This post is SPOILER FREE - mainly as it is DISCUSSION OF THE BOOK FREE.
So, I t00bed into town at around 8 yesterday evening, to meet up with
Finally, the announcer came on the tannoy and got us to count down the final 10m seconds of the wait before we lead the stampede to the checkouts - and I go to be the first person out of the store proudly brandishing a copy of the book :-). Outside, I was impressed by the length of the queue to get into the shop (in addition to what was inside), and the similar length queues at Waterstones and Smith's down the road. Soon we were on the bus in the direction of Chez Zorac - Las already ready the book, while the rest of us held back for our Evil Scheme. A couple of the folks behind us suggested that possibly we were a bit Sad. HP Gay porn was mentioned. They shut up.
Back home, Cyg, Kay, Simon and myself started our reading plan - one chapter at a time, stopping after each one for discussion. This may sound a bit longwinded (it took us around 17 hours to get through the book, including lunch break), but I though it worked really well, helping to build the tension - plus other people's insights are always interesting. As we were all reading at slightly different speeds (and Las was going straight through the book as she needed to leave early), there was considerable squeeage and wibbleage - accompanied by page numbers for reference. I shall definitely be reading books 6 and 7 in a similar fashion if at all possible.
This post was brought to you by Tesco's Kick (Red Bull, but at 98p for 2 litre bottles) and T00blerone (yes the one where each triangle weighs about 1lb).
June 21 2003, 12:04:08 UTC 17 years ago
You did exactly what I had wanted to do - and what I would very much have liked to do if (a) I hadn't had such a rotten cold, (b) I hadn't been in such a lousy mood and (c) I could have been in Oxford at the time.
As it happens, I haven't read OotP yet - I've been going through Goblet again - and I slept through the European Cup Athletics, making my mood worse. Dinner soon, I hope, then I'll get started and won't try to finish it overnight. Glad it went so well for you all. I look forward to being able to join in with the fun that the rest of you are having.
If you could do this again, would you wait until the morning before starting to read and read from - say - 8am to 1am rather than midnight to 5pm? Do you plan you'll do an overnight read for #6 in exactly the same way?
June 22 2003, 13:16:21 UTC 17 years ago
so,
June 21 2003, 12:19:32 UTC 17 years ago
We were looking for them all morning!
LOL
June 21 2003, 12:27:32 UTC 17 years ago
June 21 2003, 12:32:02 UTC 17 years ago
YAY!!!
Am t00bily jealous of the reading and discussion after every chapter, though I would've had a hard time keeping up with you guys anyway as I read at the speed of a snail on tranquilizers. Have, however, done almost the same thing - stopped after every chapter and thought about it. I can't bring myself to rush through it, though (possibly that is because I haven't slept more than 25 hours in the past week and my eyes keep refusing to go on).
Squee.
Deleted comment
June 22 2003, 13:17:03 UTC 17 years ago