Harry Potter 7!

freshnesschronic • May 25, 2007 4:47 am
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
I'm getting excited! June 21! I have had mine preordered since January :D
I'm so very, very happy.
Anyways what's with the global news JK Rowling is like "don't read the end, I urge you not to read the end until you finish the whole book."
She's just asking for people to immediately finger the back pages quickly to see how the HP universe ends.

Well, when this thread dies soon I'll resurrect it when the book is about to be released :earth:
piercehawkeye45 • May 25, 2007 5:58 am
You know some douchebag is going to say what happens to all the little kids that are waiting at the bookstores....

like last time.
Sundae • May 25, 2007 8:53 am
I haven't preordered for the first time since Prisoner of Azkaban (my local bookshop put that to one side for me because the hype was beginning to gather momentum). I thought I'd be in London by June, so no point in ordering a copy in Leicester. However the way things are going I'll still be here - might pop into town and place an order this weekend.

Even if someone revealed the end to me, it wouldn't spoil the book. After all it's the journey, not a quick denouement that I read for. Looking forward to it though.

I'm hoping for a twist, where it turns out Dumbledore was right about Snape, and Snape was - with great pain and difficulty - only following Dumbledore's own express orders to kill him under certain circumstances. What? I like Snape - he represents all the "evil" teachers and parents that you realise weren't all that bad when viewed in hindsight. It would be a shame if the know-it-all kids were right about him all along.
wolf • May 25, 2007 11:25 am
I'm pro-Snape too. I've been saying it since I finished Half-Blood Prince.

(I also think Sirius can come back from the dimensional rift he fell into in OOTP).

That being said, I've had my preorder in since amazon first started taking them.
Urbane Guerrilla • May 27, 2007 3:18 am
Uh, June 21 or July 21?

Very pro-Snape? Wolf, there's some very very naughty -- and well drawn -- quite NSFW slash stuff on Destiny Interrupted. Repeat: NSFW.
xoxoxoBruce • May 27, 2007 12:29 pm
The day it's released, I will stop at the local Pathmark supermarket, where there will be large stacks at about 2/3 the price.
It's worked every time.
freshnesschronic • May 27, 2007 12:57 pm
At a supermarket?

Even more strange, why are selling it at discounted prices? The day it's released!? This is Harry Potter we're talkin bout!
wolf • May 27, 2007 1:45 pm
freshnesschronic;347505 wrote:
This is Harry Potter we're talkin bout!


Precisely.

There's a special magic involved. It's called retail markup.

Unless there is futher discounting prior to the release date, I'm getting my copy for about 1/2 price.
xoxoxoBruce • May 27, 2007 1:51 pm
freshnesschronic;347505 wrote:
At a supermarket?

Even more strange, why are selling it at discounted prices? The day it's released!? This is Harry Potter we're talkin bout!


Absolutely, great way to get them in the door in a competitive market.

Remember Wolf, what, 3 years ago? I had mine on Forks Saturday and you didn't get yours till Monday. neener neener neener

Of course neither of us could read that weekend anyway.
wolf • May 27, 2007 1:55 pm
I think that technically, I had mine on Forks Saturday, I just didn't open the box until later. I met the Fedex Man at the door, IIRC.
xoxoxoBruce • May 27, 2007 2:01 pm
OK, if you say so, I'll take it back. reneen reneen reneen

But I remember someone saying it hadn't come. Maybe it was Dagney?
Happy Monkey • May 27, 2007 10:28 pm
A Snape a Snape, ooooh it's a Snape!
rkzenrage • May 27, 2007 10:58 pm
piercehawkeye45;346701 wrote:
You know some douchebag is going to say what happens to all the little kids that are waiting at the bookstores....

like last time.


If I'm there I'll taze em' in tha' nuts or tha' cooch, I promise.
Ibby • May 27, 2007 11:11 pm
[youtube]Tx1XIm6q4r4[/youtube]
monster • May 27, 2007 11:35 pm
Will wait for the UK paperback.
xoxoxoBruce • May 31, 2007 12:25 pm
Why the UK paperback, are you leaving?
Sundae • May 31, 2007 2:35 pm
xoxoxoBruce;349180 wrote:
Why the UK paperback, are you leaving?

She may be a purist - changes are made to the American version.

Three of us ordered at work today - the combined cost meant free postage on Amazon and it was discounted to £8.99. It wasn't until afterwards I realised it's released JULY 21 not JUNE 21. For some reason, although I have seen the date on every advert and poster, I got it in my head it was this month. So in fact I am now going to have to wait for it to be posted from here to London :mad2:
Dagney • May 31, 2007 4:41 pm
xoxoxoBruce;347517 wrote:
OK, if you say so, I'll take it back. reneen reneen reneen

But I remember someone saying it hadn't come. Maybe it was Dagney?


