BOOKS | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[Picture on the Left: The copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I was reading earlier today. The lighting on my camera phone is cranky, so the effect did not turn out as well as I thought it might. Probably it was also the angle at which I took the picture.]

There will be no spoilers in this post because I have not finished reading the new Harry Potter. But then again, I do not intend to spoil anyone. It's bad enough at work my boss and colleagues are discussing the spoilers they read online or which they found out by skipping to the back. I DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED.

There are 607 pages and I'm 62 pages into Deathly Hallows, and so far it is okay.

The launch was this morning, and I survived to blog another day. It was fun, watching the queue right outside the bookstore as people are eagerly waiting for the book. As the automated shutter door opens slowly, it was a little girl who crawled into the store first just to pick up a copy.

As a book-geek myself, it was sweet to watch a young child with that kind of excitement for a book. The fact that the parents are willing to bring their child to a bookstore so early in the morning is also nice. The fact is, there are a lot of things for a child to do for entertainment these days, and the fact they are still reading is something I find comforting. I enjoy bitching about how J.K. Rowling is richer than the queen, but to see once more the kind of excitement and buzz the Harry Potter novels can bring to people, I think maybe she did do something good.

Just helping out this morning with the Harry Potter launch - rushing to the inventory room for new cartons of Harry Potter books as they were being snatched up by eager fans - it felt good. I was happy this morning even when I was busy and sweaty, and having to answer for the 101th time the difference between the Adult and the Children covers. Often, being in the same job for too long you start to forget why you came into the job in the first place. Your job becomes just a job. But I felt a familiar joy this morning because of Harry Potter. Harry Potter made me remember why I chose to work in a bookstore - because I like books and I wanted to work in a place that shares this love for reading.

So, I'm only about 10% into the books. I may have something to post about it later next week, depending on how fast I read it. If you're reading the Deathly Hallows too, have fun and have a good weekend.