- Man vs Bookshelf: Introduction
- Man vs Bookshelf: Horowitz Horror
- Man vs Bookshelf: Lisey’s Story
- Man vs Bookshelf: Devil May Care
- Man vs Bookshelf: Big Little Lies
- Man vs Bookshelf: Good Omens
- Man vs Bookshelf: Grandpa’s Great Escape
- Man vs Bookshelf: Clough: The Autobiography
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Cuckoo’s Calling
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Escape
- Man vs Bookshelf: I Am Legend
- Man vs Bookshelf: Confessions of a Sociopath
- Man vs Bookshelf: Silence
- Man vs Bookshelf: Six Years
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Thin Executioner
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Entrepreneur’s Book of Checklists
- Man vs Bookshelf: John Dies at the End
- Man vs Bookshelf: Harry Potter and the case of the Duplicates
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (series)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Ayoade on Ayoade
- Man vs Bookshelf: Junk
- Man vs Bookshelf: Bobby Moore
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Hard Way
- Man vs Bookshelf: 102 days down (+ Freakonomics)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Dirk Gently (1 & 2)
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Clifton Chronicles (1 & 2)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Twitterature
- Man vs Bookshelf: Pele
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Collector
- Man vs Bookshelf: Cirque Du Freak
- Man vs Bookshelf: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Scripts
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Hobbit
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Lord of the Rings
- Man vs Bookshelf: Odd Thomas (1-3)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Harry Redknapp
- Man vs Bookshelf: Motivation and Doctor Who
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Killing Floor
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Dark Tower
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Moaning of Life
- Man vs Bookshelf: Will You Manage?
- Man vs Bookshelf: Creative Writing
- Man vs Bookshelf: Quantum of Solace
- Man vs Bookshelf: The City Trilogy
- Man vs Bookshelf: Horowitz’s Holmes
- Man vs Bookshelf: Forever Young
- Man vs Bookshelf: Drive
- Man vs Bookshelf: Story
- Man vs Bookshelf: Whatever You Say I Am
- Man vs Bookshelf: Football Manager Stole My Life
- Man vs Bookshelf: Red Dragon
- Man vs Bookshelf: Business Stripped Bare
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Damned UTD
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Gold Standard – Rules to Rule By
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
- Man vs Bookshelf: Am I Proud?
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Black Angel
- Man vs Bookshelf: Stress and Soccernomics
- Man vs Bookshelf: A Spot of Bother
- Man vs Bookshelf: Word Count & The Good Guy
- Man vs Bookshelf: Amazon Recommendations and Noughts and Crosses
- Man vs Bookshelf: More Word Count and Mother Tongue
- Man vs Bookshelf: Cardio Sucks
- Man vs Bookshelf: Thanks for Nothing
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Finish Line & The Bachman Books
- Man vs Bookshelf: Book 100 & Extraordinary People
- Man vs Bookshelf: Arsenal & MotD
- Man vs Bookshelf: Kevin Master of the Universe
- Man vs Bookshelf: Inbound Marketing
- Man vs Bookshelf: Goosebumps Collection 13
- Man vs Bookshelf: 1001 Days that Shaped the World
- Man vs Bookshelf: Dexter 1-3
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Inbetweeners
- Man vs Bookshelf: Manuscript Makeover
- Man vs Bookshelf: How to Think like Steve Jobs
- Man vs Bookshelf: Harlen Coben
- Man vs Bookshelf: One year, three weeks and Simon Pegg
- Man vs Bookshelf: Jonothon Fairfax
- Man vs Bookshelf: Nolan’s Batman
- Man vs Bookshelf: Discworld (1-5)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Diamond Brothers
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Point
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Demonata
- Man vs Bookshelf: Awkward Situations for Men
- Man vs Bookshelf: Peep Show
There are plenty of books on my shelves a lot of people won’t know.
This, I guess, will not be one of them.
Let’s be honest, at this point Harry Potter is bigger than Jesus.
Maybe even bigger than the Beatles.
People are mad on the bugger, despite the fact he’s not the most compelling protagonist going. (Harry Potter that is, not Jesus)
Certainly not as exciting as Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, so where’s his theme park?