It may have been me, but it's been so long, I forget. :) Hopefully whomever it was, got their book already!
be-bop • May 31, 2007 6:31 pm
I don't get Harry Potter it's very "Famous Five" Jolly good show what
So twee ...
piercehawkeye45 • May 31, 2007 8:23 pm
rkzenrage;347597 wrote:
If I'm there I'll taze em' in tha' nuts or tha' cooch, I promise.

Videotape it. I want to watch them squeal like a little piggy.
xoxoxoBruce • May 31, 2007 11:03 pm
be-bop;349317 wrote:
I don't get Harry Potter it's very "Famous Five" Jolly good show what
So twee ...
I think it was when the second book was out, a high school teacher friend asked if I'd read them. I sort of scoffed, that's a kids book, but she told me they were well written and great fun to read. She was right. Great books to read just for the fun of it.
Cloud • May 31, 2007 11:34 pm
xoxoxoBruce;347502 wrote:
The day it's released, I will stop at the local Pathmark supermarket, where there will be large stacks at about 2/3 the price.
It's worked every time.


yeah. Last time Target had it cheaper than anywhere. Not hard to find at all.
melidasaur • Jun 1, 2007 4:00 pm
I got book 6 at walmart the night of the release for about 11.50. No need to pre-order, but we will probably need to get two copies.

Is the release in June or July? I am so confused.
Urbane Guerrilla • Jun 2, 2007 5:35 am
When I noticed, about Book Four, that my rereadings of HP were catching up to my rereadings of LOTR, I knew that here was literature. Kid literature, but literature nonetheless.
Sundae • Jun 4, 2007 12:57 pm
I've borrowed The Half Blood Prince to catch up (I cant find mine :redface:) and the more I think about it, the more it seems likely to me that Snape isn't as black as he's painted.

I mean, yes he's mean spirited, has no innate sense of justice, has a big chip on his greasy shoulders and is eaten up with hate and bitterness... but who isn't, eh?

The book starts with Fudge's visit to the Prime Minister - an introduction that tells us where and when we are and advances the story by letting us know that Voldemort is wreaking havoc even amongst the Muggles - he is truly back and the world is beginning to feel it. However the second section is that featuring the Lestrange sisters' visit to Snape and him taking an Unbreakable Vow to complete Draco's task if the boy fails. The task turns out to be killing Dumbledore - so Snape couldn't do anything else at that point - it was kill Dumbledore or die, Malfoy had already failed.

However the question has to be, why did Snape agree to make the vow? He had already settled Bellatrix's mind, and with Lucius in Azkaban he hardly need worry about Narcissa's opinion of him - she is married to a failure who has displeased Voldemort. I think he must have had a very good reason to cut himself off from a comfortable life to go back to being a fugitive in a dangerous, back stabbing, tyrannical gang.

I do think putting the episode at the beginning of the book marks its importance, not just its chronological order (many things are told in flashback and by hearsay after all). Apart from anything else it makes it easy to find when the next book turns our assumptions on their heads.
Iggy • Jun 7, 2007 1:58 pm
It is July 21st. The movie comes out July 11th.

For the book:
* Release date (US/UK/English-speaking countries): [COLOR="DarkGreen"]July 21st, 2007[/COLOR]
* Page count: 784 (US), 608 (UK)
* Price: 34.99 (USD), 17.99 (GBP)
* Deluxe Edition Price: 65 (USD)
* Pre-order now from Borders!
Flint • Jun 7, 2007 3:30 pm
Urbane Guerrilla;350004 wrote:
...I noticed, about Book Four, that my rereadings of HP were catching up to my rereadings of LOTR...

As the old punchline goes: "I wouldn'a told that!" (Do y'all know some variation of this joke?)
Urbane Guerrilla • Jun 8, 2007 12:20 pm
Hey, I'm fannish -- the workaday world isn't quite enough for my kind of spirit.
Cloud • Jun 10, 2007 12:55 pm
Here is a list of loose ends supposedly to be tied up by the last book. There are a HELL of a lot of them! Talk about authorial pressure, whew!

