52 Dates #7 - Harry Potter #1

This last date was actually a series of many days where Burke and I would read a chapter or two of good 'ol "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" together each night.  I'm a super fan and he has never read the books, so we decided this was the year to read them together.  One book a month in fact!  On Saturday night we watched the first movie after finishing the book to compare the two - a rare thing for Burke as he has not been a huge reader in the past.  We were both loving how itty bitty the cast was in the first film and miffed by some of the little changes to the script that would have been just as good (if not better) had they kept it in line with the original story.  We also laughed at how Ron's sole purpose in the movie seems to be to shrug his shoulders, purse his lips to the side or make a stupidly surprised look over and over again.  They definitely make him more wimpy in the films.

(Photo credit here)

On a second (or is this my third?) read, I realized what a terrific job J.K. Rowling does at pacing this story.  It would be so easy to get caught up in the details of each aspect of Harry's new world, but she keeps the story constantly moving, which I think is a large part of the reason the series has been so successful.  I particularly loved this time around noticing the morals that the story promotes; courage, friendship, loyalty, and love to name a few.  Dumbledore is a fantastic mentor character, so full of wisdom, especially when he answers Harry's questions at the end, explaining that the sacrifice of his mother had left a pure imprint of love upon him, more powerful than any magic.  I particularly love two of his poignant one-liners, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live" and "To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."  Great words to think on.  I also adore that Neville Longbottom wins the House Cup for Gryffindor by standing up to his friends - such a nice touch.  Looking forward to finishing book #2 this weekend!