Overheard near the “Harry Potter” display at Borders
Mother, grabbing giant book and dragging 7-year-old away by his hand: “OK. Let’s go get a book for you.”
Father: “Where’s the regular one?” (Clearly wanting to purchase a softcover version, not understanding the realities of book publishing.)
Mother: “It’s 1,000 pages. I guess we can’t finish it tonight.”
Bored/cynical bookseller, when I asked if people got a discount on the book for pre-ordering it: “Not any more than everyone else got.” (the book is 40 percent off)
I have no idea why anyone pre-ordered this book, especially because anyone interested enough in it to pre-order it would have heard that the initial print run was going to be something like 47 million books. (It’s actually 6.8 million, but same idea.) You could have built a house with the number of copies at this one Borders alone.
My friend Michele, the biggest Harry Potter fan I know, called me excitedly this morning (waking me up) to tell me she had procured one of the treasured volumes. I told her I would wait until she read it and then borrow hers. I’m not in a hurry to read it; I can’t even remember what happened in the last book.
Neither could Michele.
I’ve never read any of them. Pretty sure I won’t, ever, just on principle. (principal? damn C- in grammar class).
James: You had it right the first time. Just remember, the princiPAL is your PAL. (Well probably not, but it’s a mnemonic device, not a truism.)
In case you want a refresher on book 4 🙂
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/chapters-gf.html
I have not read any of the books or seen the movies either. I’m so out of it.
Well, I’ve read them all. And I remember exactly what happened in the last one. What can I say – I also re-read “The Lord of the Rings” every couple of years or so, so I’m one of those dreadful people in the theater murmuring under her breath “He did NOT fall from a cliff battling a Warg. This is SO wrong.”
I did get the book today, although I really wasn’t planning on getting it for a while. I was at Shopko, and it was on sale for $19.99. And I really needed a lift today. So there.
I pre-ordered the UK version, and I’m still paying less than I would have at a Borders or B&N including shipping. I have to wait a little longer, but I feel much, much cooler.
Sister Jenn’s copy arrived today via FedEx (through a special deal on Amazon) at around 2 in the afternoon. She’s only on Chapter 6. This is slow for Jenn.
Those FedEx guys must have been dreading this weekend. Like Cliff Claven used to talk about “Sears Catalog Day.”
Well, I pre-ordered the book a month or so ago but the reason I did so wasn’t because I was afraid that the store would run out. It was because I didn’t want to get caught in the rush of 12 year olds who were sure to be tearing down the doors of the local Barnes & Noble at 12:01 AM.
Instead, I’ll peacefully walk into the store sometime Thursday morning, nod a greeting to the other four customers that are in the store at the time, ask for my book and walk out.
Oh, and give them money.
Target had big stacks of them in several places, including right by the registers, when we stopped by the middle of the afternoon on Saturday. And the price was right: just over $17US with tax. The missus is half-way through already. I’m meandering through slowly whenever she puts it down.
I don’t understand.