Am I the Only Book-Lover Who Hasn't Read the Harry Potter Novels?

I'm a total bibliophile and I even admit I'm a total book addict. I keep books that I won't read again. I read books again that I have no reason to read again. I steal books from the library because I MEANT to take them back but.... I love them. I need them. (Please don't tell - you other bookaholics know how it is!) I also admit openly that I mostly read garbage. Oh, I've spent my time with the classics and I do truly love them. I spent 10 years in college (getting a 4-year English degree) and it was mostly an excuse to read. I adore Faulkners "Sound and the Fury" and Hemingway's "Travels with Charlie" (which is under-rated) and I occasionally still read some so-called literary fiction that is contemporary like Alice Walker or Alice Hoffman or Alice Jones. Ok, I don't know of a writer named Alice Jones but I was hung up on Alice for whatever reason.

Still, maybe it was those years in school to blame that thrust me into the wild and dangerous world of genre fiction. Maybe it was just meant to be. I don't really know. But now, what I read most is horror, medical thrillers, occasional mysteries, a bit of humor if it's superb (like Douglas Adams - and YES 42 IS THE ANSWER.) I even indulge in a little sci-fi and fantasy but I'm really picky about it. Back to horror, by the way, I consider myself picky there too though I read lots of crappy horror in search of better stuff. Actually, too, lots of the horror I love the most isn't really classified right. Have you read "Watchers" or any of the "Odd Thomas" books by Dean Koontz? The BEST. Of course, it's true- if Dean wrote the text on a toilet-paper package I'd have to buy it. I also like some stuff that my reading friends seem to skip right over like F. Paul Wilson. How can they not love Repairman Jack?

So, what was my point in this ridiculously long post? Um.... Oh yeah! Harry Potter. I read the first book just to see what the big woo was about. I liked it. I read half of the second book and it's well-written and I can't say I didn't like it - I just didn't finish it. Not even sure why. After that, like an evil non-reader- I stuck to the movies. I liked those too though I haven't seen them all yet. I really enjoyed the first three except for the part where Ron does that awful thing with the slugs. Eeewww. Being a book-lover, though, I just feel a little guilty here. I don't have interest in standing in long lines to be the first to get the next book. I'm not that concerned with who will die in some book that I guess hasn't been written yet? I kind of got lost on that debate. And, to be really terribly honest, the Rowling lady seems a little snotty to me. Didn't she like write her name on some statue in a fancy hotel room where she wrote a book? Isn't that kind of snotty to think that her signature would be so cool it was okay to deface someone else's property? Maybe I'm all wrong about her and if someone ever buys all the novels I haven't finished writing yet I might turn into someone awful. Anyway, I just wondered if I'm the only one.