Harry Potter, "...all is well."

               

Reading is a drug. The first line takes you on a trip that can last a lifetime. Sacha, like a million other people, has taken many trips with Harry Potter. Seven in fact. Seven times over. Seven is a powerful, lucky, highly symbolic number... as is this last book of Harry Potter. Seven trips too short...  he doesn't want this tale to end!

If you look closely at the photo you will see that he is reading his last lines... one or two pages remain... I asked him about ninety pages ago how it was going? Dazed he looked up and said, "Mom have you ever read a book were you wished the pages would not have to turn, letting the story go on and on?"

               

I nodded and said, "Boy have I ever."

I know this drug, I have taken it many times, pages, volumes, books upon books. I cannot kick the habit. Have you ever found yourself reading the lines of a book slowly, just so it can last forever? Do you ever close your eyes and hear the words come alive in your mind? Have you ever felt like you were in each word and that each word took on new meaning? Have you ever gone to bed with a flashlight under the covers? Have you ever washed dishes with the book propped up against the counter so you could read at the same time?

Sacha laughed, "Have you ever read the same line several times over just so you can hold on to it in your memory, so that it doesn't end when you close the book?"

Boy does he have the book drug bad or what?

Rarely does it rain in Provence. It drizzled non stop Saturday giving Sacha a chance to read the entire day. I watched him read most of it. I smiled seeing his abandon slippers, and his tongue in his cheek, so absorbed, so faraway. I didn't even mind that his room looked like a bomb had gone off inside it. Nor that he hadn't changed from his PJs. Nor did I mind bringing him food and placing it by his side. It was that kind of day, a day for a trip, a day for the book drug to take his mind and weave a tale.

               

The last page, the last line, the last word... and yet it doesn't end there, a good book never does.

Photos: Sacha taking a trip with Harry Potter in English.

Comments

[sarala]

This is a truly lovely tribute to the joy of reading and especially to Harry Potter. I think the world went into mourning over the last installation of the series.

[Massilianana]

Not wanting a book to end ? Happened to me just a couple of days ago , when I turned the last page of "To kill a mocking bird" , which I read in English . I absolutely loved this book , every line of it , every character , the story swells with beauty and love and "american-ness" .

[tlchang]

Boy Corey, I've been off the blogs for a week on a deadline, and you have such a collection of incredibly relatable entries posted. Books are one of my biggest weaknesses - I have to be careful when I start an addictive book because I become powerless to do anything else until I've finished (and yet want it to go on and on). When I'm reading one of the *those* books, it's as if I *live* there, am one of the characters, can smell the air, taste the food, sleep on the hard ground...

If I don't get to travel as much as I'd like, I can console myself that there are always more BOOKS...

Tara

[mary]

I nearly saw my son reading his Harry Potter ! nice photos !

[heather]

i'm totally addicted to the book drug. my mom says i was born with a book in my hand-must have been uncomfortable for her!

[Amy]

I smiled while reading this entry.... I'm a book junkie, myself. Then I called my daughter over to read the entry. She read it and said 'Hey! Isn't that the boy who loves jelly?!' I laughed and said "yesssss.....odd that you remember that...' She said 'We must be made for each other....books and food...two loves in my life.... and his, too!' hee hee hee....

[elsa]

these are beautiful photos of sacha. just beautiful.
you make me smile corey.

[Betty @ She's Sew Pretty]

That picture could have been my 15 year old son. I was so happy this summer when he finally decided to read the Harry Potter books. His siblings and I love to read and it was like welcoming him into "the club". Now, we've all read HP (and loved it) and I'm trying to get him to read something new. Any suggestions from Sacha?

[suesue]

this was one of those books that i closed and wanted to start reading over again! and yes, there are many books from my childhood that i still read over when i need to give myself a lift! thank you for the reminder.

[Frieda]

"Have you ever found yourself reading the lines of a book slowly, just so it can last forever?'

