A Bookish fantasy...

Do you know what first got me hooked on the Harry Potter books? Harry's very first trip to Diagon Alley. Rowling's writing is so vivid...  In Diagon Alley, "there were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon..."

I wanted to go there, too. I mean, who wouldn't want to choose your very own owl at Eeylops Owl Emporium, or buy some magical books at Flourish and Blotts where "the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all"? Talk about a bookworm's fantasy vacation!

And don't get me started on Hogwarts, or Honeydukes and Hogsmeade. Just thinking about it makes me wish Rowling's fictional world were real. I'd happily spend the summer visiting all of Harry's haunts. Wouldn't that be cool? Good thing I've got all seven books sitting on my shelf any time I feel like 'visiting'. Here's to revisiting your favorite fictional world this summer!

Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!

(P.S. Have you planned your Harry Potter party yet?)