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Book Review of Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon

Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon
reviewed on + 6 more book reviews


I was so excited to receive this book in the mail; over the course of the HP books' release, I was more addicted to Emerson's MuggleNet, but occasionally I would venture over to Leaky; I hoped that wouldn't make a difference when I started reading Melissa's account of the phenomenon.

As it turned out, it didn't make a difference. But this book, to me, brought back all of the memories of that first time reading each of the books, experiencing the midnight releases with friends and strangers alike, racing home to read the new tome as fast as I could while still digesting the information in its pages (sometimes reading in the car, although we technically shouldn't have). I was happy to find that Melissa hadn't been one of those from-the-very-first-release-of-the-very-first-book types of people -- nothing against them, because they had a leg up on the rest of us and I'm really actually jealous -- but I didn't start reading the series until after Goblet was released and prior to the release of the first film. I was able to attend the midnight releases of three books and four films, and there is honestly nothing like that feeling in the world.

Melissa's story brought back all the nostalgia I had nearly forgotten about, and it was good to remember everything as if it were only just happening all over again. I felt "Harry a History" was a bit boring in some instances, if only because Melissa felt the need to detail her work environment, etc., and things that I wasn't keenly interested in because it didn't seem to add to the sense of nostalgia I was most anxious to read about. Overall though it felt like an extremely rewarding read.