While I would have preferred this spellbinding, enchanting book of spells and enchantments make its colossal debut on Friday the 13th, Harry Potter #6, in the style of the mother ship from "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind," will be touching down one tick after midnight on the 16th. I, for one, shall carve out a space for myself amongst the sleeping bags and candle-light vigils two hours previous, ready to toss a few elbows and right hooks in order to catch myself a copy. When it comes to Potter lovin', all bets and social niceties are off. Fortunately, the books double as fine cudgels. So, all I have to do is curl my stubby digits round a hefty copy and whale anyone who tries to wrest it from me. And trust me, I'm so eager to see what somethings eldritch this way come, I'm not above braining a 10-year-old or two. Anyhoo, are there any other Potterites in the vicinity. If there are, what's your favorite book so far? Mine, surprisingly, is the first. It's the only one which seems truly English. After the book became a franchise, and even though they were still penned by the same author, in the same Cockney vernacular, they now seem a distinctly American property. Much like Winnie the Pooh. He's very much an English concoction, but everyone thinks of him as a denizen of American imaginations. But Potter #1 is so English flavored--in the dialogue, smoky and pungent as a Manchester pub, in the riotously outrageous imagery: I love the idea of Harry and Hagrid speeding about in a magically-oared rowboat, Hagrid reading The Daily Prophet, while Harry, who grew up amongst, stern, quiet-demanding newspaper readers, tries to stifle his questioning mind; the melding of potboiler with slapdash, caroming imagination--the whole affair reminds me of "Billy Eliot." Or, rather, the distinctly Irish air of the movie, the primary-colored stores, the sense of lived-in poverty, the feel of a land of long-forgotten misfits and cranks, the aura of 1985 eternally fast-frozen. So, while I know Potter #3 is the reigning favorite, I can't help feeling Rowling hit the note right and ringingly on the first plink. But what do you think? What's your favorite? C'mon, I dare yuh to disagree...