The Wonderful Week of: Harry Potter

I have had this idea rolling around in my head for a few weeks now, an add-on to the Reading Trail. It has occurred to me that there are many series nowadays. Especially with the genre that I read. Few books seem to stand alone anymore. The Wonderful Week Of idea is a tribute to this. Basically, it's a whole week (possibly even two or three depending) of reading one specific series, or books by just one author. Reviews and thoughts will be posted on anything and everything having to do with the reading material. This will not be happening every week, regular Reading Trail affairs will still be held, but it is a slight change in pace for every now and then.

This week, as you probably figured out from the title, is the wonderful week of Harry Potter. I know that everyone's been talking about Harry Potter lately, with the movie coming out and all (which my dad let me go see at midnight because he loves me), and you may be getting tired of it. I'm usually not one to go with what everyone else is doing. I mean, I'm one of the few people who wants to stay in my hometown because everyone else doesn't. I don't just say that either, I really do. It's just the kind of person I am.

Harry Potter, though, is different. I started reading Harry Potter the summer before third grade. I might have even started sooner, but somehow, I had gotten into my mind that I didn't like Harry Potter. What a strange thought, yes? My very first experience with Harry, changed my mind about that though. Surprisingly it was not through the books. It was the movies that did it. I remember, my uncle was at our house. He was watching a movie and I was curious. I watched for a bit and then asked him what it was. When he told me it was Harry Potter, I almost left the room, but I had already gotten caught up in what was happening on the television. My first Harry Potter movie sighting? Aunt Marge floating off into the sky. It was magical and I loved it. So guess what happened the next time we were walking through Wal-Mart, down the book aisle, and I saw the Sorcerer's Stone? Somehow, I convinced my mom to buy it, the very book that's sitting in my lap right now.

It seemed forever until I finally got books two through five once I had finished the first one. My mom had put them on layaway and I remember the endless waiting. Finally, I got the second one from the public library and the third from the school's, though my teacher had some problems with that. I got them all for Christmas, I think. I don't really remember receiving them. Funny how, after waiting so long, that I don't. I read them over and over; they never got old. I know I've read them all, besides the seventh, at least three times, probably way more. Somehow, though, after the seventh book came out and I read it in a matter of hours, a curse seemed to be placed on me. I don't think I have read another one since then, though I started to read Sorcerer's Stone a few months ago. This troubles me to no end. It makes me feel guilty, like I haven't visited my best friend in years. So, hence, we have the wonderful week of Harry Potter. I cannot wait to jump in.