While I am a very loyal and enthusiastic Harry Potter devotee today, I do feel a bit of a fraud because I came to the series so late in the game. My husband, my mom, and my sister were all on board from the first book, but I just never got around to starting. Talk about humiliating for a librarian! Anyway, around the time the first movie came out, I finally got hooked (I have a firm policy against viewing a movie before reading the book), much to my husband's relief and triumph.
I tell you this story because I recently finished the memoir/literary journalism Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon. The author, Melissa Anelli, is the long-time editor of the popular fan site The Leaky Cauldron and, I am relieved to say, a fan who also came late to the Harry Potter party. That is not to say she is an unreliable source--by no means. She quickly became immersed in the fan culture, and as an aspiring journalist, fell into the role of BNF (Big Name Fan) and found her hobby and passion often took precedence over her "real" professional life.
While I found the organization of the book a little confusing at first (chapters are organized by themes, not necessarily linearlly), I soon found myself engrossed in the back story of the little book series that could. Anelli recounts the unlikely beginnings of the first book, the struggle to get it published, and the grass-roots efforts that helped it become an international powerhouse. She examines the birth of wizard rock and the importance of the growth of the Internet and interactive websites to the success of the books. I found the sections about the inner workings of the publishing industry and the drama and controversy surrounding the writers of fanfiction particularly fascinating. Throughout she recounts personal anecdotes about the experiences reading the books the day they came out, her meetings with J.K. Rowling, and her funny and sometimes bizarre interactions with both fans and detractors.
The story feels a little uneven to me, but overall I thorougly enjoyed the journey and the chance to wax nostalgic over my own experiences with the series. A must-read for Harry Potter fans and the people who love them.
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