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A review by celia_thebookishhufflepuff
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
5.0
Review 1/20/25
Over the past year I've (re)found a community in the Harry Potter fandom. I've met people who truly stay with the books and for whom the books inspire to create. Even more than that, I've found people who are using their passion for these stories to fight back against the bigotry of the author and beyond.
Harry Potter will always stick with me, but this year, I got into wizard rock and the LeakyCon community. The community proposed a Harry Potter chapter-by-chapter reread book club, and I was excited. I've never actually discussed the books with people in real time before. As much as I've always loved Harry Potter, I've never realized how social a love it could be.
Through this reread, we asked so many questions I'd never thought to ask. What did the author have planned out from day one, and what did she change that didn't quite make sense? Were Harry and Ron really friends with Hermione, or was it a situationship? Did Hogwarts go beyond year five in JKR's original plan? I had so many amazing discussions, fueled in part by the podcasts I decided to listen to concurrently. I started listening to Alohomora by [a:Mugglenet.com|19481253|Mugglenet.com|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], one of the oldest and longest-running Harry Potter chapter reread podcasts, as well as Harry Potter After 2020 by [a:Lorrie Kim|15401188|Lorrie Kim|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1467169371p2/15401188.jpg] and JC, one of the newest. This one I was super excited for because I met Kim at last year's LeakyCon and heard her do a talk on Harry Potter attitudes after 2020 . This podcast looks at Harry Potter chapter-by-chapter through a lens of what we know now about the author and the attitudes that prevailed in the 90s versus now.
It was fascinating to read these alongside these podcasts and realize so many different interpretations of everything. I'm looking forward to continuing with Chamber of Secrets the same way!
---------------------------------
Review 4/9/20
A few years ago, I thought that the only way for me to re-experience the Harry Potter series was through reading and writing fanfiction, especially Hogwarts era crossovers in the Percy Jackson universe. I don't remember if I even attempted a full series reread in all of high school, because I was working so hard on my fanfiction. I'm really glad I decided to do a full series reread this time around, though. Apparently, it takes a pandemic to force myself to "comfort read" these days.
I didn't expect I would get anything new out of the story this reread. After all, how can you get anything new out of a story you've read so many times some of the pages started falling out of your books, the spines are bent, and you've had to replace some of the secondhand ones already?
But what I needed right now, as an elementary education student and future teacher, and as a new adult struggling with adult things for the first time, was something that would take me back to my childhood.
I'd never fully appreciated that eight year old Harry actually believed he had ended up on the roof of his school because the wind picked him up, or why he never saw he could ask for help from teachers and adults around him. I'd always wondered why he never questioned any of the things that were happening to him. I'd stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was eight, a few months before I picked up [b:Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone|3|Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)|J.K. Rowling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1474154022l/3._SY75_.jpg|4640799] for the first time, and I kind of had this expectation that everyone else experienced this loss of belief magic at the same time, and then would start reading this kind of thing.
I can't believe it's taken me 10+ years and 3-4 education classes to realize what I never saw before about the series. I'm really happy I'm seeing it this way now, though, and I plan to continue looking for various examples of pure childhood innocence and the loss thereof in this series.
One other way I'm experiencing the series differently is reading it half in audio, half paperback (because I was impatient and didn't want to read it all through the audio versions, because I usually only do that when I'm walking/exercising, and I needed something else to do). Anyway, I found that experience to be very interesting and different as well. I especially loved listening the Halloween chapter where they finally become friends with Hermione. This is one of my favorite chapters, and to hear [a:Jim Dale|5446186|Jim Dale|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] read it truly was like experiencing the magic for the first time all over again.
I am so excited to continue re-experiencing this amazing series.
Over the past year I've (re)found a community in the Harry Potter fandom. I've met people who truly stay with the books and for whom the books inspire to create. Even more than that, I've found people who are using their passion for these stories to fight back against the bigotry of the author and beyond.
Harry Potter will always stick with me, but this year, I got into wizard rock and the LeakyCon community. The community proposed a Harry Potter chapter-by-chapter reread book club, and I was excited. I've never actually discussed the books with people in real time before. As much as I've always loved Harry Potter, I've never realized how social a love it could be.
Through this reread, we asked so many questions I'd never thought to ask. What did the author have planned out from day one, and what did she change that didn't quite make sense? Were Harry and Ron really friends with Hermione, or was it a situationship? Did Hogwarts go beyond year five in JKR's original plan? I had so many amazing discussions, fueled in part by the podcasts I decided to listen to concurrently. I started listening to Alohomora by [a:Mugglenet.com|19481253|Mugglenet.com|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], one of the oldest and longest-running Harry Potter chapter reread podcasts, as well as Harry Potter After 2020 by [a:Lorrie Kim|15401188|Lorrie Kim|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1467169371p2/15401188.jpg] and JC, one of the newest. This one I was super excited for because I met Kim at last year's LeakyCon and heard her do a talk on Harry Potter attitudes after 2020 . This podcast looks at Harry Potter chapter-by-chapter through a lens of what we know now about the author and the attitudes that prevailed in the 90s versus now.
It was fascinating to read these alongside these podcasts and realize so many different interpretations of everything. I'm looking forward to continuing with Chamber of Secrets the same way!
---------------------------------
Review 4/9/20
A few years ago, I thought that the only way for me to re-experience the Harry Potter series was through reading and writing fanfiction, especially Hogwarts era crossovers in the Percy Jackson universe. I don't remember if I even attempted a full series reread in all of high school, because I was working so hard on my fanfiction. I'm really glad I decided to do a full series reread this time around, though. Apparently, it takes a pandemic to force myself to "comfort read" these days.
I didn't expect I would get anything new out of the story this reread. After all, how can you get anything new out of a story you've read so many times some of the pages started falling out of your books, the spines are bent, and you've had to replace some of the secondhand ones already?
But what I needed right now, as an elementary education student and future teacher, and as a new adult struggling with adult things for the first time, was something that would take me back to my childhood.
I'd never fully appreciated that eight year old Harry actually believed he had ended up on the roof of his school because the wind picked him up, or why he never saw he could ask for help from teachers and adults around him. I'd always wondered why he never questioned any of the things that were happening to him. I'd stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was eight, a few months before I picked up [b:Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone|3|Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)|J.K. Rowling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1474154022l/3._SY75_.jpg|4640799] for the first time, and I kind of had this expectation that everyone else experienced this loss of belief magic at the same time, and then would start reading this kind of thing.
I can't believe it's taken me 10+ years and 3-4 education classes to realize what I never saw before about the series. I'm really happy I'm seeing it this way now, though, and I plan to continue looking for various examples of pure childhood innocence and the loss thereof in this series.
One other way I'm experiencing the series differently is reading it half in audio, half paperback (because I was impatient and didn't want to read it all through the audio versions, because I usually only do that when I'm walking/exercising, and I needed something else to do). Anyway, I found that experience to be very interesting and different as well. I especially loved listening the Halloween chapter where they finally become friends with Hermione. This is one of my favorite chapters, and to hear [a:Jim Dale|5446186|Jim Dale|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] read it truly was like experiencing the magic for the first time all over again.
I am so excited to continue re-experiencing this amazing series.