my life

I'm addicted.

I've been hearing about the Potter phenomenon since the first book came out years ago. I'm not normally caught up in fads, though, and this was no exception. Everybody who read them said they were great. Members of the Christian Right (was it Focus on the Family? Falwell?) condemned them as the tools of Satan, or something equally silly. But despite this encouragement, I still didn't even check one out from the library.

When I was undergoing the last bit of my physical exam in order to enter OTS back in 2000, the captain who was asking me the medical exit questions asked me, conversationally, what I do. I told her I write. She launched into a tirade about an idea she had to give children something good to read. She was apparently convinced the Harry Potter books were evil to the core, full of black magic and things to twist young children's minds away from the straight and narrow,* and thought it would be a smashing idea to have a white magic Christian wizard as her protagonist. When she wound down, I said, "Have you ever read a Harry Potter book?" She said no, but she'd heard enough to know how wicked they are.

* OK. She probably didn't use those words, exactly. But that was definitely the gist.

I was a bit befuddled by her assumption that I was a Christian and that I would surely agree with her assessment of Harry Potter, so I didn't say anything. Besides, I needed her signature on my paperwork, so I didn't feel obliged to disagree. I was happy to get away from her, though. She struck me as an incredibly malleable and gullible person indeed, to so resoundingly condemn something she knew nothing about.

You'd think this would encourage me to crack a Harry Potter book. You'd be wrong.

Then, for Christmas this year, upon my return from Iraq, Michelle got me a couple of Harry Potter movies. They are delightful, albeit a bit difficult to follow at times. I was reassured that the movies were meant for those who'd read the books; you have to know the books to understand everything that happens in the movies. The things you miss are rather small, though, and I quite enjoyed the movies as they were, so I still didn't go get any Harry Potter books.

Perhaps I was resisting outright by this point, just to be ornery. It felt as though all the forces in the universe were conspiring to force me to read those books, and I was determined not to.

Then.

Michelle discovered that our local public library has all the books, unabridged, on CD. She checked one out before we did a rather lengthy road trip. I believe it was The Chamber of Secrets.

These books are just as wonderful as I've (repeatedly) been told they were. They were written for young teens, but have the unusual ability to spellbind those of all ages. The characters are likeable and (oddly) believable (considering that they're almost all wizards, or wizards in training). Oh wait...the "muggle"* family Harry stays with during the summers isn't believable, but they're delightfully nasty, so we forgive Rowling for making them so over-the-top.

* A Rowling word. A "muggle" is a non-magical person. Basically, your average human.

Plus, Jim Dale is just breathtakingly fabulous. He doesn't read the books. He performs them. He creates voices, accents and attitudes for each character. I've never heard a book come alive like this.

I'm not sure which is better: the stories themselves or Dale's performance of them.

Now I am smitten. I simply must hear them all.

If you can, check out a copy (I hear the audio books themselves are quite expensive). You simply must hear it to believe it.

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