The Harry Potter Post, Part II

So remember how I said I had so much more to say about Harry Potter? It turns out that I already wrote a lot of it here. Apparently I can't even remember what I've written on my own blog! I can't decide if that's really sad, or if that's oddly satisfying, since that is why I wrote it down in the first place. You be the judge. I will admit that there have been funny things the kids have done that I mentioned here, and then forgot and then got to be pleasantly surprised as I re-read my own blog. What a dork. But I'm glad those memories aren't lost!

Anyway, since I found that other blog post, I don't have as much to say about Harry Potter except just to talk about the circumstances of each book. Or, rather, my own circumstances as I read each book. Because it is sort of funny to see how my life was developing as each of these books came on the scene.

To begin with, I have to thank my youngest sister Rachael who first got me hooked on them. I don't know when I first became aware of Harry Potter, but it quickly jettisoned into the "too popular to bother with" category in my mind. Does anyone else do that? Where you've heard SO MUCH about something that you automatically assume it can't possibly be that good so you vow to not even read it at all? Yup, that's what I was prepared to do with Harry Potter. Plus, they were kids books. And I was an uppity English major. So I could only be bothered with snooty grown-up books. Or at least that's what I said. And that's what I'd been doing.

I was home for the summer, getting my mission papers together and working in Seattle. This meant that I had a 35-minute ferry ride each way, which was perfect for reading and napping. (Usually I would nap in the morning, read in the afternoon. As the summer wore on and I got more used to riding the 5:25am boat, those activities reversed.) So every day, I made sure I had a book to read. I read Pride & Prejudice (again) and Silas Marner and oodles of other classics that I needed to read just so I could say I had read them.

But then one day I couldn't find anything in the house I wanted to read. I ran all around that night trying to figure out what would be a good book to bring with me the next morning, with nothing to show for it. But when I got up the next day, Rachael had lovingly laid Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone across my backpack. It seemed mean to completely ignore her when she'd been so nice, so I decided I would just read the first chapter so I could tell her I tried. But of course, that first chapter hooked me and I read the whole thing and quite enjoyed it.

But I still wasn't convinced. I was quite certain that when I read the next one, now that I knew J.K. Rowling's style, I'd be able to figure out the ending long before it occurred.

I was so wrong. And I was blown away by The Chamber of Secrets. So I quickly moved on to The Prisoner of Azkaban, and I was blown away by that one, too. During all this time, my Dad took it upon himself to mock me. He was slightly disgusted that a college English major was so engrossed with kids books. Don't worry, we got him eventually, too.

So now I was convinced. All the masses were right: these books were something special. And luckily for me, The Goblet of Fire came out right then. The only problem was that Rachael and I only had one copy that we had to share. It was torture. I kept insisting that I was leaving for the MTC in just a few weeks and therefore got dibs on the book. Rachael kept insisting that she had read them first so she got first claim to it! Much arguing ensued. I have one clear memory of sitting on the ferry, with no book to read, and watching a little boy sitting nearby reading his own copy of Goblet of Fire. And I remember thinking to myself, "I could totally outrun that kid, hide in the women's bathroom, and enjoy another twenty minutes of reading..." I didn't do it, but I was tempted.

I left for my mission worried about how I was going to survive not reading the 5th book when it came out. In the meantime, Rachael with all her conniving finally got my Dad to try reading them. And he LOVED them, too! So in his weekly letters to me, he would talk about all his favorite parts. And then he read them again and continued telling me all his favorite parts. I loved it. (Although I still think he owes me an apology for making fun of me for liking them so much in the first place!)

During this time, J.K. Rowling decided to do me a favor and didn't publish the next book during my mission after all, so that was never an issue. Unfortunately, Order of the Phoenix didn't come out until a long and torturous year after my mission, when I was doing a study abroad in Namibia. I couldn't get a copy there, so I still had to wait a couple weeks to read it. On the way home, I had a layover in Germany to visit a boyfriend, and he flew back to the United States with me. I had absolutely no cash, so at one of our layovers, I told him he had to buy me a copy in the airport. He obliged. It was probably one of the best things I ever got out of that relationship!

By the time The Half-Blood Prince came out, I was engaged to Craig (hallelujah!). The book came out just a couple days after my birthday, when I was visiting Craig in New Jersey. Unbeknownst to me, Craig got up early and bought while I was still sleeping, so that made for a lovely surprise as we celebrated our birthdays together. It was a wonderful day, even if it did end with me sitting on the beach, sobbing over Dumbledore's death (much to Craig's concern, since he hadn't read it yet).

And then, when The Deathly Hallows came out, Craig and I were in California for my best friend Carla's wedding. That was a happy time-- happy wedding with an excuse to show off my sweet baby Bentley, I was just telling people that I was pregnant with Kendra, a trip to Disneyland, and my aunt and uncle offered to stay home with Bentley so we could go buy the book at midnight (the only time I managed to do that, actually). We happily waited in line with my sister Rachael

and then, reminiscent of Book 4, argued over whose turn it was to read it. I bought a copy for Carla to take on her honeymoon, too, although I don't think it made it into her suitcase (weirdo).

It's been a glorious adventure. Thank you, J.K. Rowling.