Coming up for air
Ack! I can’t tear myself away from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Someone help me.
Granted, I got a late start this morning. I didn’t go to a release party. I preordered the book by mail. I decided I didn’t need to go out with a bunch of kids and strangely dressed adults at midnight. But I still wanted my book, now.
First thing, I threw on some clothes and went down to the mailbox, thoroughly prepared to be angry if there was no book waiting.
But there was.
Then I had to check e-mail. Then someone called.
All the while, my fingers itched to open the first page.
When I got down to it, the first thing I did was remove the cover, after remarking that there is absolutely no information on the dust jacket, only something about here’s the last book you’ve been waiting for. Sneaky, arrogant, hard to tell which. By now, you don’t want and spoilers and you know it’s the end. No one is picking up number 7 as the first one. What else do you need to know in this big hype machine surrounding Harry Potter?
The second thing I did was skip all the chapter headings in the index. I sorta ruined the ending for myself for the last book, and I knew better. But suggestively, opposite the last page of index (which I covered with one hand) are a couple of quotations, both dealing with death. Great. Well, everyone knows there’s more death in this latest book.
Luckily, I have managed to not ruin this book for myself. I’ve studiously avoided any speculative spoilers or even any detailed news surrounding the internet leak of the book.
And now I”m firmly sucked in. I didn’t eat earlier, just so I could start on my book without being distracted. About an hour in, I finally relented. Now I find myself forcing myself to take another break to shower (and blog.)
I can tell this is not going to be a productive day. Hours have passed without any notice. I’m thirsty and don’t have enough sense to go downstairs and get more water.
I should take this more slowly. This is the end, one way or the other. All that will be left to me is re-reading the books.
And I’ve read each of these tomes in about a day. Though once read, they can go a bit more slowly, to be savored.
But I can’t stop the almost magical compulsion to keep reading. So I will go fast. And be sad, no matter what, once it has ended.
I love that feeling of first being lost in a book or a game. It’s so decadent, just immersing yourself at the expense of all other things in your life. Naughty. Irresponsible. A taste of being a kid again, and connecting back with that part of you that still is.