Despite using the "super savers" shipping option, Amazon had the latest Harry Potter book on our doorstep yesterday afternoon. I almost didn't want to start reading it, because in that book would be the answers to all my questions. It had a lot to live up to, and I was worried that it just wouldn't be able to.

Well. Some books I've had to slog through. Some books are easy reads. Some books are fun to read but leave nothing behind. And some books - almost everything J.K. Rowling has written - I don't really read. I live them. I finished Deathly Hallows this afternoon, without even having to stay up all night. Just most of it. But I'm months older today than I was yesterday. This book sucked me in. Sorcerer's Stone and Goblet of Fire were the ones that really managed to do that before this one. The other books were quite good, but sometimes the stories just really hit you the right way.

I don't know what it is about the Brits, but they seem to be able to create worlds that I desperately wish were real: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, J.K. Rowling. Out of all of them Rowling is probably the least writer, but the world she created is delightful, lovely and ultimately full of joy. Pratchett would hate this, but he and Rowling are quite similar in this; no matter how dark their books are able to get, there is an undercurrent, at least, of whimsy and fun on every page.

Part of me hopes that Rowling will let us enter this world again. Most of me hopes that she never writes another word about it.

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