We interrupt our regularly scheduled travel talk to rant about Harry Potter mania. When I got off the train this morning at Union Square at 8:30am, the Barnes & Noble hosting a midnight release party already had a line two blocks long! Of. Adults! I've never read a HP book, but I'm told they are quite good. A good friend of mine just wrote this about HP books, which is rather convincing, but then again, she is a lawyah! Also enjoyed this blog post this morning, at least they have the good sense to be embarrassed about reading kid books.
*The above quote comes from none other than my father, a man of few but all well-considered words. He said this to my mother a few years ago, when HP mania first began, and I have repeated it with delight many times since. I can recall telling it to someone in an East Village bar years ago, who told me I could make a million dollars if I put it on a t-shirt. I was positively gobsmacked (yes, I've been looking for an opportunity to use that word) to find a t-shirt with that very phrase in a London market last summer. I was too angry and confused to buy one or inquire as to the origin of the phrase, but I blame globalization. Be careful what you say in bars, there may be some enterprising Brit just waiting to steal your idea.
The Notorious M.E.G. blogs 
I completely understand. I've been rejecting HP since the phenomenon began years ago. I worked in a bookstore back in those days, and those fanatics used to drive me crazy… so much so that I vowed never to read a line from any of those books or see a scene from any movie! Glad to know I'm not alone. 😀