Well folks, it has finally happened. When I finished the last book I read, Labor Day, I looked at my 2014 reading goals and saw that I was still pretty behind on my 94-book challenge reading. So I took a gander at my bookshelves and young Harry Potter jumped out at me. Having the Harry Potter series on my 94-book list for the last year has felt a little bit like Mitch Hedburg trying to decide whether he should put a beret on in the morning: is today the time? Is this the day when I finally jump in and join the ranks of many who have gone before me and experienced what I haven't? Well last week was that time. I started reading Harry Potter, ya'll.
I'll spare you a lengthy plot summary, but here's the basic premise: 11-year-old Harry has been living with his awful aunt, uncle, and cousin for the majority of his life since his parents died tragically. A strange giant man shows up one night, though, with some interesting information for young Harry that changes his life. Harry's parents did not die in a car accident all those years ago but instead at the hands of an evil wizard who may or may not still be roaming the countryside...and Harry is also a wizard destined for an education at the prestigious Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry follows his new friend Hagrid (who is really just the best, isn't he?) to Hogwarts, where he spends his first year making wonderful new friends, annoying new enemies, and solving a mystery or two.
I realize I'm just shy of ten years too late and pretty much everyone knows this already, but this book is good. It's real good. It's an introduction, and it has the unfortunate task of laying the foundation of the plot for the entire series, but it's still good. J.K. Rowling does such a great job introducing all the characters, describing the school, and even providing one heck of a surprise ending. I legitimately enjoyed this book, even knowing that it was really just the introduction and that all the really good stuff was to come. I should also do my due diligence and mention that, as a huge Percy Jackson fan, there's a whole lot of the first Percy book that sounds just like this first Harry Potter book. Like...a lot. And even though I read Percy first, I acknowledge that Harry came much, much sooner. And therefore wins. Shame on you, Rick Riordan.
The one bummer in all of this, though, is that part of why I chose good ol' Harry to start reading is because I had only read 12 out of the 20 books I'd wanted to read this year on my 94-book list, and I figured knocking 7 out back to back would be helpful. But then I remembered, when I was about halfway through Sorcerer's Stone, that I only actually own the first three books in the series. Only the first three books are on my 94-book list, guys. What a bummer. But three is better than none, and the other four will bump me over my non-94-book list goal, so I guess it all works out. (Might all be irrelevant anyway, since who on earth knows whether I'll pick up a book the rest of the year after Baby is born...).
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