Beth reads...Harry Potter

A couple of days ago, I decided that in addition to Forsyth, Christie and Archer, I should really try a different literary genre.

So I betook myself to the Junior Fiction section and found - to my delight - not one but two Harry Potter books.

The Philosopher's Stone and The Prisoner of Azkaban had been made into movies that we'd seen countless times on telly.

I see now why countless thousands of boys and girls - and no doubt adults - find the books un-put-down-able.

The tales are part Roald Dahl (Miss Trunchbull in Matilda is like Aunt Marge in The Prisoner of Azkaban; Matilda is like Hermione; Harry's awful aunt and uncle are like Mr and Mrs Wormwood in Matilda...) and part Lord of the Rings (doesn't He-who-must-not-be-named remind you of Sauron?).

Anyway, I told Beth about HP and next thing you know, she'd started reading the books.

She finished The Philosopher's Stone and made a start on TPOA...while I was at p100 of the latter!

I got very cross and told her it was very bad manners to borrow someone's book when they hadn't finished.

So I finished TPOA a little quicker than I might have - and Beth got going on it.

We've had some interesting conversations about the books and I enjoyed answering her questions about characters and events.

CA rolled his eyes and thought the whole thing ludicrous.

He's not into books (especially long chapter books), preferring the telly, the newspaper and Age of Empires as his form of relaxation.

Welcome to the world of HP, Beth! :-)