Loved rereading it
5 stars
Read it 25 years ago and have to say that it hasn't lost it's magic.
J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen (German language, 2002, Carlsen)
335 pages
German language
Published June 17, 2002 by Carlsen.
Harry Potter #1
When mysterious letters start arriving on his doorstep, Harry Potter has never heard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
They are swiftly confiscated by his aunt and uncle.
Then, on Harry’s eleventh birthday, a strange man bursts in with some important news: Harry Potter is a wizard and has been awarded a place to study at Hogwarts.
And so the first of the Harry Potter adventures is set to begin. ([source][1])
[1]: www.jkrowling.com/book/harry-potter-philosophers-stone/
Read it 25 years ago and have to say that it hasn't lost it's magic.
A great start to what became a great experience reading the series with my wife and oldest daughter over the next three years.
2015 review:
When I first read this book I hated it. I couldn't even finish. But now... I love the Harry Potter series more than anything else (except maybe my family). Thank you J.K. Rowling for writing this masterpiece.
All was well.
Review of French translation in 2021:
While reading this in French for the first time, I found it fascinating to see what could and couldn't be effectively translated. Much of the humour, names etc. are steeped in Britishness which didn't necessarily come through in the translation. That's not to say the translator didn't do a fantastic job, just that there is a lot that isn't able to be translated without losing a bit of the cultural meaning behind it (eg. 'ickle' as in 'ickle Duddykins' or 'ickle firsties is translated to 'petit', which doesn't have the same 'baby talk'/mocking connotations, it just means small.)
Me gusta escuchar español. Yo estudio la idioma.
This was a great book. I bet it would make a million dollars if they made a movie about it!
4 years, and 4 days later and I've finished reading! No Danish isn't quite that hard to read, but it's certainly slower going still, even with a story I know pretty well. Glad I'm reading more again now I have some reading glasses though!
So much magic in these books, and I'm not referring to wand flicks and incantations. The world that JKR has created is just magic in and of itself. Call me silly, but I get teary-eyed when I think of it. Dumbledore especially. I haven't reread the books in a long time, and when I read about him and how ALIVE he was, all sparkly-knowing eyes giving Harry, Hermione and Ron the tools they'd need to do the things that others would say they shouldn't...
I'm not making a lot of sense I know. But I just love these books.
I always wanted to read the books after I saw the movies. I was surprised how much the first book and the movie are the same. There was nothing added to the movie. The book though did have it's differences that made the story enjoyable.
I just re-read this book (February 2013), this time reading it to my seven year old. It's just better with kiddos! She loves it. The movie is also better through a kid's eyes.
I didn't give her any spoilers, and she fully expected Snape to be an agent of Voldemort. As she would think, since the main characters think so too!
Also she thinks that Harry and Hermione might develop a romantic relationship. That's the kind of thing you think when you read 'em for the first time! :)