My name is eL., and I am a Potter-holic. It has been fourteen hours since my last magical indulgence.

In 2005, I wasn’t so different from the rest of you. Harry Potter was a kid’s book. I’d watched the second movie with my nephew and was unimpressed. I scoffed and rolled my eyes at adults who had their noses stuck in the latest novel, The Half Blood Prince. Could it possibly be true that grown-ups were dressing up as wizards and witches and showing up at public events like a bunch of Trekkies with magic wands? BAHAHAHA!

And then I met a true Potter-Head.

My friend Tiffany showed up at work one day wearing a purple shirt with “9 & ¾” on it. I inquired about this odd choice of apparel and she rattled off something about a Hogwarts train. Upon noticing the clueless expression on my face, she gave me a horrified look that shouted “You’re not one of us!” The next day, I was greeted with Harry Potter books one and two on my desk with a note that said, “Get through these two and I’ll bring you the third one.”

Being that I didn’t have anything better to do at the time, I indulged her request and began my journey into Hogwarts. By the end of book three, The Prisoner of Azkaban, I was hooked.

Since 2005, I’ve read all of the books once (at least) and own all of the movies. The entire series is neatly arranged in hard back in a prominent place on my bookshelf and I frequently listen to them on audio while I run at the gym.  For the release of final book, The Deathly Hallows, I was among the goons standing in line at midnight at Barnes and Noble, wearing my “Trust Snape!” sticker as I waited to receive my pre-ordered copy of the book.  Many pots of coffee and sixteen hours later, I teared up as I closed the final chapter on Harry Potter.  Still, on a scale of one to ten in Potter Mania, I would say I’m only a seven. Tiffany is a ten… and some days maybe an eleven.

Yes, I know I have been MIA on the blog front this week.  You have my most sincere apologies.  I did, kind of, give you forewarning so you really can’t complain too much.  Remember?  I told you I was taking a stroll down the vampire trail…

All is well now.  I am back.

It is ridiculously easy for me to get lost in reading.  Actually, I’m not sure how people that don’t read can survive in reality.  Books are an escape for me and this year there has been much to escape from in my world.  Now, now… Before you crown me the Queen of Losers in GetaReaLlife-O-Land, consider the positives: my nose is clean, my arms are track-free, I am adequately able to take care of my kids, hold a job and keep friends.  Reading is healthy addiction.

I finished book four of the Twilight series tonight.  No worries, no spoilers here.  I began reading on Thanksgiving Day, so in 8 days I read four books with over 650 pages each.  During that time, I traveled, worked, cooked, cleaned and finished all of my Christmas shopping.  OK, cooked is a little bit of a stretch.  Let’s just say my kids may never touch another hotdog as long they live.  However, I do believe I should win some kind of an award for Multitask-Ability.

This week I’ve realized that my favorite kind of literature is the never-ending kind.  I like books that come in a series and once I start I can’t stop until there is nothing left to read.  It can almost be physically painful to come to the end of a good book if I know there isn’t another one to follow it.  For instance, my friends and I waited a LONG time for release of the last Harry Potter.  (Yes, we were among the nerds in line at Borders at midnight that stayed up ALL night refusing water, food and sleep till we were finished.)  When I closed the book on the final chapter that afternoon, despite it’s happy ending, I had an overwhelming feeling of grief.  “This is it.  Potter is finished.  No more Hogwarts.  No more house elves.  No more butterbeer.” Fantasy over. 

Moment of silence.

Some of you understand.  Some of you are rolling your eyes. (Stop it, Ranger.)  Some of you are MISSING OUT.  Isaac Barrow said it well.  “He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter.  By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, as in all fortunes.”

Just as I wrapped up Breaking Dawn tonight, this year I’ve closed a lot of chapters on my life.  Several of them were far from happy endings and because of this, I am grateful to be able to (safely) lose my mind in fantasy land for a while.  Some of the endings were more like the close of a good “book two” in a trilogy with an epilogue that has left me yearning for the next installment.  I’m hoping that in book three the heroine will triumph over evil and live happily ever after.  We’ll see.

My next tattoo.  Kind of appropriate, don’t you think?
Courtesy of Sara Butcher 

In the meantime, I’m starting the Sookie Stackhouse series I believe.  What are YOU reading???