Last One on the Bandwagon

I've never been attracted to science fiction or fantasy. I was the only one of my grade school pals that didn't read The Chronicles of Narnia. I've never read J.R.R. Tolkien, nor to this day seen any of the "Lord of The Rings" movies. Dungeons and Dragons? Fuggedaboudit. Yes, I saw and liked the original three "Star Wars" Movies, but I have only a mild and passing appreciation of "Star Trek." I seem to be one of the only people on earth who gets more excited about a new Christopher Guest movie than a new "Spiderman." (One "Spiderman" grosses more in one weekend than Guest has netted cumulatively... I'm not kidding.)

Knowing this--and knowing that Anne is the same way--I gave her copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as one of her birthday presents back in December. It was a perfectly passive aggressive way to attack what I had decided was close-mindedness on my part. I could no longer ignore the fact that everyone I knew--from casual readers to literary snobs--loved these stories. And how could I criticize the woman in my MFA program who flatly told me "I don't read men" while I claimed "I don't read fantasy" without ever having picked up a Potter book?

Anne reluctantly completed the journey. Her verdict: interested, but ultimately unmoved. It was well done, but she didn't have that eagerness to resume reading each night after The King was put to bed. I took the book on the plane during our April trip to Mexico and felt the same way after the first 20 pages. I didn't get back to it until maybe a month later, and then a strange thing happened: I really started to like it.

Once the action moved to Hogwarts, I really did feel as though a new world opened up. Sure, the book recycles worn cliches about witches, wizards, trolls, dragons and broomsticks. But these elements are just the cost of doing business. Everything else Rowling creates struck me as quite original. And the way in which she makes Harry a truly sympathetic character--not just when he's the "oppressed stepchild," but even as he realizes who he is--is quite brilliant. The ending was a little Dan Brown, but that's forgiveable--this is actually a cross-genre mystery, after all.

So maybe there is something to this series. I'm thinking of renting the movie. Then, depending on how I feel, I might just get the next book. If I like that, the next movie, and then. Oh God, I'm hooked...