Friday 21 March 2014

The Big Read - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

I haven't given up on The Big Read, I just seem to get side tracked by getting addicted to reading Mills and Boon, and other such high brow literature.  I have to admit that Jane Eyre got pushed aside to read the Crossfire series and then the This Man books. But I am determined to read more off the list this year (I have said this before however)

For those who don't know what I am on about, years ago the BBC did a poll on the nations favourite books and published the results and a corresponding book.  The list can be viewed here and basically I want to read all 100 books.

Harry Potter has never really interested me in the slightest and I have never read any of the books. I have also only watched one of the films unfortunately not the first one, I don't even know which one it was. It had R Patz in it, which is pretty much all I remember apart from it being rather dark for a kids story.

Anyway the reason that I started the Harry Potter books is that my sister really wants to go on the Warner Bros Studio Tour. My dad and other sister seem keen and basically I don't want to miss out. I would like to have a clue what I am looking at so thought what the hell why not.

I really was quite concerned that these books would freak me out, I don't like being frightened at all and not keen on things of a mystical nature or people being hunted down or chased. I also thought they would ultimately get boring.

So what did I think after the longest intro into a post?

At first I really did think about giving up. The first few chapters I found quite slow, and you would hope that if a child was made to live under the stairs social services would step in. I know out of everything in the book it is an odd thing to concentrate on, but it just bugged me. 

I didn't really get into the book until Harry was at Hogwarts, and that was mainly due to Snape and Ron. First up I love Ron he made me laugh out loud and is generally an endearing character. I also really feel for him living in the shadow of his many brothers and now Harry.

Now onto the other reason for getting into the book, the need to know whether Snape is a goodie or a baddie. I am guessing that this theme continues in the other books, and please don't spoil it for me but I just need to find out.

There were parts of the book that didn't frighten me exactly but wigged me out. Like the mirror thing, the unicorn blood and Voldemort in general. I know this is for children but I feel it's quite dark already, so maybe I won't make it to the end.

Overall I would say that after a slow start this was more enjoyable than I expected. I will definitely read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and might even watch the film.

For anyone that hasn't already got a copy you can pick up a copy from amazon.co.uk

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