Stress relief, Hogwarts style

It times of great stress, one of my escapes has always been a good thick book. I immerse myself in fiction, which has always been my relief valve when the real world is driving me nuts. The only problem I have is keeping an ample supply. I’m what you might call a fast reader.

I got the new Harry Potter the weekend it came out, and had finished it in less than 48 hours. I actually tried to start slowing down near the end because I didn’t want it to be over. When I finished, I decided to read the entire series over again from the beginning to really enjoy all the little tidbits, clues and foreshadowing that J.K. Rowling dropped like bread crumbs through these books and we faithful readers collected, usually without knowing how important they’d be later on.

I’m now almost back to “The Half-Blood Prince,” having blazed through the whole series in the last few weeks. Like Middle Earth in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy (which I have read in its entirety once a year for a good chunk of my adult life), I find the world of Harry Potter to be a comforting place.

Now you may be thinking, Sauron and Voldemort, comforting? True, lots of bad things happen in both series. People suffer and die. But in both of these large tales of good versus evil, good generally does triumph, even if it comes at a great cost. It gives me hope, I guess.

Reading “The Order of the Phoenix” again also allowed me to relive the beautiful moment when Fred and George Weasley truly set loose the hounds of mischief at Hogwarts. I laughed out loud last night as I read that chapter again.

And no matter how stressful my job may be at times, it reminds me that at least I don’t have to deal with anyone as smug and detestable as Dolores Umbridge. (Though I do think I might actually have spoken in Parseltongue today when my computer locked up, resulting in a good solid hour of rework.)

So thanks, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Hagrid. I owe you one.

There’s just one problem. What am I going to read next?