(ganked from Muggle.Net, thanks):

--Will Hogwarts reopen? And, if so, will Harry, Ron, and Hermione attend for their seventh year?
--Is Snape good or evil? Where do his loyalties lie?
--What is the significance of Harry having his mother's eyes?
--What caused Dumbledore trust Snape so much?
--Why was Voldemort going to allow Lily to live after he killed James at Godric's Hollow?
--Who is R.A.B.?
--Are Dumbledore and Sirius actually dead? Update: JKR confirmed in New York that Dumbledore is in fact dead - but we still don't know about Sirius!
--What "worst memory" did Dudley experience when he was attacked by dementors in Order of the Phoenix?
--Where are the remaining Horcruxes? And furthermore, was Dumbledore right about what the remaining Horcruxes are? If he wasn't, what are they?
--Who will lead the Order now that Dumbledore is dead?
--Is Bill Weasley a full werewolf?
--Did Voldemort go to Godric's Hollow alone the night he tried to kill Harry? If so, how do people know the events of that night?
--Will the two-way mirror that Sirius gave to Harry come up again?
--Is the relationship between Ginny and Harry really over? Will they get back together in the end?
--What was the "gleam of triumph" in Dumbledore's eyes at the end of Goblet of Fire?
--Is there more behind Voldemort wanting the DADA teaching position so badly, or is it just because he simply wanted the job?
--How will Peter Pettigrew repay his life debt to Harry?
--What lies beyond the veil in the Department of Mysteries?
--If Dumbledore and Petunia were in contact before Harry was taken to Privet Drive, then what were they discussing in their letters?
--Who was "that awful boy" who Petunia referred to in OOTP? Was it James, or was it somebody else?
--Will Ron and Hermione's relationship finally come to be, or will something happen to prevent it?
--What were Lily and James' occupations?
--Will Dumbledore's portrait be of any use to Harry?
--What will Percy do now that the Ministry has been proven wrong and Dumbledore is dead? Will he return to his family?
--Where did Fawkes go at the end of Half-Blood Prince?
--What did Dumbledore see or experience after he drank the potion in the cave in HBP?
--How exactly did the Potters and the Longbottoms "thrice defy Voldemort"?
--Will the terms of the Prophecy be fulfilled? If so, will Harry kill Voldemort, or will Voldemort kill Harry?
--On her website, JKR stated that "there IS a significant - even crucial - answer" to the following question: How and why did Dumbledore have James' invisibility cloak? What is the significance of this?
--What happened to Ollivander? And since there was no sign of a struggle when he disappeared, whose side is he on? And what about Florean Fortescue - are their disappearances linked?
--Will Ron and Harry pass their Apparation tests?
--What about Dumbledore's family? (JKR said in her interview with MuggleNet/TLC that Dumbledore's family would be a "profitable line of inquiry.")
--If Voldemort lost his body at Godric's Hollow, then who retrieved his wand?
--What's behind the locked door in the Department of Mysteries?
--Why did Regulus choose to leave the Death Eaters?
--Will we learn any more about Dumbledore's brother Aberforth? Will he have an important role to play in the book?
--What happened to Dumbledore's wand after his death?
--Who will reinstate the protective barriers around Hogwarts that Dumbledore removed so he and Harry could fly to the tower? Not just anybody could have taken them down or Hogwarts would be constantly attacked. Is Dumbledore the only one who knew how to perform those charms?
--How did Dumbledore know the details of Lord Voldemort's murder of Lily - how LV offered to spare her life and how the charm that protects Harry was formed - if no one else was there to witness it? Was Dumbledore actually there to witness it?
--What happened in the period of time between baby Harry's rescue from the ruins of Godric's Hollow and being left the NEXT DAY at the Dursley's doorstep?
--What were Dumbledore and Snape arguing about that Hagrid overheard at the edge of the forest in HBP? Was it about spying on Draco, or was it something else?
--Where did Snape and Draco go at the end of the sixth book?
--In Chamber of Secrets, Lockhart says that he transformed a werewolf back into a man using the "immensely complex Homorphus Charm." Now we know that Lockhart didn't actually do this, but he did steal the story from another wizard. So, is there a way to cure Lupin?
--Will the giants and goblins take a firmer position about the war? Will they ever choose a side?
--Are we going to see SPEW again? Will the house-elves' rights be improved by the end of the series? And what will become of all of the house-elves that we know so far in the series? Thanks, Roque and Mary Pat
--What happened to Sirius's motorbike while he was in Azkaban? And where is the motorbike now?
--Do we know the whole story behind Dumbledore's hand injury in HBP?
--Assuming Hogwarts stays open, will the curse that Voldemort presumably placed on the DADA position ever be lifted?
--What are the twelve uses of dragon's blood that Dumbledore discovered? Will these discoveries be important to the story in any way?
--Who helped R.A.B. retrieve the locket from the cave? (Dumbledore made it clear that two people were needed to get past Voldemort's enchantments.) And where is the locket now?
--What significance is the fact that Mundungus Fletcher has been stealing things from Grimmauld Place going to have to the plot of the next book? Did he take the locket from Grimmauld Place, and if so, who did he sell it to? Will Mundungus be playing an important part in the next book?
--JKR said that someone will manage magic very late in life in Book 7: who will it be? Filch, perhaps?
--Did Dumbledore have a will or anything equivalent to a will?
--When Snape is about to kill Dumbledore, Dumbledore says, "Severus... Please..." Was Dumbledore asking Snape to kill him or was he asking for mercy?
--What was the potion that Dumbledore had to drink in the cave?
--How did Dumbledore become such an "extraordinary magic user, even at a young age" (a quote from an OWL examiner in OOTP)? Was it just study and hard work, or is there something different about him?
--How will Harry find his parents' home in Godric's Hollow? After all, Wormtail is the secret-keeper, and as far as we know, the only way to find the home would be for Wormtail to tell Harry its location.
--Do we know the full reason that Voldemort decided to try to kill Harry instead of Neville?
--How did Hagrid retrieve Harry from the ruins of his parents' house if he was not told the location by the secret-keeper?
--Now that Dumbledore is dead, who is the secret-keeper of the Order of the Phoenix? Is the spell broken?
--Is there more to the curtain that Sirius fell through in Order of the Phoenix?
--Where did the Potter family's wealth come from?
--Why did Dumbledore give Snape the DADA job if Dumbledore suspected there was a jinx on the position?
--Will Voldemort be angry that Snape killed Dumbledore rather than allowing Draco to do it himself?
--What truly determines whether or not someone becomes a ghost? Is there more to it than what Nearly Headless Nick said there was?
--When Dumbledore is explaining to the Dursleys that the magic protecting Harry will cease to operate on his 17th birthday, each of the Dursleys reactions are given, and the book says that Aunt Petunia "was oddly flushed." What is the significance of her reaction? Does she know something more? Thanks, Kathy
freshnesschronic • Jun 10, 2007 3:19 pm
Good job Cloud. >:(
You've made me obsessed with Harry Potter again.

