With all of the hoopla, there does seem to be an interesting under-currrent. A handful of us have been on the Harry Potter bandwagon from the beginning. I showed up at my local bookstore to purchase #2 and #3 the morning that each went on sale, that's how far back I go. There are others ike me - we don't seem to mind that others love the books, but there does seem to be a vein of "welcome, but some of us have been here longer than you and don't you forget it."
An English prof from IUPUI was interviewed this morning on NPR, and expressed her doubts that these books would endure. With Ellen Glasgow still on my mind, I understand her thoughts, but I think she's dead wrong. Glasgow isn't the sort of book one reads to children or revisits in a childhood reverie. Rowling is. Oh, sure, she may not be the be-all and end-all in twenty years (forty, sixty) but neither is she the next Glasgow.
Counting the hours -
5 comments:
How did you hear about the first book? Had someone told you about it, or did you see it in the bookshelves and thought it looked interesting? What?
Just so you know: I'm a late-comer, if you interpret "I learned about the books just before Book 4 was released" as being a late-comer. I was working at Wittenberg University (Springfield, OH) as a hall director at the time, and some of my residents told me about the books.
While aware of them from roughly Book #2, I am a relative latecomer in terms of reading (only read Books 5 and 6 at or near the release dates - and now 7 obviously). I was badgered by friends and family to read them. Alas I mercifully relented...eventually.....
I had the first book sent to me by lemming. She had read it and correctly knew I would love it. As a result, my book one and two do not say "Year #" on the spine.
The books got "hot" between three and four. I don't know where they got one and two, but quite a few asked to borrow my book three.
And sometimes, I do feel special that I got in at the beginning and have another great thing to share with lemming.
ryn: OK, I've been giving people letters from my three real names. Most of the easier ones have been handed out now - so how do you feel about having a go at the letter J...
I too read the first book as a recommendation from Lemming (so I must have a Lemming Number of 1). I bought the 2nd book standing in line in a bookstore in England the day it was released there and never looked back.
I just picked up the last one in a bookstore in Hawaii, where I reserved it because I knew it was coming out while I vacationed there.
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