Drunk in a Bookshop

Well after a week of modern dance, site specific street theatre, audio-visual installations and other 'meaningful' Orts Festival delights it was time, yesterday, for some light entertainment. Some mass-produced, lowest common denominator, part-of-the crowd entertainment.....no not Die Hard 4.0 (that I saw last week)
....no at midnight on the 20th to the 21st July it was time for Harry Potter VII - The Deathly Hallows (oooooohhhhhh)

I first caught 'JK Rowling-ophilia' back in 2003. I was doing my MPhil in Trinity with some Potter-philes over studying from the States. Natalee and Ruth had been hooked from the start and their incessant debate, argument and speculation on the topic drew me in. I knew it had gotten serious when we spent the entire day after the Trinity Ball lazing around Nat's flat each taking turns reading aloud from a HP in as silly a range of accents as we could muster with our monster hangovers. (It was an MPhil in Theatre studies and, yes, we were all drama queens).

By 2005 I was a confirmed addict pre-ordering the latest book (The Half Blood Prince) in a bookshop in New Delhi and reading it in it's entirety on a weekend trip to Agra, home of one the recently voted 7 Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal. There are, in fact, pictures of me sitting in a cubby in the side of the Taj reading it quite oblivious to the wonder of Mughal architecture around me. Well I had to see if Ron and Hermione would get together!

I find it hard to describe what's so compelling about the Harry Potter series. Rowling is no Proust (not that I've actually read Proust). She writes in very simple, straightforward language and repeats her metaphors ad nauseum but what she does do well is create vivid characters in a fascinating alternative universe. I think she has a good understanding of the human condition and human relationships and the later books contain some biting satire on Blair's Britain; media spin, class divisions, racism etc.

What has really made the HP series absorbing, however, has been the sheer success and hype that accompanied it. Being able to discuss your latest read with pretty much everyone is a real thrill. Reading in general is such a solitary occupation. So many times I've finished a book dying to discuss the issues raised with someone, anyone, but by the time someone else has read your recommendation (if they bother) you've forgotten whatever it was you wanted to talk about. I loved the midnight openings and the media hype that accompanied these books. I hope the public imagination can get caught like this again; not to make some other author a billionaire but to get people reading and talking about reading.

Last night the atmosphere on Shop St in Galway was electric; witches and ghouls ambled about, parents desperately tried to control ridiculously excited kids. I saw home-made "Harry is a horcrux' t-shirts, Hogwarts hoodies and teenagers on the summer holidays wearing school uniforms proud as punch. Eason's was a bit too crazy; queue went around the block several times so I chose to patronise Dubray Books for my copy.

Declan (reluctant companion and HP lookalike) and I had been on a bit of pub crawl for the evening taking in The Crane, O Connell's and Rowing Club (arts fest hangout) so we were nicely tipsy by 1am. In the queue we chatted to some excited Americans and soaked up the general mayhem of surroundings. Once the queue had entered the shop Declan perused some Pablo Neruda and Bukowski (Note to general public: do not bring Declan to a bookshop while drunk) and antagonised the crowd saying stuff like "Hermione dies'. I was lucky to get him out of there without at least a Crucio Curse being aimed at him. Clutching my very own copy (kid's cover--adult covers are for Muggles) and smiling from ear to ear I went home ready to get stuck in for the last time.

Don't worry-there'll be no plot spoilers here but having finished it a few hours ago I will say that it's a very satisfying conclusion to the series. Well done JK Rowling-you succeeded (probably unintentionally) in making reading a hobby for the many as opposed to the few and you made reading a shared experience between young and old alike. May you live a long and curse free life!