The Magic of Harry Potter

I stayed up way too late last night re-reading Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.  I am going to see the movie, of course, but I had been meaning to re-read it for a few years.  When it first came out, I devoured it so fast that I missed the details. J.K. Rowling tells a story like no one else.  She is also a skilled writer, describing the sites of Harry's triumphs and tragedys and the interactions between Harry, Hermoine and Ron in a way that you can almost see and hear them.

There have been some interviews with J.K. Rowling in which she says that she might someday consider writing another Harry Potter book.  As a bookseller, I should be jumping up and down and praying for an early release of whatever she chooses to write.  But I am not hoping for more.  Harry Potter was a phenomenon, special to the place and time in which it was released.  As we await the last movie, reflecting the final chapter of the story, there is a bittersweet feeling that you get at the end of a long and wonderful journey. You might go back and retrace your steps, but the journey will never be the same.  The wonder of discovery comes only the first time around.

And there was a sort of innocence that allowed children and adults alike to love the Harry Potter stories.  Somewhere along the way, the innocence has dimmed a bit.  It is not that we are jaded, exactly, but time and technology have changed so much from the time of the release of the first Harry Potter book.  We live in a different world than the one that existed in 1997.

So, as much as I would love to dress up as Professor McGonagall again and fill my big black cauldron with jelly beans, I think that Harry Potter should remain frozen in time.  I look forward to introducing new generations of readers to the books, and hanging out on rainy weekends watching all the movies in a row. I will enjoy the photos and memories of many happy book release parties.  And I will keep my fingers crossed that lightning will strike again and that in a pub in Ireland or a coffee shop in Minneapolis a writer is writing a story that will grab a generation and take them on an amazing ride.