Old Favorites

I love going back to old childhood favorites and rereading them. One of my favorites (one of everyone's favorites, I'm sure) is Harry Potter. It's hard to believe the last book came out almost five years ago. Five years, I'm sure, seems like a smaller amount of time the older you get, but five years ago for me, I was sixteen-going-on-seventeen (like Liesel in the Sound of Music, another old favorite). The day the book came out was also a day I had to serve traffic school in the morning for a right-of-way ticket. However, like any good fan, I went to the midnight release party, immediately drove home with that book at around 12:30 am and spent the next six and a half hours straight reading so I could finish before traffic class. Holy crap, you guys. I haven't read for a solid six and a half hours without pause since ... probably Harry Potter Book 6.

For the record, I did finish. I have no idea how I lived through that day (all nighters do not sit well with me), but I remember that early morning reading marathon. And man, was it a marathon.

I picked up the series again yesterday and started casually rereading some sections. I know that Harry Potter has some of the best world-building known to man. I love immersing myself in that fantasy world again. It's like comfort food. It's like wrapping yourself in an old, worn blanket. It's so reassuring. But one thing I had forgotten since 2007 is how incredible of a writer and story-teller Jo is. I mean, wow. It strikes me with a new sense of awe how engaging the books are and more importantly, how the writing carries the story but doesn't get in the way. And how LONG the books are. 2007 was before I finished writing my first original full-length novel. I think I have a whole new appreciation for her. She is truly a champ. I think Harry Potter has become my new bedtime reading of choice for the summer.

It's nice to revisit Hogwarts.