So, how many of you were at a midnight release party for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child? The release of the printed script for the West End production is one of the biggest releases of the year…indeed, of the past few years….and calls to mind the release parties held around the world in honor of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as readers everywhere waiting for hours in line, in the dark, on the streets, desperate to find out if Harry Potter ultimately defeated his lifetime nemesis Lord Voldemort.
To be perfectly honest, I was a bit behind the curve when it came to Harry Potter….ahead of the curve?
…Whatever. The point is that I was a few years older than Harry, so I missed to opportunity to grow up with him, as so many did. So I never attended a release day party for the young wizard. Besides, I had already spent years holding my own one-person release parties for the books I was beside myself with excitement to read before it became cool. I pestered bookstore and library staffs to hand me the books calmly and quietly before I held my breath and turned blue. I sat on the floor in the middle of book stores and libraries until I found out just what happened. And, more than once, I cried at a random stranger when I got to the end (to that end…my apologies to That Man In The Blue Blazer).
And while I realize that telling these stories makes me sound old and cranky, the truth is, that I am thrilled to see the way that Harry Potter changed the act of reading. J.K. Rowling’s books didn’t just defined a micro-generation of readers, and didn’t just shape the reading lives of people around the world. Her books also made reading a public, and a cooperative event (see the sign from the Harvard Bookstore above, which hosted one of the largest parties in our area). And as Harry Potter helped to reshape the publishing industry and, specifically, the teen reading markets, those fans diversified, finding new series to love, and spread the love of reading even farther.
We also have social media to thank for this phenomenon. Harry Potter and Facebook both emerged within the same period of time, making it infinitely easier for readers to organize, to discuss, and to support each other. And ever since then, the internet has supported readers of other genres, series, and topics, as well.
Which is why I found it infinitely entertaining to read today that, even while the book world was reeling with the joy of a new Harry Potter book to read, and savoring all the details of the script of The Cursed Child, a reliving all that has made the series so great, the internet was simultaneously exploding with another book-related furor.
On Thursday, Elon Musk–designer of the Tesla car, darling of the tech world, and that guy who wants to set up a habitation on Mars–told Bloomberg about a book that had made a big difference to him: a book called Twelve Against the Gods by William Bolitho, saying “It’s really quite good.” And, with those few words, the price of Bolitho’s 1929 book, which is only available secondhand, skyrocketed from $4.99 to $99.99 on A**** (you know what that site’s called). Abebooks sold out of its 13 copies in under a day.
Bolitho himself was born William Bolitho Ryall in South Africa in 1890, and served in the First World War, experiencing firsthand some of the true horror that mankind can inflict. He was buried alive during a mine explosion at the Battle of the Somme, and was the only man rescued alive. Though he was initially assumed dead, as well, it turned out that he had been knocked unconscious, and suffered a broken neck, among other injuries. He spent a year recovering in hospital, and though he was able to walk, he never fully regained his health. Following the war, he worked as a journalist for the Manchester Guardian, covering the Versailles Peace Convention, as well as the attempted Communist uprisings in Germany. He was friends with Noel Coward and Ernest Hemingway, both of whom wrote charming tributes to him, He would go on to write a book called The Cancer of Empire (1925) and Italy Under Mussolini (1926), in which he detailed Mussolini’s public abuses of power. In 1929, Bolitho published Twelve Against the Gods, which provides biographical sketches of twelve people who Bolitho felt used their adventuring spirit to achieve greatness. Though each people endured hardships and danger, Bolitho celebrated their lives because they didn’t let those challenges deter them from their goals.
And you know what also brings Harry Potter and William Bolitho together, apart from their sudden popularity on the internet, and their focus on heroes who refuse to let adversity keep them from success?
…Both their books are available at the Library. For free.
So why not come in and check them both out, and see what all the fuss is about? I can guarantee you that there are plenty of fellow readers just waiting to share the joy of reading with you!
