Awaiting The Deathly Hallows

Along with many other things, my genetic inheritance from my parents is a love of reading. My mother and my father both love to read, though they both read very different genres. Back in Poona, our house is crowded with book shelves. The one thing I have never been denied (for the fear that I might be spoilt) is a library membership. I even got to choose my own library at the age of seven as I was not too happy with the selection from the library my mother went to. Not too many Enid Blytons there! People who lived in or are living in India will remember that libraries in India are usually small private enterprises, usually housed in an outhouse or garage and run by retired folks or ladies who look at it as a part time occupation. The first thing I wanted to do after some super stressful exams was to go home and read a good book, stay up late in the night reading. I think I always disappointed my peers who would have rather gone out partying or at least for a movie.When I saw the library collection at UT, Austin (yes, I am a Longhorn!!), the tenth largest in the United States, according to the American Library Association, with 8,937,002 volumes, I was elated. Every book that I could think of, I could get.

This week, me and my friends are living in eager anticipation of Harry Potter - The Deathly Hallows, surely the biggest phenomenon in the book reading world to date. Part of the Harry Potter experience has been this waiting period between each book, of going over the many possibilities of what could happen and finding out what actually did. I got into the series quite late - just before the launch of book 4. Once I started reading, I was addicted. Always on the lookout for a good book, the fact there were 3 more books to follow made me extremely happy. Book 7 will be the culmination of the series, when all the missing links get tied in and all the questions get answered (hopefully not too tragically). I wasn't around when Lord of the Rings was being published, so cant really compare it to what it must have felt like to wait for the later parts. But I do feel really lucky to have been around for this series. I am sure having all seven books at hand is not the same! So 5 days, and 10 hours to go .........