Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I have finally gotten around to reading this book, JK Rowling's first Harry Potter novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, even after seeing the film about 100 times. The book is much, much better than the movie, and I enjoyed picking out the ways in which the novel differs from the movie and seeing how much of an improvement each change is. For example, having Neville go with Hermione and Harry into the Forbidden Forest instead of Ron makes for a much more interesting, dynamic scene than the one in the movie, with its focus on the three main "stars." I love the satire embedded in the portrayal of the Dursleys -- "normal" people whose main concern is appearing normal and accumulating things, rather than on treating people kindly. We so often lose sight of what's important when those concerns creep up on us. The magical world is better when imagined, rather than seen, so I hope I can get caught up on the book series before the next movie comes out. I will see the movies, because I'm curious about the whole process of turning a book into a movie, but my expectations are much higher for the final installment of the books, due out in July.