Hi Brenda.

Sorry for the delay in replying to your excitement. Crickets everywhere, dontchaknow? :-)

The Deadly Hallows was a frightful read but I think the Order of the Phoenix was the best one. Do you like the books or the movies more? I tend to go more for the book although the visuals of the movies are fantastic!

We now return to the restful chirrrrrrrping of *crickets*.

C3D

Yay, a fellow fan! *waving at Chicka*

I definitely enjoy reading the books first, because there are so many tidbits in them that aren't in the movies. Then, to see it all on screen is incredible and icing on the cake!

Ms. Rowling is blessed with an amazing imagination, and I really envy her talent. I love how she puts some fun "puzzles" in the book, i.e., Sirius Black = black dog, Diagon Alley = diagonally, & Dolores Umbridge = umbrage/annoyance. LOL To name a few...

It's so hard to pick a favorite book, since they start out so innocently. The Half-Blood Prince bummed me out, though.

Time to feed the crickets! :D

Brenda

I saw the movie and liked it quite a bit. I don't read the books myself but my son does. We have all of them to date and also waiting for the 21st too. I'm pretty sure he won't go for it now being an older 'teen' but a local bookstore has a Harry Potter thing at midnight with food, people dressed up, and a person running the sorting hat. Kids of all ages attend, including us since 2000 with the 4th book. We will still get our book at midnight (pre-ordered) but most likely will skip the sorting hat this time.

I'd love to have a sorting hat! LOL

I guess Stephen King is a big fan, too, and I saw something the other day that he'd written (GREAT article, btw!). The part that got me was his mention of how kids had basically grown up with Harry -

"Think how it must be for all the kids who were 8 when Harry debuted in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, with its cartoon jacket and modest (500 copies) first edition. Those kids are now 18, and when they close the final book, they will be in some measure closing the book on their own childhoods  magic summers spent in the porch swing, or reading under the covers at camp with flashlights in hand, or listening to Jim Dale's recordings on long drives to see Grandma in Cincinnati or Uncle Bob in Wichita."

...or those "kids" who are sneaking up on 40! LOL I think it's wonderful that kids have such quality entertainment in this day and age...anything to get them reading!! I always looked forward to my time in the library when I was a kid (yep, I'm a geek and proud of it! LOL). Escape from the "stresses" of childhood (homework, school, peer pressure...and worse) is important, and I wish every child could know how much fun - how addictive - it can be!

As King mentions, I'll be keeping the Kleenex handy (again, after Half-Blood Prince) and trying to realize that, no matter how Deadly Hallows ends, I'll still feel sad when I say good-bye to Harry. :(

Brenda

chirp. chirrp. chirrrp.

You collect stamps Brenda? Found this from the AP wire:

Britain issued a series of seven postage stamps depicting the covers of the best-selling Harry Potter books Tuesday.

The Royal Mail also released five stamps featuring the crests of the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Online, fans can personalize the stamps, placing their picture alongside the crest of their favorite house.

The stamps will be on sale at 40,000 British post offices for the next month and online for a year.

On the Net:

www.royalmail.com/stamps

I had a feeling this wouldn't be the hot topic of the moment. LOL

I don't currently collect stamps, Chicka, but those might just make me start! Very nice! I'll have to look into their sales to the States. Thanks for the link!!

Something that's been bugging me since we took a trip to Reno on the 4th....DH was watching some hot dog eating contest (XY to the maximum! LOL), and one of the contestants turned around to the camera with a sign which read, "Hermione dies." There's no way he could know for sure, but...

Oh, I KNOW I've got it bad! LOL And now I'm dreaming about Harry, et al. :D

Brenda

Eeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkk! Hermione dies?!?!?!?!?

Well crap! My hair just poofed up again!

~Poofy~

LOL!! To be honest, I don't know what happens any more than that hot dog eating guy does. But when I do find out, I promise I won't post it on here, for those who don't get to read the book right away or are waiting for the movie.

Humidity level is high here today, so I'm poofy, too. :D

Brenda

Hey girls! Fellow Fan here! And there aren't any children or teens in this family! The only one who doesn't appear interested is DH. He's an engineer. Do I need to say anything else.

So, I let my (adult) children pre-order and/or stand in line for the books, and then they come visit and bring it for me to read. There's still enough time - I might try to re-read the Phoenix before I lay hands on the new one! That sounds like a lovely idea! In between playing with my new toy of course, which is ... tadaaa... the brandnew Harry Potter Wii game!!!!

:) Mary

*I'm learning to levitate. It ain't easy.*

There was supposedly a website that showed every page on-line until the lawyers removed it, but it said Ron dies!

All just hype I'm sure!

