Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter #1
Young Reader Fiction
1998 Scholastic
Read in May 1999
Rating: 3/5 (Good)
Publisher's Blurb:
Harry Potter's life is miserable. His parents are dead and he's stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he's a wizard. A mysterious visitor rescues him from his relatives and takes him to his new home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
After a lifetime of bottling up his magical powers, Harry finally feels like a normal kid. But even within the Wizarding community, he is special. He is the boy who lived: the only person to have ever survived a killing curse inflicted by the evil Lord Voldemort, who launched a brutal takeover of the Wizarding world, only to vanish after failing to kill Harry.
Though Harry's first year at Hogwarts is the best of his life, not everything is perfect. There is a dangerous secret object hidden within the castle walls, and Harry believes it's his responsibility to prevent it from falling into evil hands. But doing so will bring him into contact with forces more terrifying than he ever could have imagined.
Full of sympathetic characters, wildly imaginative situations, and countless exciting details, the first installment in the series assembles an unforgettable magical world and sets the stage for many high-stakes adventures to come.
My Original Notes (1999):
Young adult fiction. Fantasy. On The New York Times best-seller list for weeks. Highly recommended by several Books.com members. These are the same readers who loved Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Unfortunately, I don't share their enthusiasm for these youthful fantasies. Harry Potter was good, but I was easily bored and distracted while reading. Have I lost my inner child??
My Current Thoughts:
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years, you've either read this book, watched the movie, or at least recognize the boy with the scar on his forehead. I'm not sure how long it was after reading this story that I went on to listen to the audiobook (read by the amazing Jim Dale) but in spite of listening to his great narration, I'm not sure if it helped turn me into a Harry Potter fan. I did go on to read the entire series, but I wasn't as impressed as other readers.
I loved the entire Harry Potter series. But I didn't read it until last year...I think I just needed a total escape from the craziness of dealing with my parents situation. :-)
ReplyDeleteLaurel, the series is great escapism. I liked the earlier books, but wound up reading all of them over the years. Some were much better than others, which is usually the case with a lengthy series.
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