Now I have to split my forum times with the Cellar and www.thesnitch.net.
Cloud • Jun 10, 2007 3:45 pm
oh no, blame Jo, not me!
Yepa • Jun 16, 2007 5:17 pm
I'm really looking forward to this one. My fingers are starting to itch!!
dar512 • Jun 21, 2007 10:18 am
Cloud;353110 wrote:

--Are Dumbledore and Sirius actually dead? Update: JKR confirmed in New York that Dumbledore is in fact dead - but we still don't know about Sirius!

Actually, what JKR said was that Dumbledore was not going to pull a Gandalf. (The family and I were there) I suspect it comes to the same thing, however.
Sperlock • Jun 21, 2007 10:18 pm
I'm curious to see how they handle Sirius' "death" in the movie. I've never been convinced of his supposed death, though I won't be surprised if he doesn't show up in the final book.
Happy Monkey • Jun 23, 2007 10:24 pm
Just saw the full preview in the theater. Looks cool.
richlevy • Jun 25, 2007 11:06 pm
Spoiler alert!!!!
freshnesschronic • Jun 26, 2007 12:25 pm
I'm requesting off work the day of release and the day after DUH; so I can talk about it the whole day with friends.
Cloud • Jun 26, 2007 12:47 pm
There's confusion here because there are two debuts coming up. OOTP, the movie, and Deathly Hallows, the book. The last book.

yeah, I'm kinda excited. I know what happens in OOTP, of course, but not going to click on any alleged spoiler links.
freshnesschronic • Jul 10, 2007 1:16 am
HOLY CRAP! I'M GONNA SEE THE MIDNITE PREMIERE OF HARRY POTTER 5 IN CHICAGO AT THE NAVY PIER!
Yesterday, me and my girlfriend were in the Jewel parking lot and I was getting ready to go to work but first we were calling to a local pop station Kiss FM 103.5 to win Harry Potter tickets for the premiere Tuesday nite. And, we were the 103rd caller and won! The exact 103, out of like, who knows tens of thousands of callers.

How's them apples.
Prolly the luckiest I'll ever be for 20 years.
freshnesschronic • Jul 11, 2007 4:23 am
Well, hope this thread doesn't die because the movie is decent and the 3D fight scene (at IMAXs) is freakin' sweet. Go watch. Only 7 days til the book YES!!!
Cloud • Jul 13, 2007 1:33 pm
Here's Steven King's column on the ending of an era:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20044270_20044274_20044682,00.html
Urbane Guerrilla • Jul 13, 2007 1:43 pm
A fine elegy. I kinda hope the salesclerk who rings Stephen King up gives him a hug.
Sundae • Jul 13, 2007 1:47 pm
freshnesschronic;362397 wrote:
HOLY CRAP! I'M GONNA SEE THE MIDNITE PREMIERE OF HARRY POTTER 5 IN CHICAGO AT THE NAVY PIER!
Yesterday, me and my girlfriend were in the Jewel parking lot and I was getting ready to go to work but first we were calling to a local pop station Kiss FM 103.5 to win Harry Potter tickets for the premiere Tuesday nite. And, we were the 103rd caller and won! The exact 103, out of like, who knows tens of thousands of callers.

