Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
J.K. Rowling
Bloomsbury. First published 1997
Obviously this is not the first time I am reading this book. Gauri worked her way through six of the seven books of the series over a period of about 10 days a couple of weeks ago (for maybe the fifth time - and the seventh book was not included only because we don't have it here - I wonder where it has gone, after all the fuss getting it). That has inspired me to go through the series again.
The book has aged very well. All the hype came later, and even in this reading, this book retains the freshness and sweetness that came before. And this despite all the deliberately designed tropes of children's books from England - an orphan hero, hidden brilliance suddenly revealed, public school life including fierce inter-house rivalry, a game (like football or cricket). We have seen this in Enid Blyton, in Frank Richards, in P.G. Wodehouse (his early books) and even in Anthony Buckeridge. J.K. Rowling, of course added her own very clever flavours to this and served up a delicious story, for kids of 6 as well as old people of 60. I look forward to going through the rest of the series in the next few weeks.
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