Magic at Hogwarts with Harry Potter

        I have mentioned in the previous post that one of my favorite audiobooks is Harry Potter read by fenomenal Stephen Fry.

I totally missed Harry Potter mania, because I started listening to the books maybe two years ago. I remember, however, seeing the news showing people queuing in front of bookshops when the new part was comming out. I was amazed to see kids, young adults and adults who would wait many hours to buy the next part depicting the most famous wizard of our times. It made be somehow hopeful that reading didn't die out, that there are still people who want to read, and what's more there are kids who want to give up TV or computer games to sit and read an ordinary book :)

I love the series for many reasons.

There are a lot of new ideas in the book but also a lot of old things. We have trolls, ghosts, vampires and werewolves neatly mixed with Parseltongues, the Sorting Hat and Horcruxes. Although, some accuse Rowling of not being very inventive, I think that she combined "the new and the old" very neatly, creating  a new quality.

The book is written very nicely and the language and style are very good considering that Harry is Rowling's first creation. It is plain to me that she simply had no choice but to write this story. And that she had this book in her for a very long time.

I admire the story line. It looks like very carefully planned with all the details and events coming out at a precise moment. Every character has its "five minutes", every detail counts and is very often explored later in the story. It creates a sense of connection and a flow in the book. Like in real life where all we do have a reason and consequences.

The characters are fantastic. We have those to dislike - like Pansy Parkinson and those to like - for example Hermione Granger. There are characters we cannot make our minds about - like Draco Malfoy and characters we have to change opinions about - Severus Snape. In between we have funny characters (George and Fred), sad characters (Moaning Myrtle) and annoying characters (Argus Filch, Peeves), and many, many more. Everyone can find someone to relate to :)

Finally, the story is about the fight of good and evil. We can understand it in a big picture, but I like to see it as an internal struggle. Each character in the book, and each one of us in real life, sooner or later have to make a decision "easy way or difficult". We, like Harry, face problems and have to fight against them. We, as Harry, have doubts, moments of weakness, but also moments of happiness. And when the time comes we as well have to make a decision to be a positive or a negative hero :)

All aboard :)