Harry Potter

I am a very fast reader. I always have been. In grade school the other kids refused to believe I was reading as fast as I appeared to be. They accused me of just turning the pages to make it look like I was reading fast.

Nope. I wasn't. Although I have noticed as I have gotten older, and busier, that how fast I read is heavily influenced by how much I've been reading. I guess it's like anything else: Practice makes perfect.

I finished the latest Harry Potter just before midnight last night. I'd been reading it almost nonstop since I plucked it from the mailbox aroung 1:30 that afternoon. I didn't mean to finish it so quickly. In fact, I really didn't want to finish it that quickly, and now I am rather sad, because it is all done and I'm quite sure I will have to wait two years for the last book. But it was so much fun to read that I really couldn't put it down. So here I am, forlorn.

I've been rereading Lord of the Rings, lately, and I've been amazed at how good it is. It's been so many years since I've read it that I'd forgotten how well Tolkien writes. On the other hand, I've leafed through many books that have tried to write in what they seem to believe is the "Tolkien style." They have uniformly been heavy, pompous, and impossible to read.

JK Rowling is no JRR Tolkien. Reading both authors' works so close together has impressed that upon me. She is, however, a very good writer, and while Harry Potter lacks a certain complexity (and why shouldn't it - it is written for kids, after all) she certainly knows how to tell a great story.

One of the things she does do well, in my opinion, is characterization. I am especially impressed at how she is able to portray adolescence. Reading books five and six, I could see Michael in her descriptions of her teen characters' behavior. In the descriptions of their feelings and thoughts, I could see myself at that age. I really think that's something. So often books with young protagonists treat their characters as miniature adults instead of real kids. Personally, I find it intimidating to try to recapture my memories of those ages well enough to create a believable, real, character. So, my hat's off to to Rowling.

And to those of you who might be Harry Potter fans, who are either in the midst of reading right now, or still waiting to get your hands on a copy of Half-Blood Prince, I say, "WOW! You won't believe what happens!"

I tortured Michael all afternoon who kept telling me to stop laughing, stop making horrified sounds, and stop gasping. He was very relieved to have me finally hand it over to him. I can't wait til he finishes it, so we can talk about it and speculate on Harry's next, and final, adventure.