Sunday, July 22, 2007

The final Harry Potter



Saturday morning, bright and early (well, around 8) I woke up with butterflies in my stomach. It was the 21st of July, the date for which readers all over the world have been breathlessly waiting for the final installment in the Harry Potter series. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, put on a black dress (in honor of the black robes worn at Hogwarts), collected Kevin, and was at the bus stop before 9. We had two buses to take to reach the bookstore in Taichung where Kevin and I had reserved the book weeks earlier.


Taichung's own Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, where Kevin and I reserved the book.


We reached the department store around 10:30, where people were queuing up for something outside. For one horrifying moment I thought it might be the Harry Potter book, but thankfully it was for some concert that was happening there later that day. Relieved, we headed upstairs and found the bookstore just as my watch displayed that it was 11.


One small display in the bookstore.


We had each reserved a copy of the adult British version, although it turned out that the American version was in the store for sale as well (though that version was not available for preorder). Our books were handed to us with special orange bags and horcrux bookmarks, and we took them gleefully downstairs to the food court (I may have started reading mine en route, though paused reading for the escalator bits). Grabbing food, we dove in.


Kevin took a picture of his food; I was too busy reading to care much about my meal.


After a few hours of silent reading, Kevin suggested that we find a quieter place, since the food court was bustling with people by then. We took the requisite two buses home, reading steadily, then paused briefly to exchange words with a few classmates in the hallway (and show off our snazzy orange bags) before heading straight into Kevin's room to continue reading.


This is what our covers look like.


Eight hours and one or two 7-11 runs later, we were done. It was... amazing. A beautiful conclusion to one of my favorite series of all time, and -- for me especially -- a wonderful respite from the frenetic sight-seeing that has filled the last few weeks. I've spent today re-reading bits of the book and (as you can probably see) organizing and editing this blog. Tomorrow we have class, and who knows what new adventures our next Tuesday off will bring? For now, I'm glad for a little bit of down time, and even gladder to be able to spend it with HP. ;)