MetaChat - Harry Potter is Coming (July 21)

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22 June 2007

Harry Potter is Coming (July 21) How are you preparing? (No spoilers in here; post any, and I'll kill you)→[More:]I've reserved my copy and set aside the next day for reading. I'm avoiding spoilers posts, although some have been thrust upon me- someone on ONTD is going crazy, hijacking posts and replacing them with spoilers.

post by: ThePinkSuperhero at: 16:21 | 27 comments

Daughter has a midnight copy reserved and will read it in one or two sittings.

There is a spoiler thread over in the blue. . .without elaborating, I hope that it's not true. . .

I think the shark was jumped with Prisoner of Azkaben. The books got too bloated after that, like she was so big then, no one had the courage to edit the books properly.

That said. . .the new movie, first day. . .and the book, as soon as I pry it from the hot clutching fingers of daughter and wife.

posted by danf 22 June | 16:24

I'm trying not to get too bummed out by the spoilers. I doubt anyone who actually knows is going to spill it. I think it's more likely that someone will guess and be right. I mean, there are only so many options.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 22 June | 16:30

I'm taking a couple days off work.

posted by box 22 June | 16:30

I think the shark was jumped with Prisoner of Azkaben. The books got too bloated after that, like she was so big then, no one had the courage to edit the books properly.

I agree; Order of the Phoenix is particularly bad. I'll be amazed if the film isn't clunky as well.

posted by chuckdarwin 22 June | 16:31

Instead of reading the book the day it comes out I'll be playing clarinet at Michaels Pub in New York. Oh wait, that's not me. I just won't be reading it.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 22 June | 16:35

I'm going to be on a plane home from vacation, so I'll either buy it right before or right after. I like to buy them from Barnes and Noble or other brick-and-mortar stores because they give cool gifts (plastic Harry glasses! A rub-on lightning tattoo!)

posted by muddgirl 22 June | 16:45

Yeah, we've got the glasses too. They're trying to encourage us to wear them to work, even.

(To clarify: I'm taking a couple days off work because I'd just as rather avoid HP-crazed folks who haven't been to a library in years, and are surprised, and angry, that every copy the library owns is already spoken for, and that there are about 200 people in line ahead of them.)

posted by box 22 June | 16:47

Thanks for clarifying, box; I wasn't sure if you were being serious or if you were making fun of me for setting aside a day, hehhe.

I just checked the NYPL Leo Catalog. Here's the stats on holds for the new book:

Book - Reservable Copies: 1384, Holds: 1798.
CD - Reservable Copies: 161, Holds: 136.
Braille - Reservable Copies: 2, Holds: 0.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 22 June | 16:51

Hear that, NYC Harry Potter fans? You've got about a month to learn Braille.

posted by box 22 June | 17:04

I'll probably download it some hours after it gets released.

And yes, OotP sucks. The sixth book wasn't really good either, it felt like fanfiction. It ignored the emotional results of what happened in the fifth book.

posted by Memo 22 June | 17:05

I thought that the 5th and 6th books were both poorly edited, in different ways. OoTP should have been cut, but HBP was strangely edited. I bet the book started out really really long, and her editor asked her to make it much shorter, but instead of cutting out one story line, she just cut 1/5 of each story line. The pacing was just all off for me.

posted by muddgirl 22 June | 17:33

I gave up on the books some time ago, but love the movies, which are improving.

posted by WolfDaddy 22 June | 18:28

Trying to ignore the whole thing and waiting until the fuss dies down, I'm afraid. I couldn't even get to the end of the first book, let alone the others. On the other hand, that means one less person competing with you for the library copy.

posted by jokeefe 22 June | 19:20

The pacing was just all off for me.

That was a problem I had with the first book! I was right there along with the narrative through the whole first part, until after the Sorting Hat, and then there just didn't seem to be a properly realized plot. Obviously, ymmv (and it does for millions) but I found that the book, after the fun of the establishment of the initial premises, fell down hugely afterwards.

posted by jokeefe 22 June | 19:23

Two less, actually. I made it through the first book (and maybe 3/4 of the first movie) and haven't looked back. Just not my cup of fur, I guess.

posted by bmarkey 22 June | 19:23

I will be battening down the hatches in preparation for Potterdämmerung.

