Harry Potter Mania!

I've mentioned that one of my obsessions is anything Disney. What might possibly be my second-top obsession is Harry Potter. In some ways, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, might be considered the Walt Disney of our time. She has given children, including big children like myself, something to look forward to and obsess over.

I'm not really sure what it is about the Harry Potter books and movies that appeals to me so much -- I suppose in part it is because Harry epitomizes the essence of what almost every person experiences in life. He has his horrible life in the muggle world, where he is treated almost as a slave. Yet, he goes into the magic world, where he is heralded as a hero. At such a young age, he has had to learn who he can and can't trust. While most of us might have not had to experience these things at the age Harry has, I think we have all had similar highs and lows in life.

So, how obsessed am I? Well, not so obsessed to stay up after midnight to watch the first showing of Order of the Phoenix (the movie based on the 5th novel). I'll probably go and see it Friday night.

On the other hand, I am obsessed enough to go to Barnes and Noble during the midnight release of the 7th and final novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I already have a plan...I will go and pick up my ticket as early as they'll allow me to, then I'll go have dinner and see the Order of the Phoenix movie again, then go pick up my book at the strike of midnight. (At B&N, they distribute tickets and call out the numbers 20 at a time for people to pick up their books -- the last time I got a good number and was able to pick up my book with the second batch of people.) Then what will I do? I will go home and read until I fall asleep. And I will eat, sleep, and breathe Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that entire weekend and should be done with the book by Monday morning. Hopefully I will complete my reading without having heard or read any spoilers, although I won't be reading anything but Deathly Hallows that weekend anyway.

Oh, there's one more thing I will probably be doing that weekend. I will head over to Sam's Club to pick up the audio version of Deathly Hallows, if they have it at a reasonable price. I was able to get the Half Blood Prince CD's for $30-something the last time, which is a good deal. I not only read the books and watch the movies, I listen to the CDs. Why? I have Jim Dale (and a colleague who told me how great the audio books are) to thank for turning me on to audio books. He is incredibly amazing with his rendition of all of the voices. It is truly a wonder how he does it.

Good luck to my fellow Harry Potter maniacs who will also be picking the book up at midnight next week! Until then, have a good time re-reading the previous books and watching the movies!