Why did we start reading the books?

[Gaynor Thomas]

No: HPFGUIDX 22363

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., MmeBurgess at a... wrote:
> 
> So, I'm just curious as to how/why/how long other people read the 
> series.  

I hadn't even *heard* of Harry Potter as late as April 2000, because 
I'd been living in a country town in Japan for two years.

In April 2000, I took a long flight from New Zealand to Seattle via 
Tokyo. I had a 9-hour layover in Tokyo Narita Airport before my 
connection to Seattle. There was an English bookstand in the airport, 
so I bought PS to pass the long layover time - mostly because it 
looked like an easy read for an exhausted traveller! By the time I 
got to Chapter 3, the book was making me laugh out loud, much to the 
surprise of the Japanese travellers in the airport!

I managed to finish PS by the time my layover ended, so I bought CoS 
from the same bookshop. I remember between the long flight from New 
Zealand, the layover, the jetlag, crossing the International Date 
Line! etc. being absolutely *exhausted*, but forcing myself to stay 
awake all the way to Seattle so I could read what happened in CoS! 

A week later I was on my way home to the UK, literally counting the 
hours before we touched down so I could buy PoA (in UK paperback)!

I've been hooked ever since! 

Gaynor