I remember my (now) husband driving me to our closest supermarket on our way home from a night out just so that I could grab a copy, which I promptly devoured and finished before the sun came up. Those queues were full of people of all ages, hoping to get their hands on a copy for themselves. Those people queuing at midnight for the release of the next book weren’t just parents hoping to please their children when they woke up. However, Harry Potter achieved something else…it wasn’t only children wanting to read her novels full of witchcraft and wizardry. Rowling found herself securely placed amongst the greats of children fiction: Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl to name just a couple. For the publishing world, for children fiction, for fans across the world, Harry Potter has proved to be a life changing experience.

So it has been 20 years since this book first hit the shelves and what a 20 years it’s been! I wrote a little blog (see here) back in June on the anniversary of this novel being published, and it made me realise that it has been too long since I have read this series. An incredible adventure is about to begin!’ (Thanks Amazon!) Then, on Harry’s eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. ‘Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. So book number 37 in my Goodreads Reading Challenge (and book number 5 of my holiday reads) is the wonderful Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by J.K.

Fix Me by Lisa M. Cronkhite