Harry Potter Book 7

Harry Potter Book 7

If I was 12 years old, I would have been impossible this summer ....

When book 4 came out several years ago Nana bought it and I thought I should read one ... I read all 4 in two weeks .... and became one of those people waiting ... waiting ... waiting for answers ... I now have those answers and I am sad and happy at the same time because I will never wonder again about what happened and will have to satisfy myself with trying to figure out the why ... it will be good to read these books again many years from now and see if there are new things I discover or things I forgot I knew ...

So .... as has sort of become the custom of this blog ... here are my random thoughts and timeline diary style notes on the experience that was the night Harry Potter Book 7 came out and my son and I went to Barnes & Noble to wait in line for its release ...

3pm ... Nana waits in line over an hour to get us a good number ... it works ... thanks mom ...

9pm ... at almost exactly at 900PM we enter Barnes & Noble in Lynnwood, meaning the East Coast is getting the book right now ... sometimes there is an advantage to living in the future ...

915PM - the kids' music teacher walks by ... I draw a blank on her name, she looks at me like I am vaguely familiar, I let it go but point it out to Ringo, he's curious, but not curious enough to go look ...

- Scott calls ... tells me he will come join us ... even though he and J are not getting the book ...

- There are activities in the store to keep us all occupied - they are kind of fun; I make a Snitch, Ringo makes a pendant - we keep the ticket and wrist things for souvenirs, along with the pictures ...

- The trivia questions around the store make me feel inadequate as a fan, even though I have read the books and am usually very good at this sort of thing ... it has been many years since the earlier books though, in my own defense --- we get enough correct to "pass" I guess ...

930PM - it looks like we will just try to read, since I won't spot Ringo the cash to buy other books; he makes it 23 pages, I flip through a few magazines, we're done with that for the evening by ten ...

1120PM - we run into an old King's Elementary friend and family, nice to see them and they join us for the rest of the evening in line ...

1140 - we are finally lining up ... and they take the wraps off of books .... (see photos)

- I come to the conclusion that if you wear costumes, you either need to try very, very hard or don't bother AT ALL ... you can easily tell the difference ... it is interesting that some chose Slytherin costumes with the attitude to match ...

- We are numbered in the 51-100 range, which is very good, and even though they announce the way lining up is to be done over and over again on the PA and things are reasonably well marked, many still have no idea what they are doing, sort of like on the highways ...

1200AM - Book 7 is now for sale in the Pacific time zone ...

1216AM - we are out of store, pic taken with the book, and are in the van and on the road home ...

1225AM - We are pulling into driveway at home ... I know at this moment that I will read instead of going to sleep ... so ... I read until 150AM and do glance at the last page even though I should not have and learned one simple thing ... DRAT! ... I finish up around page 111 and would have stayed up all night if circumstances were different ...

FYI and FTR ... I owe my daughter a make up night for this, even though she got to hang with Nana and see a movie ...

1157PM ... Finished! HAH! 759 pages and done within the 24 hours the book went on sale ... even though I slept, took the dog to a vet check up, went to Kinko's, jogged, played checkers and croquette, and ate ... 23:5* minutes from purchase to finished ...

... already loaned out by Tuesday ...

I must admit in the interim it has been fun to tell people, "I read it Saturday," in a very matter of fact, yet likely to be taken as smug, manner ...