Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Here I am reading Harry Potter again, gosh. I came into the series reluctantly at 12 (around the time 'Prisoner of Azkaban' came out) thinking I was too old to read a silly book about a dorky kid on a broomstick.
Little did I know. This is my first full reread of the series since 'Deathly Hallows' came out, and I am just as pleased with it now as I was then.
Rowling wrote the ultimate escapist fantasy, where kids who feel like they don't belong can be suddenly whisked off to a nonsensical wizarding world with wands and owl post and bastardized latin spells. I loved it. I love it still. Rowling began to expand her universe and make it more complex and "grown-up" with each book, something that I've only really seen Susan Cooper do unintentionally with her 'Dark is Rising' sequence and definitely with Terry Pratchett's 'Tiffany Aching' books -- I don't think anymore that he was following Rowlings' lead, Pratchett has always aged his characters in "real time" from book to book, he likely saw no reason to not do so in his children's books.
It's a risky gambit of Rowling's but one that helped cement Harry Potter into the imaginations (and hearts) of us lucky readers who grew up with the books. It was amazing, I can only compare it with something like 'Lost'. I was sucked into the show, it's mythology, everything, as it spooled out over six seasons. Then it ended and I saw how limited it all was. Once it stopped "growing" the magic went away I guess...the existence of Pottermore makes me suspect that Rowling feels the same way.
As of writing this I've already finished rereading up to halfway through Goblet of Fire and yeah, definite cracks that appeared in Rowlings' wizarding world's logic just keep getting bigger, but it's a FANTASY series for KIDS. I know we all have a lot of investment in these books but, come on people, reading these books is a case of willing suspension of disbelief. I'm not going to bother pointing out how ridiculous most of the rules of magical people are in future reviews. Even if I am seriously disturbed that there are apparently no English or math lessons, etc. past the age of 11. Arithmancy does not count.
Harry Potter