How's them apples.
Prolly the luckiest I'll ever be for 20 years.

Wow! Congratulations
I say go with the gamblers' fallacy and consider yourself a luck magnet for the next few days.

I'm looking forward to the film, but it will be a while before I can see it due to finances. Doesn't stop me trying to glean hints from the trailers though!

I was so disappointed when I first saw Luna Lovegood in the promotional material. NOPE, I thought, ALL WRONG! But having seen her interviewed, and a couple of clips, I think they were right to go for character rather than sticking strictly to JKR's exact physical description.

I like the look of the thestrals too - very close to what I imagined.

I assume they've ditched quite a few sub-plots in order to fit it all in?
I just hope they got the atmosphere right - the trailers are quite gung-ho, whereas to me the book sank quite deep into repression and Harry's despair before rallying into rebellion.

Looking forward to - Grimmauld Place, Harry writing his lines in blood on his hand, the tea shop scene.
Urbane Guerrilla • Jul 13, 2007 1:56 pm
Ibbie, the YouTube was a complete scream!
Cloud • Jul 16, 2007 2:22 pm
I saw OOTP over the weekend. It was slower, more introspective, and less bubbly/actiony than earlier ones, true to the feeling of the book, I think.

Great casting of the new characters. Luna Lovegood, Tonks, Bellatrix LaStrange, and Dolores Umbridge all great! The Phelps twins look uncannily like they could be Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley's) real sons.

The acting, characterizations, and emotions were all fantastic. The director did a great job and the young actors have come a long way in their craft.


They left out the swamp, though. :(
freshnesschronic • Jul 16, 2007 3:37 pm
And what about that kiss huh.
Great snogging. :D
fargon • Jul 16, 2007 4:45 pm
You would think that nobody ever kissed on screen before.
rkzenrage • Jul 16, 2007 4:48 pm
This kiss?
Cloud • Jul 16, 2007 4:55 pm
lots of slash fanart out there--that's a particularly great one!
freshnesschronic • Jul 16, 2007 6:03 pm
No the kiss b/w Harry and Cho Chang in that secret training room. And he kissed Luna Lovegood? I don't recall!
Happy Monkey • Jul 16, 2007 6:11 pm
As per Cloud's comment, I don't think that's Luna...
freshnesschronic • Jul 16, 2007 6:19 pm
Then who the heck is that, Harry's romance only resides with Ginny and Cho.
Happy Monkey • Jul 16, 2007 6:33 pm
Look up the definition of "slash fanart". I think it's Draco.
Cloud • Jul 16, 2007 6:39 pm
yes, it's Draco. Lots of Harry/Draco and Harry/Snape slash out there.
freshnesschronic • Jul 16, 2007 6:51 pm
Never heard of slash fanart. Kinda weird...
Cloud • Jul 16, 2007 6:55 pm
LOL! it's mostly slash fanfiction. I.e., stories about popular tv, movie, or other media characters, usually two men, in a romantic relationship.
Perry Winkle • Jul 16, 2007 8:42 pm
Saw it twice on Saturday. Once with HLS and her dad, and the second time with HLS and some of her rowing friends. Hated it both times.

Note: I just plain hate Harry Potter in the first place. At the behest of HLS, I will be reading the book the movie is based on.
freshnesschronic • Jul 17, 2007 3:48 am
Perry Winkle;364649 wrote:
Saw it twice on Saturday. Once with HLS and her dad, and the second time with HLS and some of her rowing friends. Hated it both times.

Note: I just plain hate Harry Potter in the first place. At the behest of HLS, I will be reading the book the movie is based on.


What's HLS? Sorry you didn't like it. :neutral:
I admit, it was an average but still decent movie in my opinion. But in iMax the 3D part was awesome.
I'm sure you'll like the book more.
Urbane Guerrilla • Jul 17, 2007 5:22 am
They ditched a lot of subplots, tossed in a small bit or two. Umbridge's character came out considerably subtler than the way Rowling wrote her, but that's just fine for older viewers -- Rowling writes her villains with huge flashing neon letters spelling out "V I L L A I N" over their heads.

The movies have all been in their varied ways true to the feeling of the books -- the previous HP movie did a good job of giving the Wizarding world an eldritch feel -- but I like that the books somehow manage a depth the movies never matched. I'd recommend the movies to anyone who's spent the last fifteen years chained facing the walls of the Platonic Muggle cave -- then I'd tell them to read the books for a deeper experience of this world of Harry's.
Urbane Guerrilla • Jul 17, 2007 5:26 am
They call the stuff slash from its first instance: in Star Trek fandom. Some inventive sort started writing Kirk/Spock stories (you can see the slash right there) which start from the assumption that Kirk and Spock are... more than friends.

