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A review by meet_cute_librarian
Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon by Melissa Anelli
4.0
I may not have run a popular Harry Potter fansite or toured with Harry and the Potters or interviewed J.K. Rowling, but I too feel very priviledged to have been on the inside of the HP phenomenon. I was a late convert, not reading the books until a friend (who I will forever be endebted to) drug me to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As a bookseller, I had already worked one HP midnight madness party (for Order of the Phoenix) and truly thought everyone WAS mad for caring so much about something that was clearly a hype machine. However, after watching (and enjoying) the film and getting tired of my friends's reactions to the fact that I hadn't read the books (which were something akin to the reaction I would have gotten if I had told them I couldn't read at all), I decided to give the series a try. I devoured them. In two weeks, I read the first 5 books. I was hooked.
Working at B&N gave me behind the scenes action on the HP world. I got to see the gleam of excitement in a child's eye as I preordered the next installment for him or her. I was gleeful at the opportunity to hand over a brand new copy of the Sorcerer's Stone to a newbie. ("Oh, I envy you.") I got to dress up as Lavendar Brown and quiz an endlesss line of HP fans of all ages on their knowledge of the series. I got to help kids make their wands, I painted their faces with their house mascot and got to see the elation or disappointment on their faces when they got sorted, merely by random selection instead of based on their talents and strengths. I got to stare at the tower of Deathly Hallows in the receiving room that summer in 2007, reaching out and touching them as I passed, almost without knowing it. My body simultaneously hummed with excitement and drooped with sadness by the prospect of what was inside those pages. I got to see it all, firsthand. Those magical HP moments made 9 years of retail books sales worth it.
It's hard to put into words what it is about these books. I think that's part of why they're so good. They're universal. They're timeless. They're not really about witches and wizards and magic at all. They're about prejudice and loneliness and friendship and grief and loss and fear, things every single human on the planet has experienced at one time or another, whether wizard or muggle.
Sure, this book reads like 300 pages of Melissa Anelli's blog but she really hit the nail on the head about why it matters so much: community. Whenever you meet another Potterphile, you are instant friends. I met one of my closest friends(who, non-coincidentally, urged me to read this book after it sat on my bookshelf for years)when she commented on my lightning bolt necklace.
We each have our own Harry story to tell and our own reasons for loving him. Lots of times they will overlap or be similar, but they all mean a great deal to us.
Working at B&N gave me behind the scenes action on the HP world. I got to see the gleam of excitement in a child's eye as I preordered the next installment for him or her. I was gleeful at the opportunity to hand over a brand new copy of the Sorcerer's Stone to a newbie. ("Oh, I envy you.") I got to dress up as Lavendar Brown and quiz an endlesss line of HP fans of all ages on their knowledge of the series. I got to help kids make their wands, I painted their faces with their house mascot and got to see the elation or disappointment on their faces when they got sorted, merely by random selection instead of based on their talents and strengths. I got to stare at the tower of Deathly Hallows in the receiving room that summer in 2007, reaching out and touching them as I passed, almost without knowing it. My body simultaneously hummed with excitement and drooped with sadness by the prospect of what was inside those pages. I got to see it all, firsthand. Those magical HP moments made 9 years of retail books sales worth it.
It's hard to put into words what it is about these books. I think that's part of why they're so good. They're universal. They're timeless. They're not really about witches and wizards and magic at all. They're about prejudice and loneliness and friendship and grief and loss and fear, things every single human on the planet has experienced at one time or another, whether wizard or muggle.
Sure, this book reads like 300 pages of Melissa Anelli's blog but she really hit the nail on the head about why it matters so much: community. Whenever you meet another Potterphile, you are instant friends. I met one of my closest friends(who, non-coincidentally, urged me to read this book after it sat on my bookshelf for years)when she commented on my lightning bolt necklace.
We each have our own Harry story to tell and our own reasons for loving him. Lots of times they will overlap or be similar, but they all mean a great deal to us.