Everyone else in my posse will very likely be getting a copy, so I'm just going to bum from whoever finishes reading theirs first. After GoF I didn't think Rowling's writing deserved my cash anymore. Somehow she lost the ability to write a decent fight scene, and then she lost the ability to use periods at the ends of sentences. Which editor thought four pages of ellipses was a good idea?

posted by casarkos 22 June | 20:00

Potterdämmerung! I love it!

I am STUPID excited about the last book. I'm one of those post Snape-killed-Dumbledore HP fans. I had thought the books and the hype and the movies were all such BS until I finally picked up Sorceror's Stone at a friend's house. I tore through all six last winter, and I've read nothing else really since then. I keep thinking that if I read them over and over I'll figure out what's happening in book 7.

I still haven't reserved my copy, though I'll do that this week at Vertigo Books so I can pick it up at midnight with all the other 12 year olds around here.

posted by frecklefaerie 22 June | 20:57

I'm not sure when I'll be able to get a copy. I buy the US versions and I'll be down there the first weekend of July but I don't know when I'll visit after that.

posted by deborah 22 June | 21:20

I love Order of the Phoenix...the movie is sure to be botched though. There's just way too much stuff in the book to fit in a movie. Is okay, I'll still see the movie (probably even the nerdly midnight showing.)

I hated hated hated the last book. It just didn't seem to fit in with the series. To prepare for the new book I will be rereading the last book...just to see if I like it any better now than I did when it came out. I have ordered my copy of the new book from Amazon and will read it when it arrives.

I'm not avoiding spoilers. I've read several but they all seem like complete crap at this point.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 22 June | 21:35

Oh, I plan to do a re-skim/read of all 6 books in preparation for the 7th in the week or so prior to the release. Weee!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 22 June | 23:01

I will have to read it before my daughter does, just because I don't want her to read something that's going to be stupidly traumatic, emotionally manipulative crap.

ps The US Versions suck.

posted by chuckdarwin 23 June | 03:35

She dies! He dies! They all die!
Wait, I'm thinking about Grey's Anatomy.

Carry on...

posted by moonshine 23 June | 07:36

Hrm, and am I embarrassed to say that I still watch GA? YES!

Oh yeah, yes I'm super excited about the seventh book. I'm waiting for Snape to redeem himself. -taps foot impatiently- But so far I've managed to avoid any spoilers. But I'm not going to get it/read it right away. So I probably should avoid forums and whatnot those weeks after.

posted by moonshine 23 June | 07:40

Last time I stumbled upon that terrible spoiler, the scanned page one, and I have vowed to remain spoiler-free this time. Only it's hard. I'm sort of a sucker for spoilers, and in my opinion they really don't ruin the books -- not for me, that is.

This time I've been theorizing and reading all the articles of other people theorizing and to be honest, I've gone a little nuts on it. (To the point where I am actually offended when people mock HP. It's like it's my mission in life to show everyone how brilliant and wonderful JK Rowling is. But I've done my best not to prosyletize.)

Oh, and my HP party is cancelled. Because no one is going to take the train out to the suburbs at 2 a.m., and because if I'm going to have a "theme party" I want to do it right, but I haven't invested the time or money in actually getting all the crap I'd need to do it.

posted by brina 23 June | 07:50

I preordered my book through Barnes & Noble to be shipped to my house. I've done the midnight thing with reserved books the last two years in a row, and I just don't want to do that again this year. Besides, I blow through the books so fast, my son won't mind waiting to read it. I love the HP books, and I'll miss no new ones coming out. I really hope the rumors aren't true, just 'cause I loves me a happy ending.

posted by redvixen 23 June | 17:41

chuck: I lived in the US when I first started purchasing the series. I want to keep them consistent plus the artwork on the Canadian versions suck.

posted by deborah 24 June | 00:35

box? I totally swiped your line for my LiveJournal entry.

TPS: Would you mind terribly if I borrowed your copy when you're done with it?

posted by TrishaLynn 24 June | 07:42

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