That artwork looks higher quality than Destiny Interrupted. Slash or not, there is some VERY good HP artwork on the 'Net.

Destiny Interrupted: HP slash fanart, NSFW, yo!
Perry Winkle • Jul 17, 2007 7:31 am
freshnesschronic;364789 wrote:
What's HLS?

I'm sure you'll like the book more.


HLS is Her Lovely Self. That is, my girlfriend.

I hope I like the book, too.
xoxoxoBruce • Jul 18, 2007 12:13 am
cough
freshnesschronic • Jul 20, 2007 2:05 am
Like, oh, my, GOSH, 23 hours until I can get my hands onto the new Harry Potter book, I am like, sooooo, excited.

But seriously I am. Too bad I have to work 9-2 Saturday morning...should I read it from 12am to 9am b/w when I get the book and when I work?
I have a major decision coming up: get sleep or try to finish the book.
piercehawkeye45 • Jul 20, 2007 6:00 am
Supposedly the book was released on the internet illegally so if you really want to make sure you don't hear the ending, wear earphones when you get it so some douchebag doesn't enlighten you.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=635173
Some people just can't wait. It appears that some Muggles couldn't wait until just after midnight Friday to get their copies of the hyper-anticipated "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," purported to be the last in J.K. Rowling's series of books about the boy wizard and his magical adventures.

The Internet is abloom with spoilers (some featuring what appear to be photographed pages from the book that look pretty authentic) so folks can learn what happens at the end. Publishing execs are neither confirming nor denying, and it appears that some of the alleged spoilers are at odds.

The publishing and legal worlds need to figure out what this means with regard to copyright infringement. And if readers truly don't want to know what happens, they can stay away from the Internet until they can lock themselves in a room with the book.

Sadly, it appears that others who obviously need to get a life are planning to shout out which character lived and which died to innocent children waiting in line for pre-ordered books. One pathetic party pooper offered tips on how to pass out fliers to kids in line, revealing key plot elements.

Whatever.

All we can say is that if you think you know what happens, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF! This is the climactic moment Potter fans have been waiting for since the first book was published in 1997. They deserve the chance to see magic reveal itself through the printed word one last time.
DanaC • Jul 20, 2007 1:24 pm
My nine year old niece ( I think she's nine....was it nine or ten last birthday?....not important) is off to the Border's Bookstore tonight where she will be enrolled into Hogwarts academy.....it's a brilliant booklaunch idea. In order to pass the entrance exam she has to have read all the Potter books to date. They start at 9:30 and go on to midnight. Then they go home to bed and back in again at 10am Saturday morning, for a full day of Hogwarts activities.
Cloud • Jul 20, 2007 1:27 pm
waaah!

I want to go to Hogwart's Academy!

so, who's buying the book?

I was thinking of getting up at 6 am and sneaking into Walmart.
DanaC • Jul 20, 2007 1:30 pm
I admit, the Harry Potter thing has passed me by somewha. I have seen one of the films and thought it was okay. I have asked my neice if I can borrow her books (mainly, because I think she finds the idea of being included in the family swap-shop approach to reading, quite exciting).
glatt • Jul 20, 2007 1:43 pm
I read the first and the third, and I'm done with him. They are decent books, but not in my top 100.
freshnesschronic • Jul 21, 2007 1:46 am
Not really connected, but I just learned Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) was in a British play, Equus, where he had a nude scene. Is that legal in the UK?

My opinion, is it's just WEIRD to see Harry Potter's junk. I grew up with that kid, man (meaning we are of relative age).
DanaC • Jul 21, 2007 6:12 am
Not really connected, but I just learned Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) was in a British play, Equus, where he had a nude scene. Is that legal in the UK?



Yes.
Cloud • Jul 21, 2007 9:18 am
well, I got the book this morning. Went to Wal Mart at 6 am--not an unusual occurrence for me in the summer anyway.

I'm the sort of evil person who will usually peek at a book's ending. Not gonna with this one.
xoxoxoBruce • Jul 21, 2007 9:28 am
I beat you by 8 hours.
Cloud • Jul 21, 2007 1:43 pm
so are you done with it yet? I've already cried 3 times, and I'm only 1/5 of the way through.

No spoilers!
xoxoxoBruce • Jul 21, 2007 2:49 pm
No, I haven't started it yet. Maybe sometime this week.
Sundae • Jul 21, 2007 3:38 pm
Mine was delivered in Leicester approx 7 hours after I left
Fingers crossed they posted it for me today, so I'll have it to read next week
freshnesschronic • Jul 21, 2007 3:51 pm
Starting to read it in about 45 seconds.

