Harry Potter and the rainy weekend spent (mostly) reading...

Unless you've been living under a rock that doesn't have internet, TV, radio or any other method of communication for the last week or so you know that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in J.K. Rowling's epic Harry Potter series, was released this past Saturday morning at 12:01 a.m. I'm a pretty big fan of the books (and the films based upon them). I remember going and buying the first one while at school in Montreal and starting to read it while waiting for the Metro... which stopped and left again without my poking my nose out of the ever-engrossing children's book I had just started to read. These books have a way of making time disappear.

You may not know this, but books released in Canada often have a different distributor and/or publisher then books released in the United States. This is the reason why the Canadian versions of the Harry Potter novels have different, more colorful (or, as a nod to the Canadian spelling, colourful) covers. As an example, take a look at the two versions of the new book:

The American cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Canadian cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Rather different, wouldn't you say?

Anyway, since the majority of the time that J.K. Rowling was cranking out stories overlapped with the time I spent in Canada, I had acquired Canadian versions of the first five books. I got a friend to buy and ship me the sixth book from Vancouver, since at the time Amazon.ca would not ship to a non-Canadian address. When the release date for the newest book hit the street, I checked and was to discover that this time around I would be able to purchase a Canadian edition online.

Unfortunately, there was no way that I was going to get the book the weekend it was released, so I had made peace with the fact that I would not be apart of the first wave of folks reading the book. I'd read the book when it showed up in my mailbox, which was alright by me.

The hardcore of the hardcore: these two girls are reading their copies of Harry Potter on the rail at Brooklyn's Siren Festival.

On Saturday morning I left my apartment early to meet with my project group from one of my classes at my school's library. We got our business out of the way and split up. I was heading out of the building with the other two males in my group when something sitting on the circulation desk. "I'll see you guys later," I said as I headed to the girl working the desk.

I picked up the massive tome that was sitting in on a small easel labeled "Book of the Day" and asked her "May I check this out?".

"Of course you may," she said with a smile. "I've been wondering how long it would sit here before someone grabbed it." She scanned my library card and opened the book's spin for the first time to place a green "Due On" card in the back. I skipped out of the library happy about my unexpected acquisition.

Even though it was difficult, I trudged my way through a bunch of schoolwork before heading home and directly onto my couch. I set myself up with some music, a glass of wine and 756 pages of fine adolescent literature. One of South Florida's infamous afternoon thunderstorms was getting under way outside my window (that's what I get for getting my car washed), so I was more then happy to be inside curled up in a fantasy world.

Five hours later I looked up and it was beginning to get dark. I was almost 500 pages in and I felt likeI had been reading for no time at all. Amazing how time seems to disappear when you're completely immersed in a good book.

False spoiler at the NYC release party

That evening I hid the book from my own view and went bowling with the crew. Many beers (and assorted strikes and gutters later) I passed out on the couch.

If you've ever passed out drunk on the couch, you know that it ain't easy to sleep through the night. I woke up at 6 and headed to my bed, but it wasn't long before the mental alarm clock that prevents me from sleeping late was clanging in my head, so I headed back to the couch to read some more. If I didn't have plans with the parents on Sunday afternoon I would have probably stayed in my underwear and devoured the rest of the book. But I left to spend some quality time with the family, knowing full well that I'd have a chance to finish the book that evening.

Which I did, at about 11:30 last night. The conclusion was surprisingly satisfying. Without spoiling anything, I can say that I felt Rowling did a good job tying up what seemed to be a million loose ends in the extremely complex mythology of her wizarding world. The characters have grew and changed dynamically, and even at the end some are revealed to be not what they seem. I am pretty sure that the Deathly Hallows will be the last book in the saga of Harry Potter. I can only hope that the author is planning her next project. Maybe it will be an adult one, as the last couple books of the Harry Potter series, especially this last one, are not really for children.

Unlike most movies, which leave me disappointed in the ending, I felt happy with this conclusion. Plus I didn't turn on my television the entire weekend, which is a feat I am quite proud of.