Yes, you've read well, I too have fallen victim to Pottermania. Unfortunately, it happened after the first four books of the series had been published, and, not knowing any better, I bought the paperback editions. It wasn't until the date for the fifth installment to come out was approaching, that I found that the books come out in hardback-only editions first, with the paperbacks trailing them about a year. All for commercial reasons, of course. However, I chose patience over ruining the line-up in my bookcase, so I waited... and waited. I have the paperbacks of the HP5 and HP6, and don't regret having had to wait a little before being able to read them. Although... due to the popularity of Harry, it is a popular object of reference in quite a few other manifestations of modern culture that I like, such as The Simpsons, for example. It was an episode of The Simpsons that gave away who was going to die in the sixth book; it was already common knowledge that one of the main characters was going to die, I just didn't know yet who.

So, when the seventh and last book came out on July 21 (why not on July 7, I wonder; that would make the date 07-07-07, but OK), I decided not to wait and buy the hardback, to avoid being disappointed by finding out the plot some way or other. A wise decision, I think, 'cause the book's only been out for little over a week and already I've had to turn my eyes away from news articles a couple of times to avoid reading anything that spoil the surprise. I just hope we don't have people here at the university like the British school teacher who, unannounced, starting reading the final page of HP7 to her students. Really, who would do such a thing...?!

I'm about three quarters through the book, so not much more to go. I wonder, what will be next? Is there life after Harry? Of course there is; they're not such great books, to be honest, altough they make quite an enjoyable read. And if I do start missing Harry, I can always try and obtain a copy of such obscure little pearls as Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon. Really, what a joke! For those who cannot wait till they come across it in their local Chinatown bookstore, turn here for an excerpt. What a blast!