Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

These Are The Stories Before We Had SmartPhones

Many years ago, I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when it was first published in the US, before the movie, before all of the fame and merchandising opportunities. Initially, when I read it, I devoured it in two days. Now that I am old, well as old as Megan Fox, I wanted to hate on the author but couldn't.

JK Rowling makes writing look easy. Her prose is easy to read out loud, very smooth. Although the world that she has created is magical, it isn't confusing or that difficult to imagine unlike LOTR or Dune. The book is also incredibly fast paced. Many of the fantasy books that I have read have at least 100 pages to warm up. So how does the author make us want to root or cheer for Harry? How do we become invested in him? He is an orphan and an abused orphan at that. On the one hand, this formula definitely works, but isn't it a little over done? JK Rowling also sets up some beautiful scenes like when Harry is receiving his invitation to Hogwarts. How many people actually try that hard? When Ron and Harry discover that Hermione is in danger, they both go to assist her. However, most people these days would go, "Oh well." Sorry my INFJ is showing.

There were a few things that I didn't like:
*Why does JK Rowling hate cats? Mr Dursley sees something odd, a cat reading a map. My cats play chess, play the piano, watch TV, and once even typed "hi" on my computer. I don't find reading a map to be a bit strange at all. Maybe my house is just brimming with magic and as a muggle I just don't know about it? Mrs. Figg also made Harry look at photographs of all of the cats that she has ever owned. As if that is some sort of punishment!
*How Hermione is treated. When Ron and Harry are in trouble, Ron screams at her, "Have you gone mad? Are you a witch or not?" Um Ron, if you treat me like, you can save yourself. At the end of the book, Hermione is never fully rewarded for her portion in saving Ron and Harry, just figuring out the riddle. Even after she was a better person than I.
*Quidditch and chess - not really my thing although this opened up a brilliant line of merchandising for the author.
*Some things didn't make sense to me. Why was there a sip of the potions left? Why exactly was Dudley so popular at school?

Now, I think a trip to Orlando is in order to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal

Connect With Me!