Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
I can hardly believe I haven't revisited Harry Potter since I started this blog. The last time I read the series was just over four years ago. I actually marked my calendar to figure out how long it took me to read all seven books (just under five weeks), so I know exactly when I last read these books.
I also, like so many others, remember the first time I read this book - though the countless re-reads in between have blurred together. It was the summer I turned 13, the first summer we were living in the house where my mom still lives. I was an avid reader, but getting my brother interested was a struggle. Harry Potter was the latest in a series of attempts to get him interested in the written word. Every night he and my mom would read a chapter together. When they were about halfway through, he asked me to catch up so we could all read it together. I agreed, even though I was just old enough that it seemed beneath me. But then I screwed up and read the entire book in one sitting and had already started on the second by the time my brother got home that evening.
I'm not sure whether or not my brother actually finished the first book that summer. By the time they announced the movies, he decided to just watch those instead, and I remember being really mad that they were releasing the movies before the series had been completed. What if they left something important out? And what about all those other kids who had started reading again and would now abandon the rest of the books in favor of what were sure to be mediocre movies?
I needn't have worried, of course. The movies weren't as good as they could have been (should have been), and they did nothing to hinder sales of the books. My brother eventually read the entire series (over a decade later). The magic of Harry Potter shows no sign of dying out any time soon.
It's hard to figure out exactly what fuels that magic. What was it about Harry Potter that was so special it transformed an entire generation? It's a cultural touchstone for nearly every millenial I know. It spawned not just movies but whole theme parks. And it all started with a simple children's book.
Of course there's nothing simple about the first book. It introduces us to a truly magical and expansive world. There's a great mystery that blindsides you the first time through. Part of the fun of re-reads is seeing how liberally the clues are sprinkled through the rest of the book (it's not surprised JK Rowling has shifted to mystery with her latest series), as well as catching jokes like the throw-away line about Fred and George enchanting snowballs to follow Quirrell around, bouncing off his turban all day.
There's something about this world that never quite gets boring. No matter how many times I read the introductions to Diagon Alley or Hogwarts, they don't feel stale. A good bit of that is probably nostalgia at this point. But there has to be something more for them to still feel exciting and enchanting, all these years later.
Not to mention how much fun it is to revisit the starting points of these characters and watch them soften. Hermione remains smart and driven, and she pushes Ron and Harry to excel. But she also learns that school isn't the most important thing in the world, and she makes allowances for the rest of life to intrude. Ron gains confidence while maintaining his sense of humor. Neville doesn't have Harry's fame or recklessness, but that never stops him from standing up for himself and what he thinks is right. All of these kids, growing up together, are part of that magic too.
These books are a part of me in a way that's bigger than me. They're comfort reads when I need them, classics I can't wait to share with my kids. The universe continues to expand, and I love reading the extra tidbits. Both the official ones written by JK Rowling at Pottermore and the head canons at places like Flourish and Blotts where fans postulate about what happened to characters before or after the books, about how the world changed or didn't, about how people who weren't really given a place in the books might still find a place in the universe.
All of this is to say that I love these books too much to really be too critical of them. Yes, there are plot holes. Yes, Rowling's language is flowery, and she tends to overuse adverbs. Yes Dumbledore is a seriously questionable authority figure (Or is he actually a time-traveling Ron Weasley?) and equating Slytherin with evil is one-dimensional and reductive. But the themes of friendship, resilience, and hard work transcend those problems. At least they do for me.
I also, like so many others, remember the first time I read this book - though the countless re-reads in between have blurred together. It was the summer I turned 13, the first summer we were living in the house where my mom still lives. I was an avid reader, but getting my brother interested was a struggle. Harry Potter was the latest in a series of attempts to get him interested in the written word. Every night he and my mom would read a chapter together. When they were about halfway through, he asked me to catch up so we could all read it together. I agreed, even though I was just old enough that it seemed beneath me. But then I screwed up and read the entire book in one sitting and had already started on the second by the time my brother got home that evening.
I'm not sure whether or not my brother actually finished the first book that summer. By the time they announced the movies, he decided to just watch those instead, and I remember being really mad that they were releasing the movies before the series had been completed. What if they left something important out? And what about all those other kids who had started reading again and would now abandon the rest of the books in favor of what were sure to be mediocre movies?
I needn't have worried, of course. The movies weren't as good as they could have been (should have been), and they did nothing to hinder sales of the books. My brother eventually read the entire series (over a decade later). The magic of Harry Potter shows no sign of dying out any time soon.
It's hard to figure out exactly what fuels that magic. What was it about Harry Potter that was so special it transformed an entire generation? It's a cultural touchstone for nearly every millenial I know. It spawned not just movies but whole theme parks. And it all started with a simple children's book.
Of course there's nothing simple about the first book. It introduces us to a truly magical and expansive world. There's a great mystery that blindsides you the first time through. Part of the fun of re-reads is seeing how liberally the clues are sprinkled through the rest of the book (it's not surprised JK Rowling has shifted to mystery with her latest series), as well as catching jokes like the throw-away line about Fred and George enchanting snowballs to follow Quirrell around, bouncing off his turban all day.
There's something about this world that never quite gets boring. No matter how many times I read the introductions to Diagon Alley or Hogwarts, they don't feel stale. A good bit of that is probably nostalgia at this point. But there has to be something more for them to still feel exciting and enchanting, all these years later.
Not to mention how much fun it is to revisit the starting points of these characters and watch them soften. Hermione remains smart and driven, and she pushes Ron and Harry to excel. But she also learns that school isn't the most important thing in the world, and she makes allowances for the rest of life to intrude. Ron gains confidence while maintaining his sense of humor. Neville doesn't have Harry's fame or recklessness, but that never stops him from standing up for himself and what he thinks is right. All of these kids, growing up together, are part of that magic too.
These books are a part of me in a way that's bigger than me. They're comfort reads when I need them, classics I can't wait to share with my kids. The universe continues to expand, and I love reading the extra tidbits. Both the official ones written by JK Rowling at Pottermore and the head canons at places like Flourish and Blotts where fans postulate about what happened to characters before or after the books, about how the world changed or didn't, about how people who weren't really given a place in the books might still find a place in the universe.
All of this is to say that I love these books too much to really be too critical of them. Yes, there are plot holes. Yes, Rowling's language is flowery, and she tends to overuse adverbs. Yes Dumbledore is a seriously questionable authority figure (Or is he actually a time-traveling Ron Weasley?) and equating Slytherin with evil is one-dimensional and reductive. But the themes of friendship, resilience, and hard work transcend those problems. At least they do for me.
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