Harry

Finished it last night. A fine end to the epic.

The first Harry Potter book came out in 1999. For nearly 10 years J.K. Rowling has captivated us with the tale of "the boy who lived." She's a master at character development. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius - they're all real to us...they're a part of our world.

Our boys grew up with this wonderful story unfolding. We have so many great memories of reading the books out loud together before bed or around a campfire or on snowy or rainy days. We listened to them on tape in the car. For years we've been guessing what will happen next.

Victorian novels were like this. Books like Vanity Fair and Oliver Twist would come out in installments. And because they were published in small bits, even the poor could afford to purchase them. So masses of people would follow the story and it would unfold like the episodes of a TV or radio show, forming the foundation of all that was to come.

For all of this, I'm grateful.