Could it be magic?

In the last few days I have seen (through cable TV and the internet) the frenzy surrounding the world-wide release of the final Harry Potter book. I read that UN workers in Afghanistan were able to purchase the much-hyped book through a clever logistics company. Imagine that. The world indeed gets smaller every day. Fortunately, Cambodia is insulated (for now) from this frenzy, except for the frequent airing of the last Harry Potter film at HBO. Its close neighbors Bangkok and Saigon have succumbed, I think, to Potter-mania but that hasn't happened here in quaint Phnom Penh.

Buti na lang!

I am not a fan of the Harry Potter books. I know that I'm probably in the minority on this but it is the truth. And please don't tell me that I am probably one of those critics who haven't even read any of the books. I did. I tried, at least. It was 1998 when I held the first Harry Potter book. A friend bought it and he was clearly enamored of the story. Since I somewhat trusted this friend's tastes in books, I gave it a go when he lent it to me. After about 20 pages, I started to skip lines and paragraphs (not a good sign). After 50 pages, I started to yawn (a really bad sign) and after about 20 pages more I couldn't hold it anymore. It failed to engage me, my open mind notwithstanding. I felt the same way reading 'The Celestine Prophecy', which sent me to sleep, in the 3 times that I attempted to read the book (I didn't even go near its sequel).

This would not be the end of it, however. In 2004, I visited my friend in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. I was coming from Cambodia, I stayed in her house for a week before traveling to Bangkok to attend the AIDS Conference. She let me stay in her teen-age son's room. I had forgotten to bring a book for my nightly reading and on my second night I saw that the boy had a complete set of Harry Potter books, both in English and in Thai. I took the newest book in the series (Book 5, I believe) and started reading it before I slept. I read this each night, but didn't manage to finish it because we had to go to Bangkok. I had less than 100 pages to go. I have to admit that I was entertained, but was it enough for me to invest in the series?

Hindi rin.

My main misgiving about the Harry Potter books is, while I was entertained reading it, I had a difficult time remembering what I read shortly after I closed the book. In the nights I was reading it, I had to always back-track a few pages to remember where I stopped the previous night. Michael Crichton's books have the same effect on me. Exciting while you're in the story but ultimately, it doesn't resonate after the reading experience is over. The prose is a bit clunky, which for me is inexcusable for a British writer. Much of the magic is at best, a rehash of classic fantasy works, or too-obviously derived from contemporary culture. I'll just wait for the film to come out, thank you very much.

It is great that the Harry Potter books have (allegedly) stimulated a generation of young people to read books but they should know that there are a lot of original and better-written books in and beyond the genre. If there is anything we can learn from this phenomenon, it is that there is a whole universe of books out there to be read and enjoyed while enriching the mind in the process.

To many readers, Harry Potter has opened the door to this universe. It's time to enter.