”,


this stern, all powerful yet super kind older woman “McGonagall”,


and you don't meet the Headmaster ‘or the Boss’ pretty often when it's your first year..but he may be like a Godfather to you later “Dumbledore”.


These chapters of the first weeks, first encounters with different so real, so human characters, first lessons, all are pretty remarkable and nostalgic.
Unforgettable lines; The Potion Master greeting Harry.

And very funny; Harry confusion about Midnight Duel with Malfoy.

And Hermione classic that the Movie Trailer made it even cinematic classic that many has been copying since.

(-Fun Trivia; Argus Filch.. his first name in Greek myth is to a guard with hundreds of eyes all over his body to see everywhere. Well, Argus alone-with a cat- watches the whole vast buildings and hallways of Hogwarts..and you really can't escape him.
There's also this theory about Snape’s first 3 questions to Harry is all related to the love of his life!!.-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

n

Chapter 10 : HALLOWEEN
Chapter 11 : QUIDDITCH
Chapter 12 : THE MIRROR OF ERISED

n
Now, first half of the book is over -that fast?!!-, the second half has been brewing slowly since early first half..
Remember there's some small package in Ch.5, you read something about a failed stealing attempt in Ch.8, then suspecting it might be the school's heavily guarded item in ch.9.
With pure chances our Harry Potter witnessed it all so far.
Now, also by chances, Harry start to suspect someone trying to steal it, from the school.

It all start with a sequence of events that may some of it give you Nostalgia, like having annoying knows-it-all colleague.

Well, then, one thing after another,

And we have a Trio ;

I want to be back in school already.Told you, it's perfect blending Between Normal, and Magic.


And with this Troll accident, this Trio start suspecting the safety of whatever in the package at the third floor.
In a Agatha Christie Mystery style, Investigations starts in Magic School,

While playing Magical Sport that once you read its rules -twice-, you'll wish to play it,

even if against the worst team ever, Slytherin.


And While staying at school during Christmas, this intimate atmosphere, The Blessing of having wonderful friends who like a new family to you..

even having family however they might be, but they're still your blood.. (as we’ll discuss that in later parts.)


And above all, if we miss someone, the importance of Not “Dwelling” in the past,

as Dumbledore said…


(-Fun Trivia;; The Mirror of Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.-)

And back to the plot.. Harry is not only investigate the safety of the parcel, or why Snape -Harry’s main and only suspect- wants to steal it ; the Trio also investigate the second owner of the parcel; He-who-next-Chapter-is-named-after.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

n

Chapter 13 : NICOLAS FLAMEL
Chapter 14 : NORBERT THE NORWEGIAN RIDGEBACK
Chapter 15 : THE FORBIDDEN FOREST

n
With this Magical Urban Fantasy Novel, comes a minor element of Real Historical figure and real life myth. Nicolas Flamel, and His Philosopher’s Stone.

(-Fun Trivia; And this is “The One when every child in our world knows about the Philosopher's Stone” -expect in America. They insisted that it's just Sorcerer’s Stone.)

That's may be one great aspect of mixing this Fantastical Fictional World with our Real Not-Normal Life, Flamel is a real life Alchemist, that mix of Chemistry and Magic.
That's what makes Harry Potter a fine example of Urban Fantasy.

And in these 3 Chapters the investigations get more tense, with some events that put it in halt like, bad Quidditch referee.

Or Hagrid’s Dangerous, forbidden Hobbies.

-well, that's rich-


Which get them- as Flich would say -“in trouble”, A detention in the forbidden forest, meeting the Centaurs and their mystic creepy speakings of how “Mars was Bright that night”.


And finally there -which happens again by mere chance-, they will learn the real reason of the whole fuss around the parcel, The Philosopher’s Stone and who is behind the attempts to steal it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

n

Chapter 16 : THROUGH THE TRAPDOOR
Chapter 17 : THE MAN WITH TWO FACES

n
So now the perfect well structured Mystery and investigations, and the cleverly paced School year comes to an end.
Right after the fast “nostalgic too” summing up of the Exams days, which was so realistic,

So Classic,

And then, the plan is On after the exam. For the big Action of this Magical enchanting plot of the first book ; and with all the tension there, the spontaneous, natural, fun lines between the friends never ceased.

Even in the hardest parts can makes you smile.


This amazing ultimate real meaning of friends completing one another.

That’s what can really help in facing Evil.. and not fearing death.. And choose well,

As Professor Dumbledore’s wise talk;

And Love, and being Loved is the strongest power of all to face anything.


So it was story of Love, Friendship, Family and Bravery.


A perfect conclusion for a Perfect First Book in Unforgettable Breaking Point in modern Fantasy, Young Adult Novels. And in novels History generally.

A story that touched me personally, and may touched so many.. felt so connected to those amazing realistic characters..

And as the investigations part ends finally, it was moment for Truth.

-that may remind you with Agatha’s Poirot Quote ; “The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.”

So, we still won't have the full answers we seek and have in our mind such as;
If this is a great story, Why would a Man even so evil as Voldemort would be that keen to kill baby Harry that much in the first place?
Will he return? Will it be convenience one?

Well, in later books you'll see that everything is connected, mostly -NOT TOTALLY-planned from the beginning.


Well… if you still think this is an overrated Book Series..and doubt the accuracy of this first line, then you're seriously have some Uncle Vernon Dursley blood in you.

But cheers, you are Perfectly Normal,Thank You Very Much.

