Well -- I just got home from picking up the latest, and final (probably) Harry Potter book. And of course, I skipped right to the end to see how it all comes out. I won't say anything, but I'm not displeased. As for light reading, though -- this one is 759 pages long.

And now, off to the summation of the adventure...

-the other Doug

Glad you dig it, oDoug, but I'm fantasy-impaired...would need a very good quantum-mechanical (presumably) explanation of events to really enjoy the genre. My only excuse is that I'm a preprogrammed evil metal man.

I was going to queue at our local Borders to get one for Helen ( she didn't want to run the risk of someone flicking to the back and screaming out spoilers at the store at 5 past midnight ) - BUT - the queue at Borders was HUGE, probably a couple of hundred people, wrapped around the whole store - so I went to the supermarket opposite and was 11th in the queue, the manager of the store came out with a tray of champagne and orange juice to keep us happy. 20 minutes later I was in, grabbed a copy, checked out using the self-checkout machine, and was out of store 92 seconds after the book went on sale ( according to the receipt) and home by 00:10.

Helen is now firmly encamped in the spare room reading it - fully intending to finish it today. I'm not in as much of a hurry - but do want to see the series to the end having read the others. Personally I was hoping that JKR would fool us all and produce book 7 as a 12 page pamphlet.

Doug

I can see it now:

Chapter 1, "Death at the Dursley's"

Harry opened his trunk, working through the accumulation of, well, stuff that collected over six years at Hogwart's. As he reached inside, a green flash filled the room. Harry dropped down dead.

The End



Seriously, I had reserved a copy of the book at a local bookseller's -- a nice little place that primarily sells new-age and spiritual books, incense, jewelry, that kind of thing. A nice little store called "Eye of Horus." The book is selling retail for $35 USD, but for those who reserved a copy and chose to come and pick it up at midnight, there was a $10 discount.

So, I gathered up two of my girlfriend's sons and her daughter-in-law (who were also picking up a copy), arrived at 11:30 at the nice little store (which threw a little party for the occasion), chatted with some old and some new friends, and picked up my copy at midnight. Checked the final two pages plus the "afterword," and, satisfied that I could read the book without any really nasty surprises, brought it home.

I'm now probably going to spend much of the weekend reading it, but I have enough to do today that I won't even try to read all 759 pages today...

-the other Doug

The BBC News website asked for 100 word potter stories - this had me nearly wetting myself

"By the way, Harry," said Professor Dumbledore halfway through book six, "a prophecy says that you alone can defeat evil Lord Voldemort. That's why he keeps trying to kill you. You must destroy all seven pieces of his soul, and you've got one book left to do it in. Don't expect any help from me; I'll be dramatically murdered in two chapters' time. Besides that, there's exams to pass and hormonal stirrings to contend with. Now do you wish you'd gone to that Muggle comprehensive?"

I'm sure they ordered Oppy not to communicate this week-end so SS can read his own copy. or

Well, even if Oppy did communicate this weekend, there would be little in the downlink that would interest SS (beyond knowing Oppy's status) since science ops have been suspended for a while. or ? I'd have to say . What's even is that I had to do a web search to find out what this Harry Potter thing was all about.

PSSSST!

He who canot be named turnes out to be Gollum, who'd gotten chipped out of a piece of lavarock from Atlantis, remarkably well preserved....

Did a fast flyby thru the book in 5 hours propelled by beer and coffee. As with oDoug, I am not displeased with the resolution of the various sub-plots throughout the series. One major thread turned out to end as I had expected. Now I can't be spoiled, and will execute the low orbit detailed survey over the next 2 weeks or so.

Harry Potter? Pfft. As far as kids' series go, I more interested in the upcoming Three Investigators movie...

"We Investigate Anything"

???

I admire greatly JKR for inspiring gazillions of kids to put down their games console handsets and take up a book instead, but personally I think Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy is waaaaaaaaaaaaay better. Wait 'til the first film hits the big screen this Christmas; from what I've seen it'll be awesome...

Well, you're happy kids put down their game console and now you want them to go to SEE a movie. Not very consistent, Stu! Not very consitant at All!

Actually, I don't want ANY of the little brats to go see the movie, I want them to stay at home reading their "Dark Materials" books, or their Harry Potter books all over again; the noisy, crisp-crunching, seat-kicking, loud-talking little beasts would ruin the movie for me!