Why did we start reading the books?

[raining_lizards at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 22360

I was in my second week of a three week trip backpacking through
Ireland with a friend.  One evening she had gone to sleep really
early, and I went for a walk.  I passed a bookstore and realized how
much I missed reading (I pack really light :)  I decided that what I
really needed to restore my spirit was an evening spent reading
something totally escapist.  I'd been meaning to try Harry Potter for
a while and PS looked light (in weight) so I bought it and went back
to the hostel.

I read for quite a while by flashlight.  This was quite possibly the
loudest youth hostel I've ever stayed in (an aside to travellers -
Viking House Hostel in Waterford - the world's noisiest beds.  I kid
you not), but I was very absorbed in HP.  I can't say I devoured the
whole book right away, because I was intent on squeezing every bit of
experience out of my trip, and didn't have a lot of time I wasn't on a
bus (I can't read on buses), out doing stuff, or sleeping, but by the
time I got back to Dublin I was done reading PS, and ready to buy CoS
to read on the plane trip home.  I only wish I'd bought the third book
there too, because it was out in paperback and as far as I can tell it
still isn't in Canada.  After I got home I swallowed my dislike of
hardcover books, and bought the last two.

Now I'm waiting for the fifth book with the rest of you. :)

Rain
(whose copy of PS looks like it's been through a war)