Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

This is a nice, unpretentious little novel about schoolchildren and magic. It's not really an amazingly good novel, but it's nice to read, and it somehow caught the public imagination, so that the series became a phenomenon, Rowling made a fortune, and the sequels became longer, less pleasant, and more pretentious.I still like this first book; the main thing wrong with it is Voldemort. Although I read sf and fantasy, which are stories not set in the real world, nevertheless I want to read stories about characters with normal good and bad sides to them. I don't encounter saints or devils in real life, and I don't find them convincing or engaging as fictional characters. Voldemort is bad through and through, and to me he's a blemish on the book, I don't want him there. Fortunately, he spends most of this book offstage.While I'm at it, I can't resist commenting on the stupid design of the sport of Quidditch, in which the result of each game is determined by the Seeker, and all the other players are basically an irrelevant distraction.I also note that the main requirements of a Seeker are good broomstick handling and good vision—and Harry Potter wears glasses. Yes, I accept that he could be a good Seeker wearing glasses, but it's surely a handicap, and he'd presumably be an even better Seeker if he had perfect vision without glasses.Although I first read this book before the films were made, in recent years I've become more familiar with the film than the book, so it was a rather odd experience to read the book in 2022 and notice all the places where the film omitted things, added things, or just somewhat changed things. Whenever a film is made from a book, I usually reckon that the book is better, but in this case I'm not sure. The book is fine as it is (apart from Voldemort), but the changes made in the film are in general not bad, and some of them might even be considered improvements.This is where the huge sales of the book series had a beneficial effect: because of those sales, Rowling was allowed considerable influence over the film versions, and was able to keep them relatively faithful to the books. I don't worship Rowling, and I think the huge sales were somewhat more than she really deserved; but nevertheless I think the films would have been worse without her influence—because films of books usually are.The screen version of [b:Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch 12067 Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch Terry Pratchett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1615552073l/12067.SY75.jpg 4110990] was also pretty good, because it was overseen by one of the authors. A novelist doesn't necessarily have the skills to make a good film; but it seems to me that few film directors or screenwriters have the skills to translate a novel to the screen. They can't resist messing around with it, and their changes rarely improve it.

This is a good book, just might be the best Young Adult fantasy book ever. But I just can't like the YA genre enough to give this a higher rating.

The movie is a carbon copy of the book, so there was not much in the way of wondering what was going to happen. Even though the plot is simple, very few author are able to execute this very well. Like the little tips a long the way that tells who the real villain is.

There was one thing though that really bothered me, that I attribute to the lower end of the YA (for children really). The final scoring of points for the schools. I felt it was really unnecessary to give the victory to Gryffindor. It just felt like another blow for someone who like a more gritty style.

Still this was a pleasant reading. The writing was very easy to understand, all the scenes made sense and had a natural flow to them. Well, made sense for a YA book, where you have to justify the fact that a child by no merit of his (as in Ender) is able to defeat ALONE the greatest evil the world has ever faced.

First read: 2002

My review is more of a 3.5 but I didn't feel right giving it 4 stars.

I decided to do a buddy read with Josh even though he's probably still on chapter 5. I've also seen the first movie numerous times so I wasn't surprised by much. Some questions / observations below:

- Why weren't the Dursley's investigated for child abuse? That family was trash. Harry deserved better.

- Hermione was beyond annoying for the first half of the book and I really felt like she added nothing to the book but a brain since Harry and Ron were dimwits. I am also confused as why she is not in Ravenclaw house.

- Snape was cruel and should have been fired.

- Why do they write with quill? Isn't this supposed to be set in the 90s?

- Malfoy should have been pushed into lava.

I gave it 3.5 stars because nothing really happens and it's pretty standard. Also I felt like a lot of things were cliche (The family being rotten with no redeeming qualities, Malfoy being the dimensional villain / bully type).

This is just an introduction into the series and sets up some back story. I could see how this excited me back then as a kid but not as an adult it didn't do much. Besides that, I look forward to starting book 2. Hopefully, I like Hermione a bit more.

I don't think I have actually ever re-read any of these books. I got the first three in a box set for Christmas in 1999 and then bought every other book on release.

I thought this would be a good first chapter book to read with my daughter, and after a few false starts over the last year or two, this time she really got into it and paid attention as I read. Her review: “That was a good book”.

This first book was always my favorite of the series. I just like the way the world and characters are introduced and I remember being blown away by the reveal at the end. There isn't a ton of side plots or anything, it's a relatively lean and quick story.

Looking forward to reading through the whole series again with my daughter. It's a shame that JK Rowling is a bit of a terrible person though, oh well.

Final note: The fact that the students care about the House Cup so much when the points are complete bullshit ala Whose Line Is It Anyway is absolutely insane.

As I am finally tackling the world of Harry Potter, I'm seeking to keep an open mind to why everyone loves these books so much. The writing is definitely very captivating, and I was easily immersed into the story. I love the friendship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I'm convinced that Dumbledore is actually Gandalf taking a vacation from Lord of the Rings. And my favorite parts were the little bits of humor. Overall, I enjoyed the book, although I'm still waiting to be swept off my feet.

It's been a while since I picked up a Harry Potter book - about 5 years actually. So when I decided I wanted to go back a re-live this amazing story, I didn't think that it would affect me quite the way it did.

It brought back so many childhood memories, as I was probably about 9 years old when I first read the Philosopher's Stone. And it was just magical. Only being about 220 pages, I thought I'd read it in one sitting. But I found myself reading it more slowly because I didn't want it to end. I think magical is the only word I can use to describe this story, it's just amazing. A lot more than the movies - although I completely love the movies and they did an awesome job of projecting it to the big screen.

Reading the books when you are older and more able to understand the hiding meanings in Harry Potter - as it is a children's book - I think I enjoyed it more this time around. I loved Ron. He has obviously been a favourite from the series of a lot of people. One thing I will say, in the movies I can just tolerate Draco but JK Rowling makes him slightly unbearable in the books. He's such a coward and he just infuriates me. And Snape is just amazing. Maybe it's because we kno now that he is actually a good guy but re-reading from the beginning you can pick up on the little hints that JK Rowling gives us about the truth of Severus Snape.

I'm so in love with this series, it will forever be my favourite.

Harry Potter is a great story in a magical universe that fills me with joy and nostalgia and I truly love the universe, though this book is not my favorite of the series.

I do want to say another thing:
Obviously, the writer of this book is not someone I want to support and I urge you to buy these books secondhand if you can.