Harry Potter was an orphan, living in a cupboard under the stairs with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and cousin Dudley. His life is pretty much boring, with not much privileges. Until one day, on his 11th birthday, a letter arrived at #4 Privet Drive, an invitation to attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Then harry realizes he is not an ordinary boy. He is quite known in the wizarding world as the boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named [Voldemort], and also became the youngest seeker for Griffindor in a century.
On his first year at Hogwarts, Harry is exposed to the Sorcerer's Stone - a stone that produces an elixr that can bring eternal life, and also has the capability to create gold. With new friends Ron and Hermione, Harry is thrust in a new adventure on their quest to find out who wanted to steal and usethe Sorcerer's Stone.
I have to stop my makeshift summary there as I don't really want to give away any spoilers.
I first read this book way back in 1999, when I was still a sophomore in high school. When I tweeted that I was reading this book, many of my friends asked why I was reading this book again when this is the third [or fourth? I've lost count]. Well, I wanted to read it as part of the Harry Potter Reading Challenge as hosted by GalleySmith. In the challenge, we're asked to read all 7 Harry Potter books and this is the first step!
Anyway, my review of the book.
I've always liked Harry Potter. The way JK Rowling wrote the story was so believable, you'd want to be transported to Hogwarts! The plotline was so cleverly constructed, and as I was first reading Sorcerer's Stone, I totally believed that Snape was the one after the Stone [although he was the Red Herring.... I was ignorant back then :P]
Do read the series if you haven't -- the movie is loyal to the book, although the book has far more details, which could explain some underlying questions that you might encounter in the movie.
Back when I was in London, I did a really quick Harry Potter tour by going to "Diagon Alley" [Leadenhall Market] and Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross. I will probably post that adventure up in one of my travel-related blogs. Haha. The experience of pretending to "push" the cart through the wall in Platform 9 3/4: Priceless.
Also got to Oxford where the Great Hall scenes were shot. I could just imagine being part of Slytherin or Ravenclaw or Griffindor or Hufflepuff and being excited of waving my wand and learning new tricks!
Overall, I'd give this book 4.5/5! :) It sure was a good fantasy book, and I can't wait to re-read the rest of the series.
My copy: A paperback, bought at National Bookstore way back in 1999 for P189.50 [around $4.50 in the current conversion]. The spines are creased, the pages are brown, but still something to keep in the personal library.
6 comments:
Harry Potter is a great book, I have read them all too and they seem to just get better. A friend of mine mentioned that she read that J.K. Decided to write each book on the level that Harry was - IE the first book he's 11, so she geared it more towards kids that age - I thought that was kinda cool! :)
You got to "Diagon Alley", King's Cross station, and Oxford?! I am so jealous. I want to do that. Maybe someday when I finally make it to London.
I remember starting the first book and thinking it was mediocre and then somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd chapter I became enraptured.
@book crazy jenn -- *blush* sad to say I never made it past book 3 so I'll have to catch up on my Harry Potter reading! lol.
@stephanieD -- I was sent out to London for a business trip last year so after work and weekends, we'd go out and explore! :) My friends were Harry Potter fans and we decided to make that "tour". I also went on a mini Da Vinci Code tour [Westminster Abbey & Temple Church] Such fun!
Many thanks for visiting my blog :)
I love all things Potter! :)Thank you for this post! I need to read all of them again too!
@sheila - go join the harry potter challenge too :) i've posted a link on the sidebar for the book challenges.
Hi,
I like this article but..
last night i went to the midnight premiere of harry potter and the half blood prince! I was honestly so disappointed! was it just me or did it seem very choppy and for some reason didn't feel like it was a harry potter movie. Don't get me wrong some of the parts in it were either really funny or somewhat scary but i really was not satisfied. I don't know, what did you think?? Am i wrong? Give me your opinions..
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