Mohammed Arabey

First Read : Sep. 2002

Illustrated Ed. Read : from 11 Nov 2015
To 27 Nov 2015

Full review of book one written in Nov. 2016

2024: Summer Break started but life threw me a curve ball last week. I did not as much pick up a book for four days. That’s life. Last weekend, my daughter and I started crafting together our summer movie list, which, of course, includes our annual viewing of favorite series like the original Star Wars trilogy, Mission Impossible, and Harry Potter. She is finishing seventh grade and first read Harry in kindergarten but decided that it was time for a re-read. Yesterday we started discussing key elements of the series and, she mentioned that maybe I should re-read the series as well. It’s been so many times but a good four years since I immersed myself in Harry’s magical world. If I ever needed an escape to Hogwarts in my adult life, it is now. So off we go and maybe some other family members will join us, and, maybe just maybe, I will actually get through book 5 this time around.

It is now 2023 and Harry Potter is now 25 years old. It is hard to fathom that days may be long but time passes quickly, and, yet, Harry has been around for my entire adult life. Time marches on. I hope he is just as beloved when my future grandchildren are old enough to read his story.

In 2020, I decided to reread the Harry Potter series again with friends in the Retro Chapter Chicks group. As adults we lead busy lives. There are infinite numbers of books published and with this lack of time, we need something magical, especially in the winter months when the sun doesn’t shine as much in the northern hemisphere. My solution to the winter doldrums was revisiting Harry Potter’s magical world even if for some of us like myself it is at least the 20th time reading the series. Magic has a way of brightening one’s day and in any saga you can pick up new intricacies with each read through. The best part will be the discussions afterward but after all these times there is nothing like hearing “You’re a Wizard, Harry”, and there is something magical in hearing those words as I began my reading year on New Year’s Day.

I have read Harry Potter more times than I have fingers and toes, and all four of my kids have read the entire series through twice. They have indulged in fan fiction and been sorted into houses on Pottermore. At this point, I have two Slytherins, two Ravenclaws, and my husband who is determined to take test again because he was inadvertently sorted into Hufflepuff. Of course, he claims it’s ok because Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson is supposedly also in Hufflepuff. That is how much Harry Potter has permeated society, to the point where the gulf between the books and fan fiction is at an all time low. Harry Potter was first published in 1998 and has been around my entire adult life. Imagine if it existed when I was my kids’ ages and had the luxury of reading for the first time at age five or six. By this point in my life, I would have the entire series memorized the way I can rattle off lines from the original Star Wars trilogy verbatim. Like Star Wars, Harry Potter is timeless. It was also written by an author who was unsure if it would be successful and initially only submitted the first book to be published. How wrong was J.K. Rowling when it came to betting on herself as more than twenty years later she has created an entire empire out of her franchise.

There is something about adolescence that places a child in a gap between childhood and adulthood that makes it a magical time in one’s life. Just yesterday my twelve-year-old daughter noted that she wants to be an adult because she’s too old to be a kid but too young to drive or do adult things. Point taken. What I have always loved about this first installment besides discovering about the magical world for the first time is how young Harry and his friends are. He notes at one point to Ron and Hermoine that Dumbledore gave them the tools to succeed and it was up to them to complete their tasks. Just as in real life an adolescent needs guidance, they are also capable of doing many things on their own, but they are oh so needy. Like Harry was when he didn’t know how to get to platform 9 3/4 or how to mount a broomstick or how any of the first year students still are in need of a helping hand of the prefects to show them the way as they navigate Hogwarts for the first time. Having kids in this age range allows for me to think wow, parents are allowing their eleven year old children to go away for school. They are entrusting others to help raise their children in this big, scary world that we live in. And the children in turn become independent at a younger than usual age, fostering layers upon layers of character development that Rowling employs even from this first book. It is little wonder that I was giddy to get started with the series again.

In this 2020 reading I have noticed yet again that Rowling has set the stage for events that will come later on in the series. They can be as mundane as the mention of Nicholas Flamel on the back of a chocolate frog card, or as crucial as Harry noting that Snape appears to be able to read minds. Knowing what we know about Snape and his character development makes me laugh at this line, only because I know of all the adventures that will occur and how Snape is either in the way or foiled by Harry in the end. I also noticed this time around the gulf between love and evil and that Harry’s mother’s love for him is something Voldemort can not understand. The stage is set for the interplays between Harry and Snape and the many iterations of Voldemort here in the first book, and one needs to read carefully so as not to miss anything. Reading this many times, I still managed to gain something new, and I think this time around, my key theme will be the characterization of every character, major and minor, and the nuances in dialogue between various personas. Harry having an aha moment about Hagrid might have been lost to me at age twenty but I get immediately and find myself chuckling a bit at age forty. As the books get longer and darker, these conversations which I once thought were fillers will become all the more important to the development of the plot, and I look forward to reaching them later in the series.

I am thankful that I have finally reached a stage where I am captivated by a plethora of books, not just one series like I was as a younger, less experienced reader or when I had little time for hefty books when I had young children in the house. I am glad that J.K. Rowling created this world so that kids can foster a love of reading and become lifelong readers. For that, nineteen years later, I can still turn to Harry in times of need and be grateful that Harry, Ron, and Hermoine will always be there for readers in need of an escape from the vagaries of everyday life. I recently bought the series for myself so I can turn to this ultimate comfort read in times of need and not be reliant upon the library for my copy. Being able to read a whole book in a day or favorite passages is pure magic to say the least. So in 2020 I will be undertaking seven years of magic again. The kids are at a stage when they read from the teen section of the library and I find myself craving children’s books. Needless to say I need some magic in my life as I read about other teenagers and adolescents as a means of escaping the everyday stress that comes with raising kids that age of my own. It should be a fun journey and now that I have book 1 under my belt again, I look forward to spending a good chunk of my 2020 reading year inside of Hogwarts.

As always, 5 stars