no spoilers!
my mom called me last friday night from the H. Potter party in my hometown indie bookstore (what up Andersen's? thanks for all you've done for me over the years!) where crowds were thronging the street, overwhelming the usual Friday Night Car Show. She was shocked I wasn't waiting in line here in Portland, and made me promise I would go witness the mayhem at Powell's. "Honey, it's the last one, you need to go be part of it"
so I did. Unfortunately I only had a really crappy disposable camera (not the fine superia1000s I prefer) so the pictures are pretty bad, but I am glad I went.
this graffitto read "Ron 4 ever"
they had closed down the block, and about 800 people were hanging out there, plus the line went all the way around the block that contains Powell's (spilling out onto Burnside) and continued on for another 3 or 4 blocks.
whose stylish hand-knitted House Ravenclaw socks are these?
why Emily, who does the lovely Sepia Salax blog with David, Urban Honking compatriots. they had a really good spot in line, and I hung out with them for a while, watching the excitement.
lots of people were in costume, and there seemed to be some SCA crossover. Now if we haven't met in person, you might mistakenly think I am some kind of cool art hipster, but the truth is I am a giant geek. And reading is my absolute favorite thing in the world. I even intensively studied the development of civilization (and more importantly, written language) via the Sumerians in college (among other things). I am addicted to text. I read many books a week.
ah. It feels so good to confess like this.
even worse - I was so excited/obsessed by the book I was reading on friday (Tinker by Wen Spencer, reminded me of Neal Stephenson's classic Snowcrash but with physics and elves) that I didn't even bother to get a copy of the last Harry Potter until yesterday!
when the first kids were let in to get their copies, a roar went up in the crowd. they were interviewed by tv crews and then exited the store, arms held high, triumphant. there was screaming and hugging.
and then everyone got straight to reading.
thanks for the nerd shoutout. Yes, I would rather read than do anything else-ANYTHING! I really think that the Harry Potter haters assume adult fans don't normally read and are just idiots sucked into the next trend. Well,I'm happy to see so many of my comrades are in fact avid readers!
YAY! Thanks Shayla; it was great to see you there & we had so much fun. Reading rocks.
I'm so glad you listened to me. You're such a good no awesome daughter. Too bad Dad didn't feel good over the weekend, but it did give me plenty of time to finish Harry on Sunday, hee hee
It's wonderful kids are so turned on to reading and excited about a book! lots of love, mom ps. fun pics