Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, Book 2) Paperback – May 2, 2023

Why are so many people wild about Harry?I have a fascination with the thought of teaching at Hogwarts though notice they do not seem to have a philosophy course in the curriculum! Over the last year or so I have read the Harry Potter Books and watched the movies. I listen to the music on the soundtrack CDs while working. It sets a nice mood for me. Why?There has been a flurry of writing over the issue of why Potter has been such a hot item. Why do children like to read the books? We have their quotes to read over and think about. Some declare reading them has pulled them away from the abyss and toward success. Adults ponder these issues and offer various reasons why they think they have been so popular with children. Better, they also ponder why the books have been popular with adults as well. Notice that Lady JKR says she wrote the books for herself, because she liked them.Some have detailed the perfect fit the stories have with the trends in political and economic aspects of British or American society. Others have described the wonderful use the plots make of classic templates that always win hearts and imaginations. Harry is Jesus made flesh. Those who see a satanic cultus have been pretty much laughed out of town or they live in towns most laugh at.We also have the interplay with public relations and the media. Lady JKR received good PR even prior to the first publication of HPP/SS. The news media were interested in the poor single mother making good. It was like magic. Scholastic bid high for the rights in America and that meant a burden was on them to produce fans. They did a good job. But of course, the book was good in its own right. The movie stuck to the text, so to speak. One thing AOL did right. The kids would have been disappointed otherwise. Now when we read we picture things according to the film for better or worse. Frankly, I could never have imagined the delivery of lines such as, "It does not do Harry to dwell on dreams and forget to live." as well as Richard Harris did. Bless him. The irony of it hurts, but it sounds like good advice and one reason to dwell on someone else's dream when it delivers such wonderful insights.With so many enjoying the books each for their own reasons, it makes little sense to think there is a peculiarly important reason why the books have enjoyed the overwhelming success they have. There are lots of reasons.I do not want the story to stop. It bugged me that I had to wait until June to see the last movie and even longer to find out what happens to Harry next. Book 6 is scheduled to come out July 16, 2005 and my order for it is already placed. But I know I have to be patient. I don't want JKR to feel rushed. I want her to do the job right all the way to the word "scar."When I received my order for HPCS, as a side note, I puzzled over this recent development of ordering things before they are published. I have had outstanding orders for about four of five things that have not come out yet. This never used to be the case, at least for me. So this is some new kind of economic development in its own right. I suspect computers had something to do with this. And credit.I would love to teach at Hogwarts. Imagine! Students studying. Reading assignments and papers done. Students working at the library. (I seriously think Snape is the best teacher there). Reading books after class on school grounds. Students getting along well in their own houses at least. Competition between houses is a good stressor. Teachers get to teach what they consider important and they don't have to worry so much about their popularity. They can be as strict as they want. In fact, if they are not good enough or strict enough they can lose their positions!No more casual clothes. Discipline is the order of the day. All you need to do is deduct points or give detentions, even if those are no longer hanging by the thumbs in the dungeons; they are amazingly effective at Hogwarts. Students really behave. School spirit is great. The school spirits are interesting as well.The classrooms look like the pits - well, dungeons at least. At least they are not temporary or make shift! And if they are drafty? Except maybe divination class where it is warm on purpose. Students have sweaters and robes to keep them warm. Cooler is always better for staying awake anyway. Heck, even dead teachers can keep going in a school like this! (See professor Bins in the books.)No Internet. Heck, no eklectricity at all in fact. But instead of instant messaging there are instant owls. No spam, though there are occasionally howlers. You never have to find someone's address even if they are hiding from everyone. Owls know where they are. Imagine the possibilities! Message to Osama? Better use a timer if you want your owl back. How would that work?But I think the reason I would want to teach there is not just the castle and its peculiarities. It's the quality of the students. They are smart and interested. They are the kinds of kids we really want. Is this different than the ones we really have? They come to school reasonably prepared even if some of their wands are defective. There is still the pressure on those who would over indulge in intellectualosity-- maybe I should use the word "lucubrations". "This is light?" "How can you be behind in your school work? We are on vacation!" "She's a nightmare. No wonder she doesn't have any friends." But that sort of thing is resolved. "Thank goodness. Hermione pays attention in Herbology." What could be more rewarding than being her teacher?I do miss the fine arts. History taught by a dead teacher is not the best critical thinking course. Would critical thinking be out of place in Hogwarts? Not likely. Maybe there is a place for philosophy? At least in Britain.Well, no tickling sleeping dragons.

