I'll beat all of you to the punch. I work for the company which makes and distributes the Harry Potter series so I'll have my free copy in hand the day it streets.
Reader and publisher pressure can work wonders - remember Sherlock Holmes sudden turn of good fortune. Of course, I don't think Doyle was a billionaire.
Actually, if you work at a book store, you could probably read the book a week or two before it goes on sale. I was working at a book store when the last two Potter's were released and we received our shipments a while before the actual sale date. Mind you, the store can't sell them without a penalty until the actual street date, but I could have cracked open one of the boxes and read it while on break if I wanted to (not that I would ever do such an unethical thing).
Why do I have this feeling that Scholastic/Bloomsbury will NOT deliver Book 7 until July 20, 2007 to the bookstores? They'll keep all the new copies locked up in guarded warehouses this time.
Anyone going to go into a news blackout until you finish? You just know as soon as it streets the papers and networks are going to skip to the end and "HARRY POTTER LIVES/DIES!" will be scrolling across the screen. I just hope nobody at the midnight release I go to flips ahead and screams it out for everybody.
I would NOT be surprised if Bloomsbury/Scholastic sells the book in plastic shrinkwrap and won't give out the book until you reach the register just to prevent this very problem.
Yee-Ming and I, being some hours ahead of you guys, will almost certainly have finished the book before you.
What's it worth for us to keep silent and not shout the result out over HTF, personal messages etc? I'd consider keeping quiet for 12 hours for a HD-DVD player, and 24 hours for that plus a 60 inch thin screen. I'm sure Yee-Ming will be naming his own terms
Except you know as soon as it hits shelves in the first country it comes out in, journalists will grab a copy, flip straight to the end, and have the headline as breaking news on every website, news channel, and newspaper. Until I finish it, I'm not leaving the house, I'm not turning on the TV, I'm not signing online. I don't need "Harry Potter lives!"/"Harry Potter dies!" taking even an ounce of the fun out of it.
Once again, I think the American cover outshines the British cover. The soft pastels just work better for me than the harsh and often garish colors of the UK covers. I do think the UK adult cover, with the photograph of the horcrux, is kind of intriguing though. The most interesting choice was going with bright warm colors for what is undoubtedly going to be the darkest and most somber of the seven. I was expecting dark greys or purely against harsh whites. It doesn't look joyful, but it has a strange quality to it, especially with the subtitle sketched in with what looks like coal.
I guess I'm of the opposite view, I very much like the art of the U.K. edition (children's) over the U.S. I don't like the U.S. artist's style. The art inside the U.S. editions really turn me off.
My preferred editions are the U.K. collector's editions. They make it feel more professional with the better binding and cover material.
As far as content, I highly prefer the U.K. versions to the U.S. Thank goodness no one decided to make Tolkien more "American" and re-write their work.
I have a problem. As some of you know, my family is adopting two Russian orphans. May/June currently looks realistic for bringing them home. The older girl is a big HP fan, but doesn't speak English. I am trying to find a source for a Russian translation. I may have to make arrangements with another family working with our agency to hand carry a copy back on one of their trips to Russia.
My son is making a huge sacrifice; he won't start reading it until his new sister has a copy to read too.
yaa, I'm totally staying in my house locked up until I'm done this one. OOTF got TOTALLY ruined for me by people in residence who all broadcasted dumbledore dying on their front doors! :@
Wow, what a nice gesture. Do any of your family members (or the girl's younger sister) speak English? Perhaps they could read it to her, translating as they go. Most of the translators work off of the English release copies now to prevent leaks, so there's a lag in their release.
is there gonna be a box set of all seven released? I haven't bought any cause i've been waiting to get them all together. and I also haven't decided which version to buy. and I figured they might release a new edition of all the books once 7 comes out as a new collector set or something.