20. When my eyes close...

I’m going to say something now, you will not believe it. Yet I’m going to urge you to believe me. I did not read Harry Potter, nor have I seen any of the movies - until now! 💥 Told you! That’s pretty crazy, I know, if not ignorant. And you know what, that is not the only universally known cultural puzzle piece I’m missing! 😮 I did start reading the first book a couple of years ago, but I did not finish it. My mind was still fighting to find ways to survive at that time. There was no space for magic in my world. Anyway, I tend to read or watch a movie after the media frenzy has settled down. In this case, it seems that the noise was not only noise. The stories’ value won the battle with time. So here I am, having read the first volume - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and loving it! Oh yeah, I let myself be caught by the web of magic, naive intrigues and rivalries between “houses”, characters and forces of nature. I’m sure that oceans of ink have been poured to print the books and the impressions about it, I’m not going to add to that. But let me just say, the creator of the Harry Potter Universe is clearly a wizard of words. While reading, I’m mostly impressed by the strong images and plot. I mean, the characters are kids, but they are having to deal with adult issues, such as the fight between Light and Darkness, Good and Bad, Strength and Weakness. The book is about building a strong character, overcoming extreme hardship, like waking up among (dumb) people who don’t see anything special in you, they just see another mouth to feed, and treat you as such. We all love a rags-to-riches story, I know I do! It is hard to be an impartial reader! I want Harry to win, I want him to be strong and kill Voldemort, and I’m sad when he is lost or not knowing what to do. A good story is going to make you believe! Myself, I realized that with every book I’m reading, in my mind there's a new world coming together. The street where the house and characters live, the neighbors... and no matter how long after having read the book, if I somehow hear about that particular book, my mind goes back to that and I remember. Having the resources to build whole worlds in my mind is such a gift! It seems that with Harry Potter I’m being gifted a complex, interesting, courageous, ingenious and inspiring world. When my eyes close, I enter a magical world… Let's see how the story unfolds!