A classic! Never gets old.I love a good reread. The Harry Potter series never disappoints! Perfect reread heading into autumn.I particularly love this series because I love reading from the kids’ points of views. The way they see and interpret the world around them is always so funny and charming!

I'm so glad that I decided to re-read these books right now. Because oh, how I am loving them. Reading this book again was a lot of fun. And I loved it so much. Harry is amazing. The Weasleys are so adorable. I love Ron and Hermione. I love the school. I love Hagrid. Just, I have so much love for this book.I like how every book in this series is about one year at Hogwarts. Harry must spend every summer with the Dursleys. And oh my god. I can't stand them. I really can't. They are so awful towards him. They never get him anything. And they are cruel, in a way. Did not like the small part of them in this book.There is so much to love about Chamber of Secrets. The writing is gorgeous. I liked it more in this than I did in the first one. This book is special to me. I loved reading about Harry and all his problems. Things aren't going very well for him. He is getting blamed for just about everything, and I must admit to loving that, hah. There was this new teacher in this one. And oh, how he annoyed me. How he annoyed Harry. And it was so much fun to read about. This book is awesome. And not nearly as dark as the books that are coming up.. sigh. Yet still a bit heartbreaking, even so. The writing is lovely. The characters are all perfection to read about. The plot is awesome. All of it is so. I'm so happy that I loved re-reading this gorgeous book.So much is happening in this one. I don't think I will describe much of it. But I have some thoughts to share. I adore the friendship between Harry and Ron and Hermione. It is stunning to read about. Though I also feel like we don't get to see nearly enough of it, and that makes me a bit sad. Hmph. But I'm okay. Probably. Because there is so much amazing happening at all times. I like reading about Harry's sort of hate relationship with Draco. It's awesome. I don't fully hate this boy. He's a bully, but not the worst one.I also liked reading about the sport in this book. How awesome Harry is at it. How great he is at flying. I'm all kinds of jealous, though, as I have always wanted to fly. I still adore reading about the different classes in these books. Though not too much about it, so I didn't get tired of it. I keep thinking that I don't see how people could love Snape after book seven, but so far I don't hate him at all. He just seems a bit grumpy, maybe. But yeah. Not liking him much either, to tell the truth. He is interesting, though.The plot in this book is all kinds of exciting. I loved the mystery about the Chamber of Secrets. About who was turning so many people almost into stone. About the whispering that only Harry could hear. About that annoying Dobby, and all the awful but meant in a good way things he did. I loved reading about the different creatures in this one. Huge spiders. Shudders. Those were awesome. And huge snake. And just, yeah. It was a lot of fun to read about and I can't seem to say much more than that :)I wish there were tons of things I could say about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. But my mind seems empty. Probably because this book is so awesome that I have no negative things to talk about, hah :) So my review is a lot shorter than usual. But that's okay. I just wanted to share about how much I adored re-reading this book. And how happy I am that I did this right now. You all need to read the Harry Potter books. If you have only read book one, you should know that this one is even better. It's so good.

Love re reading these books, I recommend anyone who enjoyed them growing up do the same. Going to work through the series.

I read these books multiple times when I was a child and now in my 30’s have decided to begin reading them all over again. It was good but why did it end so fast? There was no talk when they finally left hogwarts and were boarding the train. It seems like the author rushed the ending and just wanted to be done? Other than that, the story and plot is flawlessly built up to a grand climax, which brings about an intensity and danger to what Harry is having to face. Of of all the books, this and the Prisoner of Azkaban build the plot beautifully so that when you do reach the climax it is very much everything you could hope for.

Another one in my collection, excellent product