Dog Days

Jul 25, 2007 | TV, Movies, & Good Reads

What is wrong with this picture?

Why does this dog look so sad? So alert? So ready to spring into action on a warm summer day?

Because he hasn’t received his copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet. I’d venture to guess this is what the 2 million Amazon customers looked like on Saturday as they awaited the UPS driver to arrive with their copy of Harry Potter.

I know I spent the day pacing the floor, glancing out the window at the least bit of rumble of traffic on my otherwise quiet street. Oh, yes, I could have done the line up at midnight thing, the wait around Barnes & Noble or Borders all night. But instead, I spent Friday night going to see Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix with one of the little heroes. He’s only 8, but he’s a huge Harry fan, having seen all the movies so far and is currently working his way through the first Harry Potter book. He’s determined to read them all, but being only 8, it takes a little longer to read them. (BTW, this wonderful dog pic was taken by my cousin, Robin Corey.)

As for my poor beleaguered UPS man, he finally arrived about 3:30 in the afternoon. I might have spent the day anxious and watchful, but my intermittent pacing was nothing compared the day he’d been having. He looked like this:

Rather like he’d been dragged behind his truck and trampled by every one of his customers.

I just hope there was a copy leftover for him at the end of the day.

How did you get your copy and are you finished? Please no spoilers! I’m done, but I would hate for anyone else to see one.

14 Comments

  1. Shannon McKelden

    You really want to know? My teenage daughter and I preordered our copies from Amazon. She arrived at work (at PostNet) at 9:30 a.m. and called to tell me the books were there already. So I sent my husband back (he’d just dropped her off) to get my copy…forget that I had to work 8 hours.

    He brings my copy home, which I lovingly opened. But my 11 yo son looked so sadly at the book, knowing he would have to wait until either me or my daughter finished before he could read it, that my husband took him BACK to the store to buy his own copy.

    Darling Son started at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. I started at 3:01 p.m. (immediately after work). Darling Daughter started at about 6:00 p.m. after her work. Darling son finished at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Darling Daughter finished at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, and I finished at 5:30 p.m. Sunday (obviously the slowpoke of the bunch!). Darling Husband joked that he had been abandoned by his family for a fictional character. Heck, he’s married to a writer, you’d think he’d be used to that by now. πŸ™‚

    I loved it, and I was happy with it. I “almost” want to read it again, but not ready for another 759-page reading marathon.

    Shannon

  2. Gillian

    I was so ready to hate this book, after the way she dealt with poor Snape in book six. However, I was really, really pleased. I finished it in a day, which is how we handle Harry around here, he is just not meant to be strung out.

    We stood in line (first in line!) for six hours to pick up our reserved copies. It’s what we did each time before, and really a fun time with the kids. But it took me a day of “oh, it’s over” to get back to writing. Hope I can affect someone else’s life like that someday. πŸ™‚

  3. Janelle

    It was bloody brilliant! I loved practically every sentence, and I was SOBBING like a BABY at the end.

    I want to be Neville when I grow up…

  4. Erin Eisenberg

    I reserved mine at Borders, so all I had to do was walk in, stand in line for about 5 minutes and pick it up. Of course, I waited until about 2 on Saturday, which made it a lot easier to get through the throngs. Finished it about 26 hours later. Definitely enjoyed it, though I had a few complaints…

  5. Elizabeth

    The whole Snape thing chaffed me to no end in the last book, I mean I just couldn’t believe it. I thought she did well in this book.

    And Janelle, I sobbed when Dobby rescued Harry and well . . . you know. And then I cried like a baby at the end. Just because, well I love those sort of endings and because, well, because it was done–and I hated that even more.

  6. AndreaW

    As I looked at the posted pictures, all I could think was, “Poor Woody!” LOL

    My sister bought HP 7 and loved it. She said it was a perfect ending to the series.

  7. Elizabeth

    I know–poor Woody! This happened a month or so ago. He got left in the backyard overnight . . . and . . . well, he got the stuffing beat out him. Literally. We don’t know if it was Sid the raccoon or one of the foxes that lives in the neighborhood, but they really kicked his butt. The yard looked like it had snowed–there was stuffing everywhere. But I had to take a picture of him before we cleaned it all up–I saw the caption reading, “And you thought you had a bad day?”

  8. Janelle

    Elizabeth –

    I cried with Dobby, I cried at the sign in Godric’s Hollow (everyone was rooting for him!), I cried about Ron, Percy, Neville, the fourth chapter to the end… the epilogue… I was totally an emotional wreck!

    I think if I had Quince’s wishing ring, I’d wish for another series!

  9. Janelle

    Speaking of Quince… did you tell us who the next book is about in that series?

  10. Crystal

    I am one of the few that doesn’t have a copy. I have listened to the audio books up through Goblet of Fire, as well as seen all the movies. I’m a little behind, but everyone talking about it is definitely making me want to buy it and find out what is so great about the ending.

  11. Michelle Johnson

    My son woke up at midnight to hustle to Walmart to pick it up. Read it in 12 hours. Came out of his room with a smile on his face ( While trying to read from his expression how it ended, my mind was shrieking “DON”T TELL ME!) I still have to catch up on my HP reading!

  12. Adele Ashworth

    Oh, my good glory, Elizbo… this could be my dog. I have a Blue Heeler puppy (okay so she’s really like 2 years old, but the way she chews socks and Barbi dolls, who knew…) and I swear this is her pic. Gotta love dogs. Oh, and I just thought I’d check in… πŸ™‚

    Adele

  13. Elizabeth

    Adele, I’ll have to ask my cousin what breed this dog is–I know they have several and use their dogs on their ranch, and this one is probably one of the ones they use to herd the bulls and horses.

  14. Mad

    My daughter picked up her copy on Saturday morning but she has not read it yet and she hid it from me when I said I wanted to skim and see what happens in it…she was afraid I’d spoil it for her which I would not have done! LOL

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