Harry Potter: My Anti-Drug

Dearest Readers,
I am a Harry Potter-aholic. I admit it plainly. They are the series that I have and will reread dozens of times like a drug addict and with the same fervor I experienced upon first reading. I will get lost in the Quidditch matches, the trips to Hogsmeade, the duels with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and the anticipation of Ron and Hermoine (the ultimate couple!). In the past week, I reread the entire 870 pages of the fifth book. (This disturbs me and should disturb you, imagine if I devoted this time to other things…I would accomplish so much!)
For those of you who don’t love the HP (you are wrong, btw), this post still applies to you. Because this post’s not really about HP, it’s about the fact that we all have habits for our own sanity; Actions we have to do by ourselves in order to continue interacting with the outside world without being grumpy. Some paint. Others dance. I read (at this time, Harry Potter). Reading is this form of catharsis for me. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I find myself enchanted by books, and completely lose contact with reality. It’s glorious.
The reason Harry Potter is so specifically gripping is hard to pin-point. As many have pointed out, it’s not like they are the most well-written books of all time. (Though she vastly improves as the series continues.) It’s the characters. They are so full of life, as are the settings and plots. I want to fly and fight and attend a school where the paintings talk and the staircases move. I just have this strong desire to be there, to live as they do. Why am I grabbed by this fantastical and unrealistic passion? I wish I could tell you.
These books also represent my childhood. My parents read them to me before they were popular after my dad’s friend from work recommended them (I think I was in 3rd grade at the time). I quickly became frustrated with waiting until each evening to hear the story, and started reading them on my own. They gripped me like no other book ever has in my life (and I am a bookworm to the max…I mean seriously, I go by the pseudo-name Adorkable). I have been to every midnight book release and every midnight movie premiere. When I finished the last book, I cried (I’m not ashamed to admit this), because it was like an end to era of my own life. (When the movies are over, I will cry again for sure.) These characters carried me through the shaky middle school years and the steadily growing self-esteem of high school years and follow me as I try to find my way through college. They ground me (which is ironic considering I feel like they take me somewhere far away). They serve as a constant and a solstice. I know it must sound bizarre to those who do not know the pages of these Hogwarts-based novels, but everyone has that activity that they do in their spare time that makes them feel like they have taken a breath of fresh air and makes the load on their shoulders a little lighter. (I could make commercials: Harry Potter: My Anti-Drug…tee hee, I bet those would go over well.)
Overall, I want everyone to reconnect with their soothing measures. (Try to keep it from getting out of control….870 pages in a week is a bit much to be honest.) But I think that we stray from these activities when we are stressed or we are embarrassed (I can’t tell you the number of times I have felt weird when my roommate walks in and I look like a lazy bum just plopped on my bed reading a lil’ HP). But it’s what I do for me. It’s my fun and fabulous me time.
Oh and just to be clear, one day my Hogwarts letter will come, I just know it…Accio Letter!
Wizard-ily,
Adorkable
ps. picture cred goes to bea mondonedo on flickr...gorgeous photo