That awkward moment when...

… you’re telling your boyfriend about your day, and you almost start talking about about the mess Ron and Harry got into today…

Yeah, so, I finished Book #1 in one week, and started Book #2 a few days after that, despite some internal protests to read something a little more serious in between. I’m halfway through that one now and I can’t wait to get to Book #3. This is pretty much a record for me, as I only read during my commute, on the rare occasions when I’m not talking to the fore-mentioned boyfriend, or checking the phone for yoga groupons and new apartments listed on Craigslist. It’s just that fun of a read.

Jane & I went to a brown bag lunch with the Young to Publishing Group last month and the topic of conversation was Dystopian Young Adult lit. What particularly interested me was when the conversation veered to talking about how Dystopian YA became such a cross-over genre, with adults falling in love with these novels as much as their teen counterparts. Many banked it in the “escape”. The “getting lost in another world”, which Harry Potter (though obviously not a dystopian novel), certainly provides. But I do not think the magic and sorcery and dragons and unicorns are what makes Harry Potter such a good read. This world that J.K. Rowling builds is, without a doubt, incredible — engrossing and perplexing. But for me, at least, that is not why I smile as I pull out my nook and begin reading. For me, it is the caricatures that her characters embody: the brave, the evil, the shy, the genius, the wise headmaster, the awkward friend, the prankster twins, the outrageous mom, the ridiculous uncle. It’s as if I’m watching my Saturday morning cartoons all over again. A melodrama with good pitted against evil, without too much melodrama, if you know what I mean. It is simple story inside the complex world that Rowling builds, a feel-good comedy under the dark sorcery that surrounds the characters’ lives.

In short, I’m loving it. Can’t believe it took me this long to read.

Happy Sunday Reading, everyone.

-Carin

http://owlgem.deviantart.com/art/Harry-Potter-Characters-111112996

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