July 27th, 2007
Curiouser and Curiouser
Do I want to know how this last Harry Potter book ends?
Had you asked me, a few months ago, if I wanted to know this, I would have told you that I couldn’t care less. You could have just blurted it out to me, or not, it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference. But now….
I suppose it’s worth noting that I have not so much as glanced at so much as a page of so much as one Harry Potter book. While there was a period in my life when I loved “fantasy”-based stuff like Star Wars and X-Men, by the time the first Harry Potter book came out my interests had shifted to non-fiction and realism.
With the mounting excitement for the release of this last book though, a myriad of fans have shed their “invisibility cloaks” (that’s a Harry Potter reference, right?) and revealed themselves to me. People whose opinions on a variety of matters I really respect, people who I never expected to be hopelessly enthralled by young-adult literature about sorcerers and wizards, were eagerly and openly awaiting this last book. Their enthusiasm was so universal that I couldn’t even point out how silly it all seemed. Clearly I was the one being silly.
Even Steph, who didn’t know her Sorcerer’s Stone from her Order of the Phoenix, recently decided it was time, borrowed all the books, and reverted to a state of seventh-gradeitude, hunkered in a corner, completely ignoring me and anyone else who graced our presence. After three weeks she’s almost on the last book. I look forward to conversing with her again in the near future.
The problem for me is I’m not much of a reader. It’s definitely not something I’m proud of. Not only does it make me a bad son, considering that my mom is a professional writer, but, given that I like to write, it’s kind of hypocritical. I just don’t think I’m reading-inclined. I can still remember, pretty vividly, feeling like a complete idiot, as the other kids showed up automatically knowing how to read, plowing through the “Early Readers” to Volumes 4 or 5 in the span of a few days, touting their accomplishments at every turn. Meanwhile yours truly was still struggling to read Book 1 (“A Day at the Zoo,” I believe it was) out loud to the adult who was evaluating me on my performance. It was so nerve-wracking. But enough about last weekend…. Haha! Zing!
No, seriously, that was way back first-grade, and it was my very first exposure to reading. Ever since then it’s been a tenuous relationship. Then you have these Harry Potter books that, near as I can tell, are approximately the same length as The Bible, and, well, it’s just not going to happen.
I am liking the movies more and more with each one (though I know, I know, this is not the same thing). We were persuaded to go to a midnight showing of this last film by our friends Thurston and Bliss, who are the kind of friends that are always doing things and persuading you to do things ’cause they understand that you need more fun in your life. Perhaps you have friends like this? Anyway we went to an iMax showing and it was really fun. The last 20 minutes are in 3-D. Perhaps you’ve heard that.
Thurston and Bliss love Harry Potter. They are the same reason we ended up at a bookstore for the midnight release of the last installment this past weekend, among manic, costumed wierdos of all ages. They are also the reason the end of the saga is now on my mind.
At this time, I am not seeking out the book’s ending, because I’m entertaining the idea of renting them in book-on-tape form, or possibly because I’m just not willing to invest the energy needed to do so. I’ve just sort of been skulking around certain websites — like the kid who maintains that he has no interest in joining your stupid baseball game, yet keeps showing up and wandering the periphery of the field, haphazardly swinging a stick and kicking rocks with his Chuck Taylors — hoping that an impossible-to-avoid plot synopsis will catch my eye.
I managed to learn how The Sopranos — another cultural phenomenon that I had nothing more than a passing interest in — ended in this manner. So far, nothing from the Potheads, though. This, and the general reactions of people whom I know have finished the last book, leads me to believe it’s not as jarring as that controversial and dramatic cut-to-black that I’ve never actually seen was.
If things stay this quiet maybe I can even hold out ’til they release the movie…. Yeah, that’s probably good enough for me.
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