Before Reading:
This is actually a reread for me. The first time I read Harry Potter, I was just a kid. My mother actually read the book so I can sleep, but I vividly remember falling asleep before she even finished. So I tried reading it. Imagine a 4 year old trying to read Harry Potter. I know, crazy. Maybe that’s why my tutors never lasted. Anyways, I am excited to read Harry Potter again, because I can now read it at as semi-adult. (18 is just legal. It still has -teen so I am still a teen.)
Title & Author: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Date Published: June 26th 1997
Series: Harry Potter #1
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Really old copy from my childhood
Summary:
Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy. He lives with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley, who are mean to him and make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. (Dudley, however, has two bedrooms, one to sleep in and one for all his toys and games.) Then Harry starts receiving mysterious letters and his life is changed forever. He is whisked away by a beetle-eyed giant of a man and enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The reason: Harry Potter is a wizard! The first book in the “Harry Potter” series makes the perfect introduction to the world of Hogwarts.
What are you waiting for? Get a copy!
If your library does not have this book, hands down.
After Reading:
I literally flew through the pages! How amazing is that? It was a good call that this is the first book that the book club has chosen to read. Not only did it bring back a lot of memories, but the magic stayed the same. I felt like I was 4 again, asking my mother if there were owls here in the Philippines. It brought nostalgia. But it brings new perspectives.
When you cannot word, that means that the book did a successful job in rendering you speechless. I feel like I want to marathon the whole series again. Harry Potter, in all the sense, is a truly marvelous book. Harry Potter raised the bar for every other fantasy book out there.
The world building was just as incredible as I remembered. It was like taking your first baby steps. The idea of Hogwarts was not crammed into a huge puddle of mess, but rather was introduced like you were a child going to school for the first time. Hats off to that required items list, because one cannot be more excited to know what Hogwarts is really like. Getting your first wand, getting a pet, and imagining what Gringotts and Flourish and Botts looked like was really satisfying to read. And when you finally enter Hogwarts, you get this sense of feeling that each of those houses are equally intriguing, but of course you cannot help but root for Gryffindor in the first place. I might spoil anyone who has yet to read the Harry Potter series so I am stopping right there. Just so you know that the point I am saying is that the Harry Potter world defines the word “magical”.
In terms of characters, J.K. Rowling left some room for improvements on the characters. They are not entirely perfect, nor are they built like gods. They each have their separate flaws and strengths, which one can admire from afar. If you ask me, Hermione is still my favorite character and Harry Potter will still be my crush. Ron Weasley will forever be the loyal best friend and Draco Malfoy will forever be the kid that I will hate if I will ever reread the series again.
Plot-wise, I loved the way how there is so much going on yet it seems that they’re all interconnected. I was still shocked on some of the parts, thinking that some of it will look weird on the movie. But then again, the ones who made the movies are geniuses in their own right. It was just perfect, nothing feels rushed and nothing feels slow. See what I’m doing here? I told you I cannot word anymore.
Now, will I read this again? Hell yes.
Is this still the best book ever? Hell yes.
Potterhead till the end? I swear on my grave.
I swear, if you don’t know who this goddess of writing is, I don’t even think you’ve been living under a rock. Are you galaxies away, my friend?
Joanne Rowling was born in July 1965 at Yate General Hospital in England and grew up in Chepstow, Gwent where she went to Wyedean Comprehensive.
Jo left Chepstow for Exeter University, where she earned a French and Classics degree, her course including one year in Paris. As a postgraduate she moved to London and worked as a researcher at Amnesty International among other jobs. She started writing the Harry Potter series during a delayed Manchester to London King’s Cross train journey, and during the next five years, outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first novel.
Jo then moved to northern Portugal, where she taught English as a foreign language. She married in October 1992 and gave birth to a daughter in 1993. When the marriage ended, she and Jessica returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, where Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone was eventually completed. The book was first published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in June 1997, under the name J.K. Rowling. The “K”, for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name was added at her publisher’s request who thought that a woman’s name would not appeal to the target audience of young boys.
More about the Queen here: http://www.jkrowling.com/en_GB/
I don’t know about you, but one can never get enough of Harry Potter. Oh, and if you’re a member of the Fanboy Book Club and you have written a review, feel free to link it up here!
The Ultimate Fangirl 