Back to Harry Potter, Book 1 …

What a pleasant surprise I got when, accompanying Claire to the National Bookstore in SM City Davao, I saw on the display rack by the entrance the re-released copies of Harry Potter — from Book 1 to 6, and of course Book 7.Good thing there wasn’t a boxed edition, otherwise I would have left the mall with a humongous hole in my pocket. Reason prevailed — I just bought the hardcover edition of Book 1. (My first copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was a paperback, and it’s with a friend somewhere.)

I’ll re-read and review this one as planned (see previous entries), then buy Book 2 …

Already the old excitement is back. I’ve gone through the first few pages and still there is the anticipation — not the same as the first time I read it, of course — about what Mr. Dursley will discover after he sees a tabby cat reading a map. (More to come …)

Harry Potter saves the environment?

I’ve been reading Agnes’s entry in The Other Side of the Fish, and felt guilty for not doing my share in saving the environment. I didn’t know about the controversy and the Canadian edition as an alternative. Not that I would have bought it online from them — because shipping to a Third World country like the Philippines would burn a hole in my pocket, and because I would be biting my nails worrying if my copy would arrive the same time as the scheduled release.

I have my sister to blame for my getting hooked to the Harry Potter saga. The book she bought for her goddaughter was the same one I read while waiting at the Mactan International Airport for our sister Bevitt to arrive from Israel.

Back to Book 1 …

I’ve been holding off writing about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because there are still quite a number of people who haven’t finished (some still don’t have a copy) reading it. I’ve been re-reading it and am still quite impressed.What impresses me most is the last few chapters prior to the epilogue. Battle scene after battle scene, J. K. Rowling sustains the tension and the drama. Until it culminates in that crucial moment depicted in the book cover.

Perhaps I should just wait until the complete series is re-released this September before I review the book, and the whole series while I’m at it. Till then …

I got my copy!

I passed by the bookstore yesterday afternoon to ask what time today they’d release the new Harry Potter books. They told me: “When the mall opens at 10:00 a.m.” From my part of the world, that would be two hours after the book is released in other places. The frenzy over J. K. Rowlings’s latest installment isn’t that apparent in my backwoods. But at least, I get to have my copy the same day as the rest.So I woke up this morning very early, sans alarm clock. But then I decided to take my time. I told myself to savor the anticipation. After all, we all waited this long, what would a few more hours matter.

So I went about my usual business. And soon enough I found myself in the bookstore at the mall. I relished the moment of queuing up to get my reserved copy. There was only one person ahead of me in the line. Then it was my turn to sign up and to pay the balance and to have my copy wrapped and bagged. Then I had the package in my hands.