YES...YES ...YES...Oh YES

It's amazing how authors can move us with their words...My son never got into Harry Potter craze, but he has his other series that he goes crazy over. It's nice to see children reading, Harry Potter got many kids reading again and that is a great thing!

[shelley noble]

Beeeutifull portraits, Corey!

I bet the book of your kids' childhood is one you are savoring too! A lovely mom!

[herhimnbryn]

To sit.
To open a book.
The perfume of the pages.
The first words.
The last words.
A new world in your hands.
Blessings to authors everywhere.

[laura]

oh! i think this is one of my favourite posts ever. i have that drug - frequently.

Currently it's Les Miserables and i am taking my time - i've re-read chapters just because they were so good.

Would love to type more but i'm almost finished with work and then can go home and read!!!

hugs

[susanna]

Oh, I'm a Harry Potter geek, too. They are such terrific books, aren't they? Have you read them yourself, Corey? It's pretty neat that we live in the time when that series of books, the HP books, become well-loved classics. I think that they will be on the same level as C.S.Lewis's Narnia tales and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings for decades to come.

The Time Travelers Wife had that effect on me, too. I fell in love with the characters in that book.

[leslie]

Oh, I so agree! There's nothing better than spending a whole day reading. I wish I could do that all the time. I miss Harry!

[Leanne Beasley]

What a fantastic post! Your photos add to it just perfectly.

[Steph]

What a great post. I took my time reading the final book, slowly savouring it. It was so nice to find a book that made me feel like that after so long.

[Elaine L.]

Finishing a good book is like mourning the departure of a good friend. sigh

~elaine~

[Lea]

Oh Corey... I loved this post. All of it.

[Angela D]

The photos and your words are priceless. I know the powerful effect of the drug called reading. My husband and my son don't quite understand how I can get lost in a good book. I wish my son would enjoy reading. But I do have a 7 year old niece that lives for books and words... and so... she and I can delight together.

[naturegirl]

The photos speak volumes about how much your son is enjoying his read!
I have had those feelings that I did NOT want the story to end...I have put the book away and then months later re-read it!!

[Alison Whittington]

I was banned from reading at the breakfast table because I was late for school too many times. So I started reading the cereal boxes and the milk cartons.

[Denise Nelson]

How true! My oldest Zach, is a Harry Potter fan, he could wait for the next in the sequel to come out. He read in in a day! All day and night. Books are truly amazing! Pinkie

[Bejeweled]

What a wonderful post! How wonderful that he is discovering how to fall into a book and let it speak to your heart and become your world for a while.

[deirdre]

It's so good to see kids reading - the Harry Potter books are the best kind of magic.

Yes, I've heard the insistent call of a book and arranged my life around it, instead of the other way around. There's one calling to me now and tonight I'll curl up with a story.

[Suzanne]

Corey...

Can I confess something?

Now I understand "tongue in cheek"!...

[carol]

What a fabulous post and a great reminder of how wonderful it is to be addicted to books...all you'd have to do is to look in every room of our house and you'd know we all love to read. If there isn't a bookcase filled to the brim, there's a stack just read or waiting to be read.
Thanks for sharing.

[Maddy]

I took a photo of my son at the breakfast table reading HP5 just last week. He is now in the middle of HP6 and read untill midnight last night. It's hard to tell your child off for staying up too late when they they are reading.

[Becca]

Those last chapters of Harry Potter are marvellously mesmerizing. I "had" to read the last half of the final book at Barnes and Noble before buying it and giving it to my daughter Susannah just to make sure that her whole world would not be crushed with the wrong ending (or if so ... I was ready to catch her). Wonderful photo. That's one to frame on your wall.

[Mrs. G.]

Books are my drug of choice. When I am really in love with one, I sometimes force myself to slow down so it won't end so quickly.

[Steph W]

Yes, I know that drug well!

