MY REVIEW OF "HARRY POTTER", AND THE "SPIRITUAL" GENRE.

When I received my own copy of the first Harry Potter book, it was from a long-time friend of mine who had read it previously; from her following review of the book, I was merely curious myself, while at the same time I was in the mood for something different. My, was I ever right; not only did I become engrossed in the level of pages that each chapter had, but I quickly saw myself staying up until 1:00 in the morning reading! My dad was skeptical like most parents regarding the whole "witchcraft" thing, but otherwise and and my mum were very enthusiastic that I had taken up a healthy mental diet of reading (something I had loved to do to begin with, but did not do quite as often). I think what really caused me to become swallowed up in the Harry Potter stories was not just the lively characters and the overall originality of the story, but also the way J.K Rowling wrote the book; she never held back from her descriptions (no matter how scary of grotesque), and she took character thoughts to a different level by allowing them to be level with what the average person in that situation might think, thus creating an early and lasting bond between the reader and her tale.

The Spiritual genre is a part of literature that I have always been interested in, but not as enthusiastic about as I am with Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror. (248) Mostly its because I didn't know what to read regarding "spiritual" and what that meant, or if it was all just based around religion or the criticism of religion. Likewise, I think too many readers/writers take this too seriously and tend to think/write things that would otherwise offend rather then open peoples' minds to other possibilities, or maybe try and bridge the gaps with similarities, through interesting storylines and characters. In the meantime, I think the general public would be wise to be thanking J.K Rowling for her book. because she got kids of all ages to do something that their parents and schools have been struggling and failing to do for ages: getting kids to read.