Summer is for reading old favourites. As a result, it was with the greatest of pleasure that I turned to ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ on my Kindle. Written by J K Rowling, and ostensibly for youngsters, there is something for everyone within its covers.
Take the story of the Mirror of Erised. Harry finds this looking-glass and sees reflected in it his dead parents. It also showed Ron, Harry’s friend, as Head Boy of their school. Hogwarts’ Headmaster explains that this remarkable device shows you the deepest wish in your heart. He counsels Harry to leave the mirror for: ‘It does not do to dwell on your dreams and forget to live’.
However, Joanne Rowling herself ignored Dumbledore’s advice. Since she wrote this worldwide best seller while she was an out-of-work single mum.
So there are dreams worth dwelling on, even pursuing, yet we must not forget to live.
