I’m reading the Harry Potter series. Yes, I know, I’m late to the party. I actually started with the movies when the final book came out and rather enjoyed them. And in the last few weeks, both my wife and I have embarked on our journey through the imaginative pages of muggles and wizards, and you-know-who.
And they are quite good stories.
But I noticed something as I travelled through book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I was getting mad.
And that is rare for me.
I read a lot, and I enjoy reading. And, as a publisher, I read many different genres, at many differing quality levels. But to start reacting emotionally to what characters in the book do or say is rare. In fact, this is only the second time it has ever happened to me.
I really don’t like Dolores Umbridge…
She’s making me so mad. Her condescension. Her manipulative ways. Her blind stupidity. I cannot wait for her to get her comeuppance. And, I cannot put the book down.
Which is what a good book is all about. Being pulled into the story by the author, and then being willingly held there as the world on the page is painted in my mind through the brush strokes of the artist’s words.
The other book this happened with?
Dancing Priest by Glynn Young. I liked that one so much, I published it.