Hibernating my life for about 13-15 hours or however long it takes.
rkzenrage • Jul 21, 2007 7:00 pm
Mine has not even shipped yet.
I'm not reading this thread any more... you guys are telling too much.
Urbane Guerrilla • Jul 21, 2007 9:05 pm
UPS stealthily delivered ours sometime after midday. We found it under our doormat. The wife's up to chapter 26. Sometime today I'll get a chance at it.
Cloud • Jul 22, 2007 10:29 am
OMG!

OMG!

OMG!

Read straight through 7 am to 8 pm. Awesome book! Very satisfying ending. Yay!
Iggy • Jul 22, 2007 7:57 pm
I LOVED it. I am so glad I didn't have it spoiled for me! I read it in 24 hours, but that is with sleeping and going to the zoo and working in there too.
I read a page a minute, so 784 minutes? How long is that? I would recommend the series to anyone.

Edit: 784 pages: a page per minute would be about 14 hours. That sounds about right. I read at work since it was at my grandmother's residential home where I don't have to do much. ;) I have slept most of today since I only got about 3-4 hours all of yesterday.
Urbane Guerrilla • Jul 23, 2007 4:39 am
I just got done about one this morning... yes, it does satisfy.

So when I wasn't hearing the movies' Hogwarts Theme -- the bell-toned piece -- I was hearing the soundtrack to the YouTube handpuppet show Ibbie posted on p.1.

Caught a midnight release party day before yesterday. The costume contest was won by a suspiciously clean and tidy Dementor, and I fell into a lengthy and animated conversation with the runner-up, a Mad-Eye Moody with long graying hair and a rather mischievous grin.

So... Snape is, well... Snape; and Dumbledore wasn't a plaster saint.
Ibby • Jul 23, 2007 5:47 am
Fucking awful. Hated it. Didn't expect it to be any better but come on, for fuck's sake, could you POSSIBLY have an ending ANY MORE PREDICTABLE? Any more FAIRYTALE?

fuckin' rowling. hate her.
Cloud • Jul 23, 2007 9:53 am
whatever led you to believe it wasn't a fairy tale, Ibram?
wolf • Jul 23, 2007 11:39 am
Got it around 1p on Saturday afternoon when the brown owl (UPS) dropped it on the doorstep. Finsished at 12:15a, with a breaks to eat, potty, and a trip to the CVS because my mother was out of stuff.

I cried, but am vindicated. One of my big predictions turned out to be accurate.
freshnesschronic • Jul 23, 2007 12:43 pm
Damnit, I'm such a slow reader.

Let's not give away spoilers until a week after it's release, so next Friday. It's courteous.
I've been reading everyday but I worked a lot this weekend and have only got to 533. So let's be void of spoilers (or at least tell us where to highlight in your post) until 5 more days.
freshnesschronic • Jul 24, 2007 6:23 am
Just finished HP 7. Good book. JK is the best at what she does.

The epilogue made me smile a lot. How dorky is it to be named[COLOR="White"] Albus Severus.[/COLOR] [highlight]

Thanks for the note Cloud.
Cloud • Jul 24, 2007 9:17 am
are you kidding? with all those dorky wizardy names? At least they can call him Al.

And freshness--I thought you weren't giving away any spoilers until Friday?
wolf • Jul 24, 2007 2:38 pm
freshnesschronic;367361 wrote:
How dorky is it to be named


I thought it was quite sweet, actually. Brought a tear to my eye.

What I want to know is how the fellow ended up with the thingy.

Speaking of dorkiness (or is this nerdiness?), I just ordered books 1 and 2 from amazon.com in the German editions. Just because.
freshnesschronic • Jul 24, 2007 2:40 pm
wolf;367506 wrote:
I thought it was quite sweet, actually. Brought a tear to my eye.

What I want to know is how the fellow ended up with the thingy.

Speaking of dorkiness (or is this nerdiness?), I just ordered books 1 and 2 from amazon.com in the German editions. Just because.


What fellow and what thingy. ---------->[COLOR="White"]Harry and the Elder Wand?[/COLOR]

It's not dorkiness or nerdiness to have the whole collection. It's total coolness!
freshnesschronic • Jul 24, 2007 2:54 pm
BTW, I just googled some cover art.

What do you Britons think of your Harry Potter cover art? I think it's decent, but I think the American art is the best. I looked at the Danish, French and other international cover arts and they are just wacky. And I did'nt know there was a whole nother cover art for British adults!
wolf • Jul 24, 2007 2:54 pm
freshnesschronic;367508 wrote:
What fellow and what thingy.


