I promised photos last month from the pre-release party of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at Politics and Prose, and here they are: (more…)

My theory was that if I wrote about the books as I went along that I’d be faster in posting my reading roundups. Clearly that just isn’t so. Instead it gives me time to think about what I’ve written and how I’d like to say something else and it just gets delayed by the normal amount anyway. Such is life… On to the books! (more…)

I’m away on vacation. In my absence I leave you some random posts. Today’s offers you Three Beautiful Things about Harry Potter:

1. I pull the sixth book out of my bag while waiting for the train late one evening and settle in to read. A man in his twenties approaches. “Excuse me. You don’t know me, but are you rereading all the books before the seventh one comes out on Friday? … You are? Me too! I’m so glad I’m not the only one. … And this isn’t just the second time you’ve read them right? … Aren’t they great?”

2. Saturday afternoon, we head outside to read at the local Starbucks (they have an expansive area of outdoor seating). Two guys are reading the books, as is a girl nearby and another girl at the restaurant next door. We see several copies walk by. Blog posts from around the world talk about the book. Almost all of my friends are reading the book. Was this what they meant at Conn when they talked about the global community? Maybe if we had more books like these, there would be fewer wars…

3. A teen sits outside a café, sleeping, his head cushioned on his closed copy of The Deathly Hallows.

I’m done and Rudi is nearly there.

I can’t believe the book is done. I can’t believe the series is over.

And that they were so good.

I’m beside myself with sadness and joy.

(And of my 12 guesses? 7.5 were correct…)

Okay, we’ve got the books. Tomorrow I’ll post or link to photos of our costumes. But I promised guesses of what happens in Book 7 and I wanted to get them down before I started reading. They’re beyond the jump in case you don’t want to see my thoughts, but they’re not based on anything other than having read the books a few times. I haven’t even cracked the spine on my copy yet. (more…)

Since we know I’m on tenterhooks, I thought I’d take part in Booking Through Thursday this week:

1. Okay, love him or loathe him, you’d have to live under a rock not to know that J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes out on Saturday… Are you going to read it?
2. If so, right away? Or just, you know, eventually, when you get around to it? Are you attending any of the midnight parties?
3. If you’re not going to read it, why not?
4. And, for the record… what do you think? Will Harry survive the series? What are you most looking forward to?

Rudi and I have reserved and paid for our copies of HP7 and will be up at Politics and Prose for their Friday night party. I’ve not yet decided if I’ll dress up; it will probably depend on a couple of things (like whether I can find a hat to go with my grad school robe) before Friday at 10 p.m.

Because Politics and Prose isn’t in the easiest section of town to reach, we’ll probably drive up there, which means we will miss out on great commuter reading time. (By the time we metro’d home after picking up our copies in Bethesda the last time, we were already through the first two chapters!) Rudi’s going out on a bike ride Saturday, but I see no reason why I shouldn’t just be able to plow through reading during his absence.

And as for my guesses as to what happens, I’ll save that for Friday’s post. But let’s just say that I’m an eternal optimist when it comes to my book characters. My experience with fantasy novels led me to correctly guess who would not make it through the last book. This time around, I’m less able to say whom I think will die, but quite confident about who will survive to live happily ever after (what I’m looking forward to most). Tune in Friday to find out my thoughts. (And for those who want the guess-free reading experience, yes, I’ll put it past a jump.)