Word: potter
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...seconds past the wizarding hour of midnight Saturday, the most annoying and unnecessary marketing campaign in publishing history finally delivered the goods. J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic Press; 734 pages; $25.95) would have sold millions of copies had its U.S. and British publishers simply dumped them in bookstores, unannounced, and then got out of the way as word of mouth spread among stampeding Pottermaniacs. That is pretty much the way the first three books about the boy-wizard so phenomenally caught fire among young readers and then their parents...
...Harry Potter" Sparks the Imagination: At a time when our biggest pleasure is watching "reality" television, it seems as if we've forgotten the thrill of going inside our heads. TV execs are no doubt patting themselves on the back as to how imaginative they are being with shows such as the just-debuted "Big Brother." But do we really want to be reminded of aspects of our humdrum lives? Do you really need to relive your freshman year of college ("The Real World"), or be confronted by "Cops" (we all know somebody), or be stranded with the cast...
...Potter" Promotes Reading as Pure Pleasure: Quite often, the New York Times' bestseller list seems to be more about I'm-smarter-than-you yuppie consumerism than about the books that people really read. I don't know anyone who finished "Infinite Jest." And do you remember the fuss over Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" (a bestselling dust-collector if there ever was one)? And who read Seamus Heaney's new translation of "Beowulf" other than this year's Whitbread Prize judges? "Harry Potter," on the other hand, will be read over and over and passed from...
...Bridge the Gap Between Children and Adults: Ask any child about "Harry Potter" and you'll find them rapt with attention. They'll regale you with the entire story from start to finish. Wouldn't it be great if that could be a two-way conversation? If you are a parent, this should be reason enough...
...know one thing's for sure. On Monday morning I will be boarding the subway with eyes puffy from my marathon-reading of my newly acquired "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." I'm sure there will be many other adults there just like me. I hope you will be one of them...