Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone JK Rowling, 1997

It’s easy to be sniffy about the boy wizard, to see his adventures as dull boarding school fodder jazzed up with a bit of magic. And yet as anyone who has ever read one of the novels to a child will testify, the magic here lies not in the descriptions of spell casting, but in the combination of what’s- going- to- happen- next? plotting and characters you grow to love. Not convinced? You’re an uber- muggle and there’s no hope for you.