Nerve Endings Firing Away

I just got back from Borders after witnessing the latest round of Potter mania. Nope, I didn’t buy the book. I am not a die-hard fan and can wait for a friend’s copy to float by. I should have a detailed post on my experience tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the pictures.

Update#1: As I mentioned a little while back, Ash and I went down to the local Borders to get a first-hand experience of the Potter Mania. I was at the same store when the fifth book released but this time around, the craze was more pronounced. However, after a while I realized that the store had hired a few local high school students and dressed them up as house elves and Hogwarts students to create a Magic ambience. But if that gets the kids to read books these days, I don’t mind one bit. As a large poster outside the store said in big bold letters, Reading is Magic, I couldn’t agree more.

I can afford to wait few more days until some friends are kind enough to lend me their ragged copy so I was there just armed with my camera; I got tons of photo-op chances. Couple of girls who were busy making masks for little children blushed crimson red when I pointed the camera at them but coyly agreed to pose for the picture (although I wish I had gotten a candid shot). The little kids were duly dressed in Potter clothes, right from being draped in Gryffindor colors and pointy hats. The parents surprisingly were as excited as the kids were and there was a palpable excitement all around as midnight neared.

Right at the stroke of midnight amidst loud cheers, the cash registers started ringing as Potter copies were sold faster than hot cakes. I could almost see Ms. Rowling laughing with glee. We didn’t hang around for long but just until the first few people rushed out the store with their copy of the Half-Blood Prince held tightly in their arms. A few of them even stood around the register reading the summary inside the dust cover. Now we have to just wait until someone finishes reading the book (oh! someone already has?) to find out who dies in this book (someone will die, trust me!)

Update#2: I finished reading the Potter book last night. In my opinion, the worst Potter book of the series. Rowling is starting to piss me off by leaving her stories incomplete almost as if to lay the ground for the forthcoming book. There have been book/movie series too but yet each part was a complete entity by itself; the death of a major character is not a justified end.  Although Rowling is a fine storyteller and keeps the pace, I find the conclusions rather anti-climatic and increasingly filmi (the entire Potter-Ginny episode). I hope she redeems herself in the last book. Chances are that she will.