Saturday, July 21, 2007 9:33 pm
No spoilers, I promise.
After some friends warned me that I might need to arrive early to get a number that would determine my place in line, I bit the bullet and went down to B&N at 7:00 Friday evening. Because I had to stand in line about thirty minutes just to get up to the table outside the door to get a wristband (orange for those of us who had pre-reserved our copies, blue for those who didn’t), and hearing people talk about how much trouble they had with parking and getting back into the store later in the evening “last time,” I made the decision to just stay there for the entire length of time instead of returning home or doing other shopping in the area.
I made my way through the crowd to the very quiet Christian fiction aisle and picked up Terri Blackstock’s Last Light, which, I believe, someone recommended in a comment here on the blog. After a little more than an hour of book browsing and picking up a few other titles to look at to see if I might be interested in reading them, and found an empty table in the cafe area. I sat there and read until about 10:30 (after reading about the first one-third of Last Light) when I finally got up to figure out where I needed to be to have a decent shot of getting my book as close to midnight as I could. I ran into a few people I know from church and stood with them in what eventually became a line. We were two Bargain Books rows back from the cashier’s station. I finally got to the front and got my book at 12:38 a.m. While waiting at the head of the line, I asked the employee standing there (who’d been directing people to the appropriate lines outside earlier, walking around with a clicker/counter) if they knew a rough estimate of how many people where there. He said when he turned the clicker over to someone else at 9:30, there were already 1,800 people there—based on the steady stream of people he saw coming in after that, he figured there were probably at least 2,000-2,200 people there. And this is not a overly large B&N. There were people everywhere.
Since I hadn’t taken the time to get something to eat before going, I stopped at Jack-in-the-Box on the way home for food (was able to read the first page and a half waiting at the window), then came straight home and, after changing into PJs, started reading. I stopped around 3 a.m. only because I kept dozing off and rereading the same page without really comprehending anything on it. So I decided to sleep. Woke up around 9 a.m., made coffee, eggs, and bacon, and immediately started reading again. With only a few breaks to get up and move my stiff, sore body, I finished reading it at 7:00 p.m. tonight. I went through about a dozen tissues while reading. She didn’t pull any punches, but it has a deeply satisfying ending.
As far as the predictions I made before reading it—well, with some of them, I was right on the money. With others, I got a couple of elements correct but missed others, and with a few, I was just way off base.
I’m so glad I went last night and experienced this much excitement over a book. And not just any book—a genre fiction/popular fiction novel!
I’ll be getting the unabridged audio version from Amazon some time this week, so I’ll spend the next couple of weeks listening to it and catching all of the little details I know I missed because I tend to skim in my anxiousness to know what happens next when reading a new book.
Posted by Kaye Dacus
Categories: Fun Friday
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Got my copy in the mail yesterday-I’d pre-ordered from Amazon. I’m only on page 33 due to some other planned activites. I’m not one to read the last chapter of the book first, but I have to confess, I was tempted. I doubt I’ll finish it today, but for sure within the next 48 hours.
I just love all the hoopla over a children’s fantasy book!
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By Carol Collett on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 8:11 am
So since I’m not a part of teh frenzy…and I don’t mind knowing–Did she kill off Harry? You could email me the response 😀
Thanks
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By Jennifer on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 12:25 pm
There were several times throughout the reading of the book that I was sorely tempted to read the last chapter—but I resisted temptation. Actually, when I first started reading, I kept my eyes averted from the TABLE OF CONTENTS because I didn’t want to get any clue from the chapter titles of what might be coming!
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By Kaye Dacus on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Okay, so I did finish yesterday-just couldn’t put it down. I had to know the end and I just have a fundamental opposition to reading the end without reading everything in between. Kaye, you’re right, the end was very satisfying.
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By Carol Collett on Monday, July 23, 2007 at 7:39 am
Waltzed into Wal-mart Saturday afternoon about 4. Was afraid they were all gone because there was a big empty hole with all the promotional signs around it. Sighed and picked up a few other items. Planned to head over to Books-a-Million. On way to cashier, saw a huge display with plenty of books. Yeah! Got one and didn’t have to make a second stop.
My son and I–because we’ve read every HP book together–got through the first six chapters. We’re both dying for more but we only read when it’s convenient for both of us. So it takes us longer but it’s ultimately more gratifying.
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By PatriciaW on Monday, July 23, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Hee hee–
I reserved a library copy some months ago and got a call from them Saturday morning around 10:30 saying I could come get it whenever. definitely the way to go.
Jay likes buying the paperbacks, s we are able to read now w/o having to buy.
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By Amy Jane on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 at 1:14 am
[…] Kaye Dacus’ Write Place I’m so glad I went last night and experienced this much excitement over a book. And not just any book—a genre fiction/popular fiction novel! […]
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By Music City Bloggers » Blog Archive » Deathly Hallows Reviews on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 10:31 am
Was the Blackstock book any good? Someone else recommended her to me, haven’t read anything by her…..I’ve put the book on my wish list.
I did a bigger order online so my copy of HP will be here one of these days.
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By luvbooks7 on Sunday, July 29, 2007 at 7:38 pm
[…] The Harry Potter series Around the time that the sixth book was about to release, the whole “should Christians allow their children to read this” controversy started up again—back when we could discuss things like this on the main ACFW e-mail loop—but I’ve never been one to make up my mind about something just by what everyone else says about it. So I decided I’d find out what all the furor was about, and I requested all three movies (the fourth movie wasn’t out yet) and watch them to see if it was as bad as all that. They all arrived from Netflix on the same day, and I spent a Saturday afternoon watching them. And then I got on Amazon that night and ordered the “full” set (books 1–5) in paperback. I got through all five books in less than a month (and this was when I was working full-time, was Vice President of ACFW, and in graduate school). By then the sixth book was out, so I bought it, even though it was only available in hardback. And then, I ordered all of them unabridged on audiobook. And the seventh book? Well just read this post and this post. […]
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By Fun Friday: Teen Read Week « KayeDacus.com on Friday, October 22, 2010 at 12:35 am
[…] I mentioned in the first question, but I’m going a completely different direction and go with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s the only book I ever waited in line to purchase the day (night) it released, and the […]
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By Book-Talk Monday: Five Favorite Books « KayeDacus.com on Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 3:04 pm