Les Bonnes Choses

Rebecca had been reading the Harry Potter series to me when we would go on extended trips. I was timing it so that we'd get through a book before the movie came out, and I wouldn't want to start the next book until after the movie. It worked okay for the earlier books because in a 3 or 4 hour car ride (one-way), it was possible to get through them in one trip. The later epics took more than one trip. And the last two, well, I had to read most of the 6th book on my own. Fortunately, I was lagging behind the book releases so that the 7th book had been out for months by the time I finished the 6th book. Good thing too, because the 6th book didn't really stand alone -- at least, not if you wanted some kind of closure. I mean, sure, if you are into books where the main character just gets crapped on for 500 pages then you might check it out. But otherwise, you're kind of obligated to read the next book. I don't know how the hardcore fans handled it because I would have been pissed off after finishing the last page of the second last book.

I had been reading the books on the bus, and made the mistake of not finishing up the last couple of chapters of the last book so I would have something to read the next day. For those who haven't read the book, the last couple of chapters are basically where the fit hits the shan. As in other things in life, stopping halfway through the climax can have irritating consequences. In this case, I ended up with a case of the Mirandas that night because I kept compulsively thinking about the book. That, and Jude was kicking me in the head. I finished the book the next day, and am now looking for something else to read. Until I find it, I'm not as eager to take the bus.