Waste of time? For shame!

It was a struggle, but I managed to keep my mouth shut a few weeks ago when a guy at church told me he doesn't read fiction because "it's a waste of time."  I have gone through spells where I didn't read much, but I've learned again how to lose myself in a book and love every minute of it.  That's how I've spent 90% of my free time in the past two months, as well as 33% of my sleep time.

I avoid spoilers like oncoming traffic, so it is with great hesitancy that I disclose which tomes are responsible: the Harry Potter series.  I'm currently navigating book 7 (while ignoring recommended reading for Israel).  In a week's time (well, after I get back from Israel), I should be finished and we can talk all about it.  Until then, let me savor the surprises.

There's so many beautiful and, fittingly, magical things about these books.  Rowling has poured imagination and creativity into these pages, and it's simply fun to experience life with these characters.  Learning magic suddenly seems a little less glamorous and a lot more dangerous, yet I'd love to be there studying with them.  There is great emotional depth to the epic, which surprised me in a wonderful way.  The relationships
between these characters and the corresponding emotions are palpable: frustrating, invigorating, saddening.

Things that make me cry are gold; perhaps I am strange to love them so, but I do.  Yes, real life blesses us with these moments too, but they are usually accompanied by pain.  Maybe I can attempt in a future post to explore in better detail what makes such a moment, but for now, may it suffice to say that when they happen, in spite of the pain, it is beautiful.