It took 11 months for me to be a little sad that it's over.

[wordplay]

Made it through the lecture that was completely freaking me out, which is a welcome relief. The nice thing about giving the first lecture of a series is that you can get in on the ground floor and recycle the stuff you've been teaching in 101 classes for forever. *winz*

***

Friday night, smilie117 and danijo1 and Marc and I were driving home from seeing "Serenity" (which, by the by, my favorite Browncoat told me that night that he might be done with those, which is a little sad considering what I'm writing about here but there you are) and somehow we got to talking about the Potter book releases - oh, we we were talking about the HBP release, when Marc drove a van full of my beloved fandom folks ♥ home while we all read. And I was thinking about that ridiculous, giddy experience - the rush of getting the book; the happiness of being in my dark, quiet house with this new book and people I care about and reading late into the night; the weird breakfasts with everybody sitting around and slurping tea and making little noises when they get to an interesting part; the hurry hurry hurry of reading so we can get to the end and talk about it; the strange, holy quiet that falls over LJ, broken only by exclamations and the incoherent reports of people stumbling over the finish line.

I don't want to never have that again.

I don't need to have it every year (I don't think I'm quite recovered from last year's - it turned into quite an organizational thing for me and and it was great fun but, yeah, I could use another year to recover) but I could stand another few of those.

So. Anybody have a lead on a promising book fandom? Or am I wasting my time trying to recreate something so singular and unique and weird that it can never be captured or enjoyed again?

Comments

[longtimegone]

Yeah, I really don't want to think about never doing that again. :(

I mean, god, Carrie, it seems like it was just YESTERDAY that I was sitting on your guest bed, having finally decided to suck it up and power through. It was like...6 am and I was hunched over the book, shoulders and heart aching, trying to quietly cry and blow my nose on the roll of toilet paper I pulled out of the bathroom because I KNEW.

Anyway, yes, it doesn't seem like it's actually done. Kind of surreal, that I know what happens to Harry Potter, you know? Like...it's not really real.

Anyway, yeah, something new like that, and sorry, but Twilight, while good cracky airplane/travel material, just won't cut it. :))

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

I realized as I was writing that description of what those nights feel like that it's really not the kind of thing that can be described - I mean, they're exciting nights, they're proper Events, and yet it's not that I really think they're Super Serious. It's about membership in the tribe, at least part of it - being that part of something bigger. That's not something I feel all that often, and man is it something else.

That Harry Potter, man. I kind of still ignore the epilogue in my head and, actually, I wonder where we are with that a year after it was published. Have we made peace with it?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Wow, it was almost a year ago, wasn't it? It was one of the coolest online experiences of my life. Even as I was doing it, I remember thinking how I would never have an experience like it again.

*is sadly nostalgic*

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

I did big release-type events for both books 6 & 7 and there's something just really fantastic about how the moment hangs there, that 24 hours so outside of regular time. And yeah, I remember feeling the end of it then, but now I'm really missing it, feeling the loss of that experience and having another one of those to look forward to.

[hermorrine.livejournal.com]

Gah, you're so right. I look back on the 6 release as being more epic, somehow... maybe because I traveled? Because I was so much more INTO it at the time? Because of our crazy group? I don't know, but 7 wasn't quite as exciting, despite it being the last book.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's ever been a book or series like HP before, and it seems unlikely to happen again. I don't even know if it'll be as big a deal if JKR writes something else. :/

[freya]

I guess that part of it is that you'll never get the same group of people with the same thing meaning so much to them. HP is a unique phenomenon that has never happened before or since. It's just...yeah. :(

You might get small groups, like, gathering together t00bs for JKR's next book, or we could all decide to do group read throughs of mistful's book or something.

But yeah, we're kinda done. :(

It did make the DH thing so sad. :(

[automaticdoor]

I pretty much agree with frayer. I bet eventually something else will come along (the internet's really good for facilitating those levels of hype) but I'm honestly not expecting it for several decades.

As far as other books go, I'm devouring the Dresden Files. They come out once a year, and they seem almost tailor-made for magic fans. They're more "mature" and darker, but the snark and action and complicated mythology is pretty fun. There are some issues I have (mostly re: treatment of female characters by the overly chivalrous main character [also Harry!], who much like Harry Potter has a huge hero complex) but they're really good so far. I only have about three left before I catch up on the latest one, which is just out.

[tropes.livejournal.com]

I never bought book seven. IT NEVER HAPPENED.

I remember waiting in line with everyone in Boston, all trembling and fizzing with excitement. It was amazing. <3

[dramawench.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. The last book release was so bittersweet for me.

I think this is an excellent idea. Even if it's just a smaller group of us, I think this could be really fun.

I think for teen girls, Twilight would sort of be this, but not to the extent of Potter mania.