Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (1997) It's kind of shocking to realize the first Harry Potter book came out 23 years ago—it feels like a very recent thing to me. But then, 1997 feels like just yesterday to me, as well. Because these books were such a big thing, and are such a big part of our culture, I felt like I should read one. If I loved it, maybe I'd read them all, since I'm someone who reads children's books regularly, anyway. I enjoyed this book for the most part, since it's a forward-moving, exciting story, and there are some pretty odd details here and there. But I don't think I'll read more—for one thing, there are seven books—and it seems like they all get longer, too! It's no surprise to me that the book is well-written, and the characters are well-drawn, etc.—I expected that. I was thinking I might find some clue within that points to such an immense popularity, but I can't find it. I'm sure there are countless things written about that, somewhere, but in a way, I'm not sure if I really care, because that would be similar to trying to figure out the why the immense popularity of all the immensely popular books—as well as movies, music, etc.—that have little if any appeal to me. I mean, at least I thought this book was entertaining. A lot of popular stuff I find to be garbage. My major problem with Harry Potter has to do with subject matter—I'm just not interested at all in the entire realm of “wizards”—which includes all the wizard books and movies ever made. Unless someone can convince me that there are actual, real wizards in the world (I'm sure that many people do believe this), whenever I come across a wizard story, I just keep flipping the channel. In a more general way of looking at it, I'm not that interested in “fantasy.” A lot of people love fantasy, and sometimes I wonder why I don't. Is it that they just have a more visceral connection to the metaphorical side of fantasy stories—where someone like me can see it, but not feel it? Or maybe there is something else—say how some people are easily bored by the commonplace, while I'm enchanted by it. I'm not saying one way of looking at things is better than the other, but there sure is a difference! As a final, positive, note, here's a quote I wrote down, from the end of story pretty much, that I like a lot—this is said by Dumbledore, about the scary, evil wizard, who previously, people refused to even name: “Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” I feel like that is kind of the heart of the whole thing, ultimately—it's a strong and important idea. I do kind of wonder if that idea is explored in further books. Anyway, if that's a message that gets through to kids (or anyone) reading this book, that's a good thing.