"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

My rating: 5 out of 5
Where the book came from: audio book checked out of local library

My thoughts:
I'm not going to bother with a synopsis for this one since by this point most people have either read the book, seen the movie, or both. This was not my first time reading it, or even second time, but it was my first time listening to it. To avoid fights in the car we always have a book going even for short trips. This was the first time my children had heard this book. After listening we watched the movie again and it was great to see the differences they saw and what they noticed being left out. It really helped reinforce the idea that often times the book is more detailed and interesting than the movie since it doesn't have to fit into a certain amount of time.

There were details I had forgotten since my last reading of this novel and things I looked at differently based on the ultimate outcomes through the series. One of the things I really noticed were details in how Professor Snape treated Harry and acted towards him due to revelations about his feelings for Lily Potter. Seeing that he loved her and hated James I would have thought that his love for Lily would have won out and made him more protective of Harry than he was. That said, while writing this as the first book in the series Rowling may not have made the decision for that love to exist in the future. She never contradicted herself, but it was something I wondered about when reading one of the later books.

My children all really enjoyed this one. At some point I would like to read it with them again from our copy of the book, but I have to say that I am now loving audio books. I haven't listened to one for adults in years, but even the ones for children's chapter books are fun to listen to. i recommend them to anyone going on long trips with their kids or with kids who tend to fight when forced to sit next to each other for prolonged periods of time. Check out you library. Often they have great selections.