BTW - My son sent a request to England, with return postage in pounds already affixed, which contained a photograph of Richard Harris. He wrote Mr. Harris a nice letter and asked if he would send him his autograph on the photo. Well, he sent it back signed!! This was a few years back just before he died and they picked the replacement Dumbledore (Michael Gambon.

I want an Invisibility Cloak, Mary! Although, levitating would be fun, too. :D

DH likes the movies, but his concentration isn't good enough for him to read any more than a few paragraphs before he starts gazing off into space. LOL

I was SO bummed when Richard Harris passed away. He was not only a great actor, but his Dumbledore had a gentleness to his eyes that the new guy just doesn't possess. But Gambon is the best replacement they could have found, I guess. It's so awesome that your son got Harris's autograph, CT!!

Has everyone here read the Half-Blood Prince? :(

I sure hope WalMart has the new book on Saturday morning!

Brenda

Walmart here is selling them at midnight although they also said they close at midnight. Huh? I asked them to splain and they said you get the book in hand before midnight and as long as you are in the store they will ring them up starting at 12:01 until the line is gone. Target is closing at 10pm so they will be selling at 8am tomorrow. Our independently owned bookstore 'Bay Books' has none to sell - only pre-orders were taken and I didn't get one! Eeeek! I meant to as we have done that since 1997! I did just order one from Barnes & Noble a few minutes ago with 2/3 day shipment. Barnes is having a big party in New York as it Borders. My son won't know who dies until next week and he said he will keep away from spoilers.

Countdown clocks are on the web - it's exciting and at the same time - sad it's ending......... :-) :-(

Brenda? Come up for air dear! Brenda?
:-)

I don't know if we will hear from Brenda just now. I heard the book is riveting from start to finsih. We may have to send life support:-)

LOL!!!! Well, I'm not quite done re-reading the Order, yet. And I was thinking...maybe I should re-read the Half-Blood Prince, just to, you know, refresh the ol' memory. And then I was thinking I could wait for the movie, because...I'm SCARED for it to end!!!!! LOL

Seriously, I got the bood yesterday, and I think I am going to catch up again with Years 5 & 6 first. Some thoughts to throw out there, though, which have been clattering around in me olde brain -

In the Order of the Phoenix, there's a prophecy that only Harry or Voldemort can be left standing at the end. I just CAN'T imagine it would be Voldemort, considering all of his enemies...and Rowling already has said 2 will die in the last book. I would think V. would have to kill everyone to possibly live on.

Ok, thought #2 (as in poop...LOL) -

Also in the Order, when Harry goes into the pensieve and sees Snape's memories from his days at Hogwarts, Harry's father, James, and Sirius don't come off looking good at all. They are downright cruel to Snape, and as Lily (Harry's mom) says to James in the school scene, "What has he ever done to you?!" So it wasn't like paybacks toward Snape. James and Sirius were just being mean for the sake of it.

Harry is sick over this scene, seeing his father behave in such a way. So then I was thinking, since Harry doesn't seem at all like his father, maybe....James isn't his father!! Maybe....Voldemort is (a.k.a. Tom Riddle)! Maybe that's why V. couldn't kill Harry when he was a baby!

Oh, I have so many more thoughts on this, but I have a feeling you all might be wishing you could have just sent life support instead. LOL

Brenda

I not only got the bood yesterday, I also got the book. *giggle*

Brenda

I finally finished it! I was kind of milking the ending, so it wouldn't be over. *sniffle*

This is going to make a GREAT flick!

Brenda

Beyond all the carping and criticism of the books I think they are going to last. They have all the classic plots and the intrinsic moral content to continue to appeal to readers. They also have the advantage of language that doesn't have you going around thinking in complex sentence structure. There aren't many children's books around that appeal to adults as well as these. I think I could talk about alternate realities for a long time and I bet there are a lot of highly educated people out there who are happy to indulge in Harry and Hoggwarts. Sandy

This is going to make a GREAT flick!

Amen, Sister! Amen!!! :-)

I saw my first Harry movie on Friday - I believe it was number 5. I have to say I was a little disappointed, I found it to be very dark. I was expecting a little more humor. And I think seeing it first has spoiled the surprises of the previous movies. But at least I can say I saw one!

Sandy, you said it perfectly! I've been trying to get my "Mensa" dad to read this series for years. He's a war/military/international intrigue kind of guy, and I keep telling him this is the ultimate in "international intrigue" novels. :D He's not the most open-minded of individuals, though, unfortunately. LOL

Jean, you must have seen The Order of the Phoenix, which is very dark. The other movies/years leading up to it get gradually more intense as the characters grow up and have to face deeper problems (not unlike the preteen and teen years of my life...LOL). Six and 7 get even darker as the end of the series approaches.

I actually prefer the books, but seeing the story come to life in the movies is a treat, as I mentioned before. :)

Brenda