Another "Harry" Weekend

Well, I've finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but no spoilers here! All I'll say is that J. K. Rowling made this book as compelling a read as the others. Readers who love Harry's world will not be disappointed in this "final" installment.

I started reading the book at the bookstore Saturday, almost as soon as I got there at 8am. I didn't have much time to read it during my shift, though. People started lining up around 8:30am (we opened at 9am), and we had steady lines throughout the day. Nearly every purchase included at least one copy of the Potter book, but I did get a few Potter-free sales. By the time I left the store, I had read the first four chapters. I had to make a stop at my mom's to drop off two copies of the book for my sister (I bought 5 copies). A trip to my mom's has to include food, so I ate dinner and started for home around 6pm.

I finished reading the book around 3:15am this morning (Sunday), and my reading was not without problems. One of my cats, Boudreaux, startled from his sleep, leapt across the sofa and me in a panic. In his flight, he managed to scratch my arm and the page I was reading. He left a nice little gash in the page and several in me. And, of course, all of the cats seemed to have issues, so they constantly interrupted me--one wanted to drink water from the kitchen tap, one wanted to eat food out of the food container instead of the food bowls (and ended up getting shut up inside the pantry! I thought I had a boggart!), another wanted to go out the front door. Cats have their peculiarites, too.

I have to say I was correct on several hunches that I formed from re-reading the 5th and 6th books, but I'm not going to tell you what they are. If you're not a fan of Harry Potter, you probably don't care, and, if you are a fan, you need to read the last book without knowing what happens.

I told my students that I'd be glad to discuss the book/series in my office with anyone who's interested--and that stands. I hate spoilers, so I'm not going to be one. All I can say is that J. K. Rowling tells a great story and she has managed to create one of the most appealing and enduring worlds in modern literary history--maybe not as complicated as Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia, but I think her story will stand the test of time. We'll still be talking about this series long past the last movie's release.

Read it!