09.Mar.2008 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Just finished the first Potter book today. Yeah I know, I’m probably years late reading it, but hey, better late than never right?

Surprisingly (or not surprisingly) I really enjoyed it. Like most avid readers, I was a bit skeptical about the whole Potter’s phenomenon. Well, if anything, I think the book is really enjoyable, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

For all the praises for Rowling for being imaginative, I was a bit surprised on how stereotypical some things are in the book. Like the smart hardworking girl, the popular boy who’s good at a popular sport, the sidekick for some humor, the sport that’s pretty much about chasing a ball between 2 teams, the old wise school head, the strict old female teacher, etc. But I’d forgiver her for all the rest of fun surprising elements here and there :).

It definitely makes me want to watch the movie again. I think I would enjoy it more now. (I probably didn’t catch some of the story elements when I watched it years ago – without reading the book first.) On a side note, I did start to read the first Potter book in Indonesian language many years ago, before it got so famous. But that time the translation annoyed me so much, I stopped after a couple of chapters. I still have the Indonesian book somewhere at my parents’ house.

Thanks to my colleague Jowy, who offered to lend me the whole series of Harry Potter :D. I think I will read Harry Potter every other book, so I wouldn’t miss the other great books ;). My target is to read up til the right series before the last Harry Potter movie comes out.

Ratings: 4 out of 5
Enjoyable. Quite excellent for its genre and target audience :)

I’m trying out a new rating system, stolen from arukiyomi:
terrible » poor » mediocre » okay » good » very good » excellent » superb

First line
Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

Last line
I’m going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer …