Book-It 'o15! Book #10
Mar. 6th, 2015 01:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alivemagdoleneThe Fifty Books Challenge, year six! (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014) This was a personal loan.
Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling
Details: Copyright 1998, Scholastic Press
Synopsis (By Way of Publisher's Info):
"Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Don't come after me! But I've never read the Harry Potter books before. I haven't seen the movies, either.
Okay, so maybe I owe a bit of an explanation.
I registered Harry Potter when it first came out and my mother enjoyed it very much. I tried but couldn't really get into it, and I had plenty of other things to read.
I watched the spiraling success of the other books and then the films. I got to know people that respect the stories like religion. I got to know people who would never think of getting any kind of tattoo, but got their Hogwarts house colors. When I studied with a coven, the high priestess was a through and through devotee who adored the books and movies.
I observed all of this with a kind of sad, outsider air. After all, I'd tried to get into them, and I couldn't. I wasn't about to see the movies without reading the books, of course.
But a couple years ago, my mother was gathering books to send to my old uncle, who reads to escape, and I remembered something I'd read about troops in war loving Harry Potter (escape!) and maybe my uncle would like them as well for the same reason, so my mother eagerly tracked down all the books (secondhand) to send to my uncle.
Flash forward to this past Christmas, when I found myself watching part of the first movie with my mother, who all but gave me a director's commentary about the film.
So eventually, I realized that given the level of scrutiny and the fact there's currently a long range of days inside (snow storm!), why not just try to read the damn things again.
I've talked before about doing a super popular book for this challenge, and I realize that a book review of a book so popular that's meant so much to so many is tricky, but I've tried to do this justice.
How I Liked It: When you have a book with a movie adaption that's as successful as this franchise, it's almost surprising to make out the story (and character appearances) for yourself. I've only seen part of the first movie and I couldn't help comparing the two versions.
However, I'm not unused to the art (if you want to call it that) of separating a book from a movie or TV series. It's why I can find the Tim Burton version of the story of Willie Wonka to be far more accurate to the source material (nostalgia bedamned) and how I learned the stories of Ramona Quimby were far richer in text than they were in the TV series. And it's not necessarily that books are always better, it's that each version of the story is different and can coexist. As I found myself complaining when the Oz prequel came out a couple years ago, the Oz stories had been out for several generations before the Judy Garland movie was made, which many fans at the time felt betrayed the spirit of the books.
So in that spirit, I was trying not to remember what I'd seen/heard about the movie and only focus on the book.
What surprised me the most was probably the Roald Dahl quality that I felt a lot of the writing had, versus, say, how I've generally seen Harry Potter depicted, which leans more toward an at times aggressively noble coming of age fable. There's nobility and there's coming of age in this first book, of course, but the quirky, crass charm by which the author depicts them punctures the pomposity and makes the stories far more human and likable.
I'm hesitant to comment too much about the character of Hermione, the only girl student given much face time in this book. I realize that her character evolves and grows throughout the series, and this is just the first glimpse really. So I'm forgiving of Hermione falling into the know-it-all "bossy" little girl policing the boys' fun, which annoys me. I'm well aware that such dynamics exist, but it's frustrating to see in one of the only female characters. Like I said, I know this book isn't the be-all of her character.
I had to remind myself that although these books are enjoyed extensively by adults, this is still primarily a young adult book, written at that audience, thus something like the monolog twist at the end (where the villain is revealed and lists at length how they misled you) isn't that formulaic.
It's not just that the book was enjoyable to read, it's also that it has frequent moments of utter brilliance that call to mind other giants of this genre.
I'm very glad I gave this series a second chance and get to enjoy it.
Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling
Details: Copyright 1998, Scholastic Press
Synopsis (By Way of Publisher's Info):
"Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Don't come after me! But I've never read the Harry Potter books before. I haven't seen the movies, either.
Okay, so maybe I owe a bit of an explanation.
I registered Harry Potter when it first came out and my mother enjoyed it very much. I tried but couldn't really get into it, and I had plenty of other things to read.
I watched the spiraling success of the other books and then the films. I got to know people that respect the stories like religion. I got to know people who would never think of getting any kind of tattoo, but got their Hogwarts house colors. When I studied with a coven, the high priestess was a through and through devotee who adored the books and movies.
I observed all of this with a kind of sad, outsider air. After all, I'd tried to get into them, and I couldn't. I wasn't about to see the movies without reading the books, of course.
But a couple years ago, my mother was gathering books to send to my old uncle, who reads to escape, and I remembered something I'd read about troops in war loving Harry Potter (escape!) and maybe my uncle would like them as well for the same reason, so my mother eagerly tracked down all the books (secondhand) to send to my uncle.
Flash forward to this past Christmas, when I found myself watching part of the first movie with my mother, who all but gave me a director's commentary about the film.
So eventually, I realized that given the level of scrutiny and the fact there's currently a long range of days inside (snow storm!), why not just try to read the damn things again.
I've talked before about doing a super popular book for this challenge, and I realize that a book review of a book so popular that's meant so much to so many is tricky, but I've tried to do this justice.
How I Liked It: When you have a book with a movie adaption that's as successful as this franchise, it's almost surprising to make out the story (and character appearances) for yourself. I've only seen part of the first movie and I couldn't help comparing the two versions.
However, I'm not unused to the art (if you want to call it that) of separating a book from a movie or TV series. It's why I can find the Tim Burton version of the story of Willie Wonka to be far more accurate to the source material (nostalgia bedamned) and how I learned the stories of Ramona Quimby were far richer in text than they were in the TV series. And it's not necessarily that books are always better, it's that each version of the story is different and can coexist. As I found myself complaining when the Oz prequel came out a couple years ago, the Oz stories had been out for several generations before the Judy Garland movie was made, which many fans at the time felt betrayed the spirit of the books.
So in that spirit, I was trying not to remember what I'd seen/heard about the movie and only focus on the book.
What surprised me the most was probably the Roald Dahl quality that I felt a lot of the writing had, versus, say, how I've generally seen Harry Potter depicted, which leans more toward an at times aggressively noble coming of age fable. There's nobility and there's coming of age in this first book, of course, but the quirky, crass charm by which the author depicts them punctures the pomposity and makes the stories far more human and likable.
I'm hesitant to comment too much about the character of Hermione, the only girl student given much face time in this book. I realize that her character evolves and grows throughout the series, and this is just the first glimpse really. So I'm forgiving of Hermione falling into the know-it-all "bossy" little girl policing the boys' fun, which annoys me. I'm well aware that such dynamics exist, but it's frustrating to see in one of the only female characters. Like I said, I know this book isn't the be-all of her character.
I had to remind myself that although these books are enjoyed extensively by adults, this is still primarily a young adult book, written at that audience, thus something like the monolog twist at the end (where the villain is revealed and lists at length how they misled you) isn't that formulaic.
It's not just that the book was enjoyable to read, it's also that it has frequent moments of utter brilliance that call to mind other giants of this genre.
I'm very glad I gave this series a second chance and get to enjoy it.
