An open letter to Harry Potter:

DAMN YOU, HARRY POTTER! Damn you for being so darned addictive and entertaining! Damn you for taking my notions about popular fiction -- popular CHILDREN'S fiction at that -- and turning it on its head.

Since meeting you just a short month ago, I can't get enough of you. I spend my weekends reading about you. My eyes hurt because I read all day long about you and your wacky adventures. Today, Harry, I read that JK Rowling might publish an eighth book about you and I was GIDDY. Giddy, Harry.

This is most unlike me. I am usually the biggest book snob in the known universe. I sneer at people (I imagine I look at like Snape with I do this) in airports with their mass market paperbacks and take joy in curling up with the latest in comtemporary literary fiction.

But Harry, you've changed all of that. I've fallen victim to your charms. I am a victim of Pottermania and I cannot read about your adventures fast enough.

I thank you for showing me the joy in popular fiction and the benefits of jumping aboard a literary bandwagon, albeit about several years after the rest of the universe has.

I remain yours -- a loyal and devoted Muggle reader in Seattle.