HP7

I finished HP7 today at 12:37pm. Yes, I read insanely fast. I fell asleep last night at 1:30am, and woke up today at 7:30am, so I estimate that since getting the book in my hands I spent 6 hours sleeping and 6 hours reading. There was that drive home in the dark, during which I couldn't read, ya know.

... and I don't know what to say. There's that feeling of completion. I know how it ends. There's that feeling of loss. No more Harry Potter books.

My kids think that a midnight release party for a book is a normal thing. They discuss what they'd do at "the next one." It's crazy, this midnight release party thing. We ran into friends, the mom of my son's buddy, and she said her son was staying with his aunt in California. The shocking thing was, she reported, that the aunt had no intention of doing anything at midnight but sleeping. The boy had to wait until flying home today to get his hands on a copy of HP7. Poor boy. I was probably past the climax before he even held the book. None of them could understand the aunt... what do you mean, you're sleeping tonight? What about HP??

My 12 year old is curled up, 2/3 of the way through the book. He says he fell asleep at 4:30 last night, and set his alarm to be sure he was up by 10am. My husband is reading to our 8 year old, who is capable of reading it to herself, for the first time when an HP book is released, but the habit of him reading it to her is deeply ingrained. Now that I'm done reading, I spell him off, and alternately knit while listening. After devouring it at an indecent speed, participating in a read-aloud is a way to absorb far more of the details, and also to not let the whole experience be over.

Happy reading, all. (HP or not) :)