Wait until Friday after midnight, dear.
freshnesschronic • Jul 24, 2007 8:17 pm
:(
I just saw internet videos (not hard to find of this) where assholes ruined ---> [COLOR="White"] character's deaths [/COLOR] and shouted it out and the page number to lines of waiting fans.
I'd like to castrate them with a snapping turtle.
xoxoxoBruce • Jul 25, 2007 1:22 am
What, that Harry and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named became gay lovers and settled in Australia to raise dragons? Oh damn... I wasn't supposed to give that away, was I?
xoxoxoBruce • Jul 26, 2007 2:42 pm
If you don't like the ending you could choose a different one by Mario Puzo, John Grisham, George Lucas, Joe Haldeman, Dean Koontz, Joss Whedon, Tom Clancy, or David Chase.
Hime • Jul 27, 2007 11:48 am
xoxoxoBruce;368296 wrote:
If you don't like the ending you could choose a different one by Mario Puzo, John Grisham, George Lucas, Joe Haldeman, Dean Koontz, Joss Whedon, Tom Clancy, or David Chase.


Awesome. :D

I did like the ending, actually. But it's cool that they did that -- I just wish Michael Chabon had participated.
xoxoxoBruce • Jul 28, 2007 4:01 pm
At first I thought the Epilogue was closing the door to the possibility of any sequels, but on further thought, it really doesn't.
SteveDallas • Jul 28, 2007 7:15 pm
I enjoyed it (our copy of the UK version arrived on Thursday), but I thought the epilogue was lame.
rkzenrage • Jul 30, 2007 2:38 am
[youtube]JueNPfyRxRs[/youtube]
xoxoxoBruce • Jul 30, 2007 3:25 pm
SteveDallas;369120 wrote:
I enjoyed it (our copy of the UK version arrived on Thursday), but I thought the epilogue was lame.
Yes, lame is a kind way to put it. What's the difference in the UK version, besides the dust jacket... that I shitcan immediately.
Ibby • Jul 30, 2007 6:48 pm
they talk about all the pretty coloUrs.
xoxoxoBruce • Oct 20, 2007 9:55 pm
Newsweek
In front of a full house of hardcore Potter fans at Carnegie Hall in New York, Rowling, sitting on the stage on a red velvet and carved wood throne, read from her seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," then took questions. One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. "Dumbledore is gay, actually," replied Rowling as the audience erupted in surprise. She added that, in her mind, Dumbledore had an unrequited love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort's predecessor who appears in the seventh book. After several minutes of prolonged shouting and clapping from astonished fans, Rowling added. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy."
monster • Oct 20, 2007 10:15 pm
xoxoxoBruce;397569 wrote:
Newsweek


The comments on that article are hysterical.
monster • Oct 20, 2007 10:39 pm
xoxoxoBruce;369663 wrote:
What's the difference in the UK version, besides the dust jacket...


Ibram;369767 wrote:
they talk about all the pretty coloUrs.


There are many, most are minor. When I read the Brit versions, they are comfort food for the brain. The American verisons jar and don't feel right. But the changes are hard to spot, and I found a site that told me why. Unfortunatlely i can't find it now and i didn't bookmark it, but....

It listed over 160 changes in the first book! (yes, every difference was documented).....

If the Americans are likely to understand a word and it's context, then it won't be changed. otherwise it will. eg pavement becomes sidewalk, but road does not become street and car park does not become parking lot. Fair enough, I'm used to this.

But... if there is a concept which does not translate, the entire sentence or even paragraph is dumped. Surrounding areas are adjusted 1984 style.

So you only know what you are missing if you read both. And probably being British helps too.
Cloud • Oct 21, 2007 1:19 am
Dumbledore is gay. Wow. I have to say the "unrequited love affair" with Grindlewald is not news to me, so I can easily see this.
Sheldonrs • Oct 21, 2007 11:41 am
I guess that explains how he caught hogwarts.
rkzenrage • Oct 21, 2007 3:25 pm
I think it is awesome that he is gay, I wish it had been in the novels.
rkzenrage • Oct 22, 2007 2:06 pm
Now that I rethink it, I like that we find out after the books... it makes the point that his sexuality, in the context of the story, is irrelevant. As it is in life.
Sundae • Oct 22, 2007 6:00 pm
Bin reading other websites (I know - bad idea) and the comments make me so mad.

Rowling, who by all accounts lives a fairly normal lifestyle, who has earned millions over the last 9 years, who gives her interviews away as prizes for literacy programmes or free of charge for charities like Comic Relief... She is suddenly accused of trying to drum up publicity by saying a character who does not engage in any sexual activity in her books happens to be gay?!

Ahgad, I won't preach to the converted. I'm mentioning it here so I don't burst anywhere else.

Good for her. His sexuality made no difference to his character. Same as the black characters in her book weren't speciaising in voodoo or something equally as crass.
Cloud • Oct 22, 2007 6:02 pm
and the comment was only in response to a direct question.

People are lots dumber than Dumbledore. :(