The Book Tower

From Booking Through Thursday.

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? If so, right away? Or just, you know, eventually, when you get around to it? Are you attending any of the midnight parties? If you’re not going to read it, why not? And, for the record… what do you think? Will Harry survive the series? What are you most looking forward to?

I have pre-ordered my copy of The Deathly Hallows from Amazon so I’m expecting it to come flying through the letterbox sometime on Saturday morning. Making sure I receive the book on the first day is about as far as I’m taking it though; I won’t be attending any midnight parties and I won’t drop everything to read the book from beginning to end in one magical session. As it’s the last one in the series I think it’s worth savouring, although I’m slightly worried about people releasing spoilers who’ve read it first and … well … spoiling it for me.

Although there are rumours that Harry will die I can’t really see this happening. I read something about J.K.Rowling downing a bottle of champagne and weeping drunkenly after she’d finished writing the book – maybe she’s killed him or another major character off, maybe it’s just an emotional experience for her. Not sure how I’d react to finishing the last line of a phenomenally successful series of books…

What I’ll probably miss the most is losing the sense of occasion that – let’s face it – rarely happens when a new book is released. The latest Harry Potter film has also just come out but I’m already bored with it – blockbuster films are released every week and are hyped so much I don’t want to see them – but – call me an old softie – there’s something romantic and right about a new book being celebrated…