Harry Potter Finale: A Mother's Musings

I can't blog about the resolution of the Harry Potter saga, because I don't know if my 23-year-old daughter Joyce has finished the final volume yet, and I do know that she reads CultureGrrl. It would be a crime to be a spoiler for your own daughter! But if you know how it turned out, you'll know how I feel about it by reading this earlier post.

It's an amazing phenomenon that so many young adults, who befriended Harry when they were barely into their teens, are still as intensely involved with him as they were in the beginning. A newspaper photo I saw of readers who were triumphantly brandishing their newly purchased copies showed a group of excited devotees who appeared to be about my daughter's age.

I suppose I should confess that, despite my daughter's enthusiastic exhortations, CultureGrrl---like fellow AJ blogger Scott McLemee, whose Quick Study focuses on books---has not read the sacred text. I started once, but just wasn't that into it. Trying to be a good mother, I did accompany Joyce to the first Potter movie, after which she explained to me that you really had to have read the book to fully appreciate the movie. (I did better with her recommendation to read García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude.")

But all you Hogwartsians should get ready for J.K. Rowling's book tour, coming this October to our shores---Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York's Carnegie Hall. She will read from "Deathly Hallows," answer questions and sign copies. Details are on Rowling's website.

Will Harry's creator turn to young-adult fiction, now that she has so many grown-up fans?