This weekend I finished A Series of Unfortunate Events and the most recent Harry Potter and now I'm left with that bittersweet feeling that comes with finishing an epic book or even moreso, a series. I am reminded of when I was eleven or so and finished the Anne of Green Gables series. I cried for at least an hour.

At least with Harry Potter another book is on the way, but now I'm part of the droves anticipating the release and probably won't be able to go the cheapo route and buy a used paperback or get it from the library but instead will probably have to buy the hardcover, and maybe even preorder it. I'm not a Potter fanatic, I've enjoyed jumping into this mania late in the game and taking my time reading through the series as I had a block of time to obssessively read a book in a day or two. But after this last one, I don't know if I can be a passive fan any longer. It's funny because I was very skeptical about the books for the first few years after their U.S. release and thought of them quite disdainfully for a while, but once I gave them a chance, I've been taken by them. Just don't count on me being at Border's in a wizard's hat and cloak the night of the release.

Of course, there's all of the rest of the movies, although I have to say that I haven't been completely satisfied by the movies. Obviously, with books as long as 800+ pages, even a three hour movie can't due them justice, but I still think they could allow a bit more time to develop characters rather than rush through the plot. It leaves them rather hollow.

I'm not even going to attempt to write about the Lemony Snicket books other than they're delightful, hysterical, wonderfully populated with likable and dispicable charaters, and just absolutely brilliant. I caught just enough of the literary references liberally sprinkled throughout the books to realize how incredibly unwell-read I am.