Okay, I suppose it wouldn’t be easy to make a ride about murdering prostitutes, and there may be some legal issues…
He’s also not all that kid-friendly.
But still.
What I’m saying is you all know about Harry Potter, and you’ve all made your mind up how you feel about him.
So, what’s the point in me doing a review?
None.
Still, now we’re here, there’s plenty to discuss.
So, settle in, and let’s talk about an aspect of this challenge that’ll make most think I’m insane.
Sound good?
The Nature of this Challenge
When I decided to do this challenge it was to get every book on my bookshelf read with no exceptions.
See, I put no exceptions in bold, so you know it’s serious.
That’ll be important later.
However, there were some exceptions.
These 12 exceptions outside of the no exceptions (shut up, it does make sense. They’re the exceptions that prove the rule, ha!) were the books on my bookshelf I had read in the couple of months before starting the challenge.
But that was it.
Other than those 12.
No exceptions.
That meant I would read business books, like this one, script books, and even the tome 1001 Days that Shaped the World.
Plus, duplicates.
That’s right.
Duplicates.
Should that be in bold?
Duplicates.
Now, if you’re not wondering why you’re reading this rather than doing something important. Say, catching up on Peaky Blinders (which you must do.) Then you’re probably wondering why anyone would make a habit of keeping multiple copies of the same book.
Well, I don’t make a habit of it, of course.
But, I do have three copies of one book.
You can probably guess which.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Why? Well, it’s not that weird.
Only quite weird.
The first copy is the copy I first got (duh). It’s the old design from when the books were first released, and it makes up part of a set of seven (see pic).
The second, the copy I read this time, is a hardback version with fake J.K. Rowling signature inside and out (see the banner at the top of the page for that one)
And when I say fake, I mean it’s a printed copy of her actual signature. Not that my dad faked her signature because obviously, he didn’t do that.
I hope.
Finally, there is the twentieth-anniversary edition of Philosopher’s Stone (see pic). This copy my girlfriend bought me so she could buy both the Slitherine and Gryffindor versions without feeling like a super nerd.
Totally worked.
Okay, by now you’re thinking – if you’re not already enjoying the first episode of Peaky Blinders – “wait, you’re not really going to read three copies of the same book for this bloody challenge are you?”
And to this I say, you obviously weren’t paying much attention above, were you?
No exceptions.
But also, no.
As luck would have it, the twentieth-anniversary edition of Philosopher’s Stone comes under the 12 books exempt from the challenge.
As for the other two. Yes, I bloody well am going to read both.
You have to remember this is a four-year challenge, end to end, and I’ve just knocked off the first of the two early on.
It could be a couple of years before I pick it up again and I know some people who read the whole Harry Potter series of Harry a couple of times a year.
So, when you think about it, not that weird.
So, um, are you actually going to review this thing, or what?
Short answer.
No.
Long answer.
Yes, eventually.
Like I say, it’s going to be silly to review Harry Potter in the same way I review a lot of my books because it’s so ingrained in the public conscience. Everyone’s already made their minds up about it, so I’m not going to waste my time or yours.
Well, unless you count reading the above as a complete waste of time.
Which you should.
But, beyond that, here’s what’s going to happen.
There will be no review today. When it comes to picking up the Harry Potter series again someway down the line, I will do a joint review then.
I’m already having lots of thoughts about the things I want to write about. Things beyond the ordinary review type stuff.
So, look forward to that.
But for now, no review for you…
Next Up
At the time of writing, I have read four out of five of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.
So, next time out expect a joint review of all five of those.
That’s right, five in one.
Should be enough to make up for no review here, right?
No?
Well, sod you then.
Until next time.
Latest posts by Mark Ayre (see all)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Peep Show - 09/02/2019
- Man vs Bookshelf: Awkward Situations for Men - 02/02/2019
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Demonata - 26/01/2019
One thought on “Man vs Bookshelf: Harry Potter and the case of the Duplicates”
Thank you for this great book review. I really love the way you write.After i found your review i started searching and found the book on http://www.goreadabook.org/book/1037193578/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-enhanced-edition . Now i almost finished the book and i I must say Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is a great book and everyone should read it. Not sure if i can to paste a link(forgive me if not) but anyway the book is awesome and also your book review.