[Julie]

This past summer, the girls and I [ages 16 and 11] waited in line at the local bookstore for hours to get an invite to the Harry Potter book release party...And as we waited I was filled with a real sense of hope and well being. I didn't see us as swallowed up in a pr machine or suckers waiting for the 'carrot' that was dangled in front of our noses. What I saw was hundreds of people of all ages, crazy about reading a book! In this technical age, that seemed almost like a miracle to me!! We attended the party, got our book, and my older daughter stayed up the whole night reading....fell asleep in mid page, awoke and continued reading til the end.... I love that!

[Julie]

This past summer, the girls and I [ages 16 and 11] waited in line at the local bookstore for hours to get an invite to the Harry Potter book release party...And as we waited I was filled with a real sense of hope and well being. I didn't see us as swallowed up in a pr machine or suckers waiting for the 'carrot' that was dangled in front of our noses. What I saw was hundreds of people of all ages, crazy about reading a book! In this technical age, that seemed almost like a miracle to me!! We attended the party, got our book, and my older daughter stayed up the whole night reading....fell asleep in mid page, awoke and continued reading til the end.... I love that!

[Sally]

We're total bookaholics over here Corey and I LOVE this post and especially that it's about Sacha and his love of Harry Potter. So happy to find Sacha is a kindred spirit. There's not much we love more than Harry. :)

[BOSSY]

Bossy often gets flushed with the same sadness when reading a favorite and watching the pages thin toward the back cover.

[Deb]

A lovely post and wonderful pictures. I know that drug...it's sublime.

[Rosemary]

Hi Corey,
Isn't that the best? A good book that you can't put down.
Rosemary

[Linda]

Some of my best friends are books! It is a joy and love and a gift to love reading. I'm so glad I have it.

[annieelf]

The motion in these photos is beautiful Corey. And I'm now inspired to read on to HP #3.

Annie

[nicol]

A book is a ticket to other worlds and anyplace you want to be....I am finally reading the last adventures of Harry myself!
xo N

[Tamara Giselle]

I thought I invented reading books under cover with a flashlight so Mom wouldn't know I wasn't sleeping. Anyways sleeping is over rated, especially when in the company of a good book. It is a wonderful experience when you come upon a book that causes you to read lines over and over and delay it's ending.

[Elizabeth Meredith]

Bless him! I felt the same way about Harry Potter's last book and I am 70-years old. Now if I could only figure out how to knit and read at the same time, I would be happy!

[tommie]

Both my husband and I are voracious readers. It is something we hope to pass on to the kids. Funny you should post about this....I just posted my weekly favorite pics, and one shows a cousin reading to the kids.

[liannallama]

fantastic photos--so full of feeling! How exciting that he can experience the wonder of a story in English and French too! I love to read so much I will read while I'm brushing me teeth or drying my hair--DH makes fun of me! I wish I could read in the shower--I'd never get out, LOL! When I was a kid I would use the light on my electric blanket to read when the lights went out!

[eb]

yes we have the reading bug too...

many a long and cold VT winter

has been spent with the book piles

stacked up next to our chairs

flannel pjs, hot tea or cocoa

yes to all of your book questions

yes to every one

beautiful photos of your son

xox - eb.

[Terri]

When the last Harry Potter was published here in the U.S. my oldest son went to a midnight bookstore release party up in Albany! He got home about 1:30 a.m. with 2 copies of the book and I started reading. I finished the book about 5:30 that evening! It has been a wonderful series!
Sasha is right!
God bless.
Terri

[cruststation]

I wish I had the reading bug, though I haven't given up...never too late to pick up a book right? Love the sepia photos, his deeply engrossed look has me intrigued.

[shannon in oregon]

It is a worthy affair. A drug that is good for your mind. A wonderful journey. I'm glad that there was a series written that captured the attention of everyone, rekindling the love to read for many. I know I find myself forgetting to take time and just soak in the words of a good book.

[Di Overton]

I hate nearing the end of a good book. It's like having a friend leave the country.

[Ariane]

I so understand what you're saying about books. I can become immersed in some books and it can be so sad when you finally reach the end of the book because you don't want the story to stop. I can become so involved with the characters lives. Several books have carried me away like this.