Columnist Susan Snyder: Drawn in by magic of Harry

Tuesday, June 24, 2003 | 8:16 a.m.

Stores stayed open until 3 a.m.

They hired armored cars.

People waited in lines for hours.

For a book.

If I didn't know better, I'd say it was magic.

Associated Press reports say "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" broke sales records and emptied bookstore shelves around the world just hours after its release Saturday.

"Are you sure she doesn't have this one?" an older man asked his wife as they walked from a Las Vegas Costco with the newest Potter in hand Saturday.

"She can't have it yet. They just released it today," his wife answered.

In a clothing store up the road, a woman perusing pocketbooks talked about Potter on her cell phone.

At the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area's visitor's center, Phoenix caps adorned the heads of children out for some amateur stargazing Saturday night.

And here I sit, a pimple on the face of pop culture.

I wouldn't know a sorcerer's stone from a rock in my shoe. I figure the prisoner of Azkaban is someone who can tell us in what chamber of secrets the weapons of mass destruction are stored.

And for all I know, "goblet of fire" is a euphemism for something consumed Saturday night and felt Sunday morning.

I have not read a single Harry Potter book.

It feels so ... dirty.

Harry Potter, you've made being a snob really difficult.

It used to be easy -- even fun -- to sit around and not only admit but openly brag that you hadn't been taken in by the media hype.

I did not watch "Survivor."

I have never seen "American Idol."

I'd rather wash my car than spend 10 minutes with "The Osbournes."

If they're standing in line for it at the theater, I'll wait for the DVD to come out. The more baseball caps, backpacks and lunchboxes it inspires, the less of my attention and money it attracts.

So when the rabble babbled on about an English kid's travails at wizard school, I ignored it. Magic was boring.

Until Saturday.

It was hard to avoid wandering into Borders books "just to look." By afternoon, I found myself pulled toward the table at Costco stacked 20 Potters high.

The book was in my hand -- a bargain at $15.69. But I put it back.

I have not earned the "Order of the Phoenix." Four other books stand between me and popular Potterdom.

Sunday evening, in an act of acute desperation and curiosity, I broke my long-standing rule of reading the book before seeing the movie.

We rented "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and were hopelessly sucked into the tale from the moment an infant Harry was placed on the doorstep of his evil relatives and began his journey to Hogwarts.

The rented DVD lay next to the coffee pot Monday morning so one of us would remember to return it. I touched the cover. One time can make you a junkie.

By the time you read this, I will be reading about the chamber of secrets. I have a lot of catching up to do.

And as for that stuff about magic not being real, don't count on it.

Author J.K. Rowling must be some kind of witch.