These are the boxes that held the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows books at last week’s Harry Potter release party at Barnes & Noble. It was a fun shindig, with kids and adults in costume, story circles where an employee dressed as Harry read from The Half-Blood Prince, and a Harry Potter-themed band, singing songs like “I was a teenaged werewolf”. I didn’t stick around for the big release, though; I did that last time, and it was a very uncomfortable and frustrating zoo. This time, I left shortly before midnight, went to the grocery store, stocked up on snacks for the weekend, and bought my book there.
The book was excellent–extremely intense, but excellent. I’ve spent the past week anchoring myself in the Harry Potter world by reading and posting on discussion boards, watching the dvds after work, and laughing at the crazy people.
If you would care to join me, follow these links:
Here’s a wonderful discussion going on at one of my favorite boards. Be warned, it’s all spoilers, all the time, so don’t go there if you haven’t read the final book.
LibraryThing.com’s discussion groups Look for Hogwarts Express discussions first, then branch out to others.
If My Friends List Wrote DH Hilariously funny, deeply spoilery, and heavy with the slash. If you don’t know what slash is, you may find the story disturbing, but try it anyway.
First six HP books, summarized in 100 words or less From readers of the BBC.
Potterpuffs Cleverly drawn artwork illustrating a few of the scenes from the book.
Rowling reveals character points that wouldn’t fit in the book. Squeeeee!
Readers’ reactions From MSNBC’s employees, and I assume their children (The realization that one of the greatest series is over will take a few weeks to handle. Just like how Voldemort wanted, there will be no more happiness. — From a 10 year old!)
A scripted parody of the final scenes
The beginnings of what could be an awesome Neville fic
That should keep you busy. ;-D