Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone

Image via WikipediaOK, this is not a Magic Book book review. The Harry Potter books are not available electronically (at least not legally). However, this month I finally got around to reading it.

I am sure that there are a million Harry Potter reviews out there, so I am not going to ramble on much about my experience with it.

I can see the appeal to the book. It has a certain juvenile quality to it (in the best sense). It's about a boy who goes into a magical world and a magical school. It's easy for the reader to slip into the shoes of Harry Potter and enjoy his special adventure.

As a moderately well read person, I can say that there was not much new here. However, that's not necessary for children. Since they lack being well read, everything under the sun is new. That's a great place to start, I think. That said, the book moves along quickly and easily.
Image via Wikipedia
It is no where near the same level as Tolkien's LOTR series. But I can't help but think it's a nice way to get started in the genre that he created. The Lord of the Rings is a great epic, whereas JK Rowling's Potter series is more like a saga. I had only read Tolkien's books when I was around 19. I think it is a more mature read. Potter, on the other hand, would have been easily accessible to me around the age of 10.

I'm not sure if I will move on to the next book in the series. The library from which I got the first book does not seem to have the second book.

I also find myself remembering a crazy religious lady that happened to be the grandmother to my wife's friend's child. How quickly she put down the series for its use of magic as a major theme. She spat venom, and it really made me scratch my head at the fanaticism of some of the religious nut-jobs that exist in the world.