Damn Harry Potter!

For as much as I love to read (I think I came out of the womb with my nose in a book), I have pretty much escaped this whole Harry Potter phenomenon. I know. I must have been living in a cave since 1998 to have avoided these books. I tried. I really did. I've actually read about the first third of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (book 1, which is even dedicated to ME!), but just couldn't get into it. I was bored. And I believe life is too short to trudge through books I don't enjoy just because everyone else loves them. So I put it down and never picked it back up.

I don't know why I never became obsessed with all things Harry Potter. It might have something to do with that I've never been into fantasy, witch craft, wizardry, or anything remotely scary. Of course, I realize that these are children's books and by their nature not particularly scary, but I get spooked very easily. Just ask my brother. I'm famous for this.

But thanks to Shannon, I'm not a total loser. I have seen four out of the five Harry Potter movies. In fact, usually on opening night. And I've pretty much enjoyed them. I can honestly tell you that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is my favorite HP movie (I saw it Friday). I give it 4 stars (out of 5). But even the movies have never inspired me to read the books.

And then this morning, I was reading my friend Brad Meltzer's blog. His July 16th post, "Harry Potter Guesses" linked me to the Tamar Siegel's (age 12) winning entry in a contest run by the Miami Herald to guess the ending of soon-to-be-released series finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

WOW. The 12 year old managed to do something that the movies (and the 1st 1/3 of book #1) hadn't done for me to date: make me want to read the books.

I wonder if I can clear my schedule and read all 6 by Friday at midnight. Hmmmmmmm.

Damn Harry Potter!