Books #9 & 10 -Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone & Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

It only seems like a couple of days ago that I finished book 8, yet here I am again, with another two books under my belt!

I'll admit that the next two books aren't exactly taxing my mind, but d'ya know what... sometimes you really do need something nice and easy to read. For me, Harry Potter is exactly this. It's pure escapism for me, taking me back to wondrous days growing up as a teenager, waiting eagerly for the next book to come out, and then binge reading in a couple of days. I've been meaning to re-read them for a while, as I haven't read them in a good few years.

For me, I'll must confess, I wasn't a fan of Harry Potter at first... I just couldn't get into it. I tried Philosopher's Stone when I was in Year 6, but it just didn't interest me. Don't ask me why, but as soon as I reached Year 7, it all changed and I turned into a right Potter fan!

There's no need in going too much into the plots of the books, you've either read them, or watched the films... or both. Most likely multiple times... if you're like my wife Bev, it's on a loop of audiobook, book and film. That reminds me, we haven't watched the films in ages! Maybe we should soon.

The characters were, as I expected reassuringly familiar and comforting. It was just like coming home after a long hard day. Just what I need right now. I was immediately transported into the magical world of Hogwarts.

What I love most about Harry Potter is how easy it is to paint a picture in your head of what's happening. Obviously the films have some impact on this, but there's obviously so much that didn't make it into the films, that ones imagination is allowed to take over. I did find myself smiling to myself as I read iconic lines from the films, hearing the actors voices in my head as I read it. I challenge anyone not to read Filch's lines in the iconic voice of David Bradley, or of course Snape's lines in the dulcet tones of Alan Rickman.

The writing in the first book isn't as good as it could be, however this was JK Rowling's very first books. Like with a good cheese, they get better in time, as the author develops their own style and grows in confidence.

One thing that I did find, was that bits from the films that have fairly long scenes, in reality in the books, are fairly short sections. I found myself stunned at how fast the book moved through these scenes. For example in Chamber of Secrets when they follow the Spiders. This is a very short part of the book, yet in the film it is a fairly sizeable chunk. For such a crucial moment, I was surprised again, at how quickly it passed.

For me, at least, the books are timeless. They are still as good as the second time I picked them up (the first time, as I said above, I didn't want to read them, so I put them down). There are faults that I could find with it, but why should I? They were, and always will be, one of my favourite series of books.

I'm not going to read them all at once, I'm going to drip feed the series to myself over the course of the year. Purely so that when I am struggling through a particularly hard book, I have something I know I can come back to that is a nice easy read! I know that no matter how hard I will struggle, that Hogwarts will always be there to welcome me with open arms.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: 2.5cm

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: 3cm

Total read so far: 10 books, 25cm

168cm left!