From Frowny to Frabjous
Yesterday morning, I was impatient to know when my UK edition of the new Harry Potter would arrive. I checked my email confirmation and was displeased with the news. It was shipped by mail, so I couldn’t track it, and estimated delivery was between 7/27/07 and 7/31/07. I tried steeling myself for the wait, and reminding myself that it would be possible to avoid spoilers, but I couldn’t help looking at the mail slot every chance I got. I told myself this would make it arrive even later.
Imagine my joy, then, when the mail was delivered, and I saw my amazon.co.uk package. I’ve made just the bare beginning (30 pages) but hope to devote more time to it soon.
One of my best book shopping moments ever was when I worked at a used book store. I’d just read an article about how HP1 was so wildly successful in the UK but had not yet taken off in the US. #2 was already published in the UK, but not yet released stateside. I was unpacking a remainder/seconds box when I found a UK trade paperback of HP1 and a hardcover of HP2! And because I worked there, I got them for 50% off the marked down price! Since then, I’ve gotten them from the UK so I have a matching set, and so I get the English vocabulary, titles, and punctuation.
I’m a fan, but no fanatic. I like the Potter books. They’re fun. The release of a new one is an event. I want to know what happens. They’re not great literature, but so what? Not everything has to be, and they have a fair share of redeeming qualities.
July 24th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
What you said. She’s not the best writer–but dang, she can pull off some wonderfully real characters and some compelling plot lines. I hadn’t read the books before–I have no patience to wait years for the whole series–so I’ve been reading them now, building up to the last one. What fun it was to read them all back-to-back, including #7.
July 25th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
If you can manage, I think it’s smart to wait till the last book of a series comes out and read them all together. I remember this dad and kid coming into the bookstore I worked at, and nearly crying because the third book in the His Dark Materials book by Phillip Pullman hadn’t come out. The downside is that it takes all the longer to work up the nerve to dive in when there are multiple books. I envy you the back to back readings–I couldn’t manage it this time.