finished the harry potter book at 4:30am

I told myself I wasn't going to even look at page 1 until I had other things done.

And then my son left his copy out. And ... well ... it was kinda late .... I can't really get any more work done ... no harm in getthing the flavor of the first page is there?

And then I was hooked.

The book consumed my life.

What a gripper!

What an ending!

The release date was announced six months ago. Do you mean you haven't been organizing your time to give yourself a window of free time to read it? That's just poor planning man!

I managed to avoid any "up-until-4" reading binges, but I did put aside non-essential tasks (e.g., laundry, feeding myself, bathing, etc.) for a few days. It's definitely a page turner.

Wow. I wonder what's wrong with me that I never got these series of books? I tried: I just couldn't get into it.

Nothing wrong with you at all. I read the first two and it didn't take me long to notice that the story of Harry Potter was also the story of Luke Skywalker and Frodo Baggins, in a different setting. And then J.K. Rowlings's editor quit, and the next book was 600 pages. I didn't bother to read any of the rest after that.

Originally posted by Paul Clapham:
Nothing wrong with you at all. I read the first two and it didn't take me long to notice that the story of Harry Potter was also the story of Luke Skywalker and Frodo Baggins, in a different setting.

I had the same feeling when I read Dune: thought I was thinking the story of King Arthur.

I really got into that: read all of the Dune books(what? seven? nine?). Then started reading every damn Frank Herbert book I could get my hands on. And mind you, I was about 10 at the time.

But Harry Potter: I dunno. I just don't get it. I don't get the movies either. I think it's a genetic defect of some sort. Probably the same thing that made me retun my MacBook Pro about 10 days after purchase.
[ August 06, 2007: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]

Max, you have always been a breed apart.

But a breed that we should all strive to be like.

So don't worry that you didn't get into the Harry Potter book. Although why didn't you just send that Macbook to me for free.

About the book, I got it delivered from Amazon on that Saturday, and read it straight through with sleeping and stuff and finished that Monday. I thought it was fantastic, and the ending is not like anything I had seen before in Star Wars or LOTR or Dune.

Mark

Despite Mark's encouragements, I'm still reluctant to read the fifth. I've seen the brick at a bookstore, and it still repulses me, because so many people say that it's full of air (last in date was EFH's comment). Do you think that going straight to the 7th would be a mistake ? Apart from the fact that I would understand whose characters are missing.

Interesting. So now two people I admire really liked the book. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

Originally posted by Paul Clapham:
.... it didn't take me long to notice that the story of Harry Potter was also the story of Luke Skywalker and Frodo Baggins, in a different setting.

Yep, the 'chosen one' is one of the most popular themes in world literature.
What stands out in Rowling's work, for me anyway, is the character development. You grow very attached to the people in her books because they're people that you grew up with in real life.
She also has a much better sense of humor than either the creators of either of the characters mentioned above.

I just read #7 cover to cover on Fri.
It was extremely hot and humid and I had taken the day off anyway so I hid in an air conditioned room and read the whole thing.

I also won't disagree that the books are very large, and in some parts it might feel as filler, but I found that it was very easy to read through 700-900 pages, it never felt like a pain to read so many pages. It never felt like it was going really slow. In fact, I had to slow myself down on purpose because I was reading so fast and wanting to find out what happens next, that I wanted to enjoy the experience even more.

Thank god those books were 700-900 pages, if it was only 200 and I was finished in 3 hours I would be disappointed.

Mark

I liked the way she tied up so many loose threads from the previous 6 books in the 7th book. It took me 24 hours to finish the 7th book. I'm now reading the 5th book again and noticing all the "hints" she gave in that book.

Originally posted by Marilyn de Queiroz:
I liked the way she tied up so many loose threads from the previous 6 books in the 7th book. It took me 24 hours to finish the 7th book. I'm now reading the 5th book again and noticing all the "hints" she gave in that book.

I am actually starting back with the first book, so far got a couple of hints or just tie ins from the first.

Mark

Harry Potter joke:

(I'm trying to spoiler protect it, but it's going to take me a few tries. Bear with me.)

Ginny: Albus really is the spit and image of you Harry!
Harry: Close, but no scar.

[ August 09, 2007: Message edited by: Greg Charles ]
[ August 10, 2007: Message edited by: Mark Spritzler ]