Well, folks, it looks like Harry Potter Year 5
drops tonight at midnight.

I suppose I'll have to get a copy tomorrow and read it.
I'm guessing that Costco will have the cheapest price on this book that is gonna retail for $30.
Yeah, hoping for a $20 book price.

Edited title

I stopped by the local Big W (Woolworths) on the way to work this morning and picked up two copies - cheapest price in town $22.95. Not that many people there at 8.00am when they opened - only a few dozen, almost all of us crazy parents buying them for our kids. I bought one for me and Maynooth and one for coolcat90.

Read through the book in a jiffy ...

Not too sad at the death of ..... .


Now why did I waste so much money on this?

I just might be the only one who doesnt like harry potter here. Why do you like this book so much? I can never understant why kids go coconuts over this books. I think JK Rowling is a bit silly. I hear that when she was writing the book she started crying when the charecter that is supposed to die died.

How many of her books have you read? I haven't read any as yet, I am interested to know how you formed your opinion before I decide whether to read them or not.

Quote:

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I think JK Rowling is a bit silly. I hear that when she was writing the book she started crying when the charecter that is supposed to die died.

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Why do you consider her 'silly'? I have no doubt that many authors have , in the past, cried when they had characters that died. One must become very attached to ones characters , especially after four books. I love them and I am no child. I have had my copy ordered and paid for for months. Please do not put any spoilers in here. ( I am sure you won't , folks, but just to be sure). Our children at school had a breakfast party after collecting their copies at 7 a m today. I had to work elsewhere , so can't pick mine up till Monday. Most frustrating!

Yes, it is true when she killed the character (not exactly) she cried.

The character who dies is NOT that integral to the plot (at least to me).

It was one of the bonuses that Rowling gave readers and now she's decided to take it back....

On the fifth book, I thought it was the same old formula that she used. Suspicions of others spiced with a love angle....

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On the question of Rowling being silly, I don't know but I think she is conveying her message to her target audience perfectly well.
She is managed to create a very good parallel universe.....
Even LOTR was bashed initially....

This morning our local Wal-Mart had already sold 4 of the 6 boxes of Harry Potter books they had--at half the cover price, so with taxes, my copy was $17.33. The K-Mart price was $19.00--so I think I really got a good deal.

Sue, it all really depends on what a person enjoys reading. I am a Huge fan of all the Harry Potter books, but my 14-year old daughter doesn't care for them, though she loved the movies.

I personally think that Ms. Rowling is a just a wonderful author.

My 25 year old daughter will be deep in her copy today, she says I ought to read them all.

When an author writes a book, it is almost like their child. It is a very private part of them that they are exposing. Each of the characters have something of the author in them; I think it's pretty natural that she cried.

I could understand why she cried. Reminds me of "Romancing The Stone"! Anywho, I haven't read any of the Potter books but that's only because they have no real appeal to me. My best friend's brother is 12 and totally nuts for those books. She even filmed him reading one and it was crazy-cute. But I think I'll just stick to my Sarah Dessen books.

Well, less than 24 hours later, coolcat90 is almost halfway through the book. Maynooth is lagging way behind. He got to read our copy first because I am still reading another book that I borrowed from a friend and have to return soon.
("On Wings of Eagles" by Ken Follett, for those of you who might be wondering - ).

Sue, I don't know what kind of books you like so I can't predict whether you'd like HP. Maynooth and I originally read the books because our daughter enjoyed them so much. There was quite a bit of publicity here in Australia about the books promoting witchcraft and other evils. Some religious schools banned them. So Maynooth and I decided to see what the fuss was about and to ensure our daughter wasn't being exposed to something unsuitable for her age.

We thoroughly enjoyed them and we can see why the kids enjoy them. Many children dislike reading and the average child has an attention span of just a few minutes. Yet, many of those kids will happily wade through the 600-odd pages of the fourth HP book. So JK Rowling must be doing something right.

There are actually quite a few subtle jokes in them that would appeal to the adult reader. I also think that adults need to be kids again sometimes and indulge in "childish" things, like enjoying kid's books, games and movies. (When we bought our playstation, the lady at the shop asked me "How old are your children?" and I told her "9 and 43".

I am sure if I was a kid, I'd be obsessed with the HP books too! (In my day, we were all crazy about the "Anne of Green Gables" series and I still have my set). We didn't have all the media hype but we were still just as obsessed.

I will give in to it soon, just don't want the daughter to think that she is influencing my reading matter!

I'd probably be around 1/3 - 1/2 way through the book if it wasn't for da** scholastic. They have to mail the darn book to me *cries*

The children at our school are on the front page of the Sunday paper today
They all ordered their copies months ago through the school, there was a special breakfast and they opened their books at 7 am yesterday. It was very exciting!

Lucky them...I'm sulking right now ~_~ I don't have anything to read. Please post some excerpts!!! For those who have the book.

I bet it was!

Man...scholastic's slooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwww. Okay, we won't

Since the New York Daily News got slapped with a $100 million dollar lawsuit for printing excerpts from the book prior to release, I certainly will not do the same even after the release. $100 million is one thing I don't have.

I appreciate the difference of opinions expressed in this forum concerning Harry Potter". I'm 27 and greatly enjoy the series. I've read various news articles where other authors call the series trite and not true literature. I just know that at the midnight opening of my local Borders, I along with 800 others appreciated a bit of trite literature. While it may not be par with say "Gone with the Wind" it certainly has its own niche. When my husband and I start a family it will be one of the many books that I hope to share with my own children. One author even went so far as to call "Harry Potter" a 'fad" that won't be around ten years from now. I'm no seer but I like to think it will, just as C.S Lewis' Madeline L'Engle, Anne of Green Gables, and L. Frank Baum's "Wizard of Oz" various books have survived and thrived. But that's just my opinion

I gave in today and bought a copy, together with the other books so that I can read them first.

I paid £7.99 for it so think that I have paid a really good price, that would be about $12 US - can anyone beat that price?

For those in the UK, it was in Woolworths, their normal price is £9.99 but if you spent £15 in the shop you got it for £7,99 - I was buying the paperback copies of the others, all reduced by £1 or £2 each so not a problem.

12 DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is that even possible? The lowest price I saw was 16.50 at Target.

Wow sue $12 us for the 5th copy!! YOu found a wonderful bargain. I should have been purchasing a copy from you I paid $19.00 (US) plus tax for a hardcopy of the 5th installment. The larger chain bookstores in my area were discounting the book 40%.

Not to veer completely off topic but how would someone describe a Woolworths? Is it a UK equivalent of say Wal-Mart only nicer? I would describe Wal-Mart as a lowscale department store. I apologize if this goes off topic of the forum discussion.

You have me confused here as F W Woolworth was an American, there is the Woolworth Building in New York. Frank Winfield Woolworth founded the five and dime store. Do Woolworth not trade in America anymore?

I can't speak for others but our Woolworth is very well appointed, they have good prices as they are a very large chain and have great purchasing power.

Sincere apologies, I have just used a currency converter and the correct figure should have been $13.29 US - not quite such a bargain but still not bad.

The thrift store known as Woolworth in the US was divested many years ago.
it no longer exists here in the states.

I picked up my copy of the Order of the Phoenix Saturday morning at 10:30 am
finished it roughly 10 hrs later
only stopped to eat

I'm really into the whole sci-fi/fantasy/goth thing
love the werewolves and vampires
the elves and dwarves
magic, muggles, witches and wizards

so, I love this whole series and I think that it is very imaginative.
nothing wrong with making lots of money doing what you love