J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
English language
Harry Potter #1
When mysterious letters start arriving on his doorstep, Harry Potter has never heard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
They are swiftly confiscated by his aunt and uncle.
Then, on Harry’s eleventh birthday, a strange man bursts in with some important news: Harry Potter is a wizard and has been awarded a place to study at Hogwarts.
And so the first of the Harry Potter adventures is set to begin. ([source][1])
[1]: www.jkrowling.com/book/harry-potter-philosophers-stone/
I can't believe this is listed on Goodreads as the Sorceror's Stone. I think it's safe to say it's a clearly inferior title to Philosopher's Stone.
I love these books with my whole heart.
I still love it, even though it's been ~20 years since the first read. There just seem to be more and more details each time I read it. It's my favourite of the lot (although I'll say that about the 3rd and the 5th as well, once I'm freshly done with them again
A re-read for the 20th anniversary (I believe I first read it in 2003), and it was funnier, more charming, and sweeter than I remembered. The first few chapters were especially interesting. I had forgotten that the first chapter is from Vernon Dursley's perspective, and I was surprised at how many elements that come into play later in the series are here from the first few pages. I'm looking forward to reading this to my kids in a couple of years.
I read this book when I was about 12 years old, that was 15 years ago and I still remember the joyfulness it got me, the way that it oppened my reading knowledge to fantasy and science-fiction later.
Harry Potter changed my teenage years and it still influences me everyday. It's a book that is a light read, it's written in a flowed way and I really love that. I love most of the characters and I love that we could grow up with this marvelous characters and watch them turn into wonderful young adults.
I really thank J.K. Rowling so much for the ability to create this wonderful world that 15 years gone, still atracts teenagers and adults to this wonderful series,
An enchanting, kids-know-best adventure, which is magical enough to be read twice.
Maybe not a goodreads problem per se, but FYI this was the Spanish version - Kindle's otherwise fun Goodreads integration doesn't seem to pick that up.
Have decided to re-read the entire series. Will not change the original star ratings, but will include my updated star ratings in the wall o' text.
3 stars
Honestly, I was maybe a just a teensy bit bored with this one. Great world-building but kind of thin on plot.
I was quite surprised with how babyish the book is, seeing as lots of adults, including my wife, enjoyed this so much I was expecting something a bit more grown up. It reminded me quite a bit of [b:The Worst Witch|351023|The Worst Witch (Worst Witch, #1)|Jill Murphy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349047328s/351023.jpg|341267], something I enjoyed as a kid so if I had read Harry Potter as a kid I expect I would have liked it, seeing as I am all grown up now all I see is somebody ripping off a book from my childhood, and not doing a particularly good job at it.
You know when Hollywood make a new movie and they have already decided there will be many sequels, they always seem to put less effort into the first movie, it all seems to be setting the scene, introducing characters and giving a bit of history on their lives, and after a …
I was quite surprised with how babyish the book is, seeing as lots of adults, including my wife, enjoyed this so much I was expecting something a bit more grown up. It reminded me quite a bit of [b:The Worst Witch|351023|The Worst Witch (Worst Witch, #1)|Jill Murphy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349047328s/351023.jpg|341267], something I enjoyed as a kid so if I had read Harry Potter as a kid I expect I would have liked it, seeing as I am all grown up now all I see is somebody ripping off a book from my childhood, and not doing a particularly good job at it.
You know when Hollywood make a new movie and they have already decided there will be many sequels, they always seem to put less effort into the first movie, it all seems to be setting the scene, introducing characters and giving a bit of history on their lives, and after a while you get bored and wonder why you are wasting your time with this? Well that's how I thought about this book, each chapter introduced a character or an item and then wasn't mentioned again, I'm sure this was all setting the scene for the next books though, so hopefully they are better.
I found the story quite interesting at first, the build up to joining Hogwarts was interesting, I did like the bank, but once Harry gets to school my brain started to sleep. The writing style reminded me of 50 shades of grey and da Vinci code, horrible but worthy of 2* just because it got lots of people into reading.
Geen fan van het hoofdpersonage.
This is quite obviously the most naive of the books and nowhere near the brilliance of the later books yet. I have to main issues: a) why is Dumbledore so irresponsible with the kids? b) why didn't they just hide the stone in the Room of Requirement? Well, obviously logic isn't a wizard thing.
readathon
I forgot how incredibly annoying Hermione is in the books. Loved the reader! I almost feel like I'm reading this again for the first time (er, you know what I mean).
So much magic in these books, and I'm not referring to wand flicks and incantations. The world that JKR has created is just magic in and of itself. Call me silly, but I get teary-eyed when I think of it. Dumbledore especially. I haven't reread the books in a long time, and when I read about him and how ALIVE he was, all sparkly-knowing eyes giving Harry, Hermione and Ron the tools they'd need to do the things that others would say they shouldn't...
I'm not making a lot of sense I know. But I just love these books.
Full marks for re-readability. I haven't even got the faintest clue of how many times I've read this book now. I remember being sceptical about the series but finally gave in to giving it a one day when I was going to the library and saw a girl coming out with a Harry Potter book. She was reading as she walked, not even slightly looking where she was going on the stone stairway in front of the library. I figured if it could override basic safety like that, it had to be good. So I tried it and by the end of chapter one, I was a lost cause.
