Geek vs Life

With J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” being released tonight at midnight (so technically tomorrow morning I guess), people have already started lining up on the streets and this is 12 hours in advance. Insanity I say.

As JoshuaBryan had written earlier this week, the book means a lot more than just another book in the series, it is to be the penultimate book of the series, finally readers will get a sense of closure. I think it’s important to get to the allegoric point of an ending, especially to a series of the sort. We read all about Harry as he grew up, finally made some friends, got a crush and attained his true potential.

But as everybody who has read the series know, this is to be the end. Yesterday, using a supposed copy they found in a store on Wednesday the New York Times wrote a review before the books release. The book was also leaked and could be found online. Rowling said: “I am staggered that some American newspapers have decided to publish purported spoilers in the form of reviews in complete disregard of the wishes of literally millions of readers, particularly children, who wanted to reach Harry’s final destination by themselves, in their own time.” I’ve avoided the Times since and frankly, I am kind of disgusted with them. As a reviewer myself, I find it hard most of the time to avoid any kind of spoilers. Despite the fact that the article did not reveal whether Harry dies at the end of the book, it does reveal other crucial point which I will not print here. Suffice to say, I wish I didn’t read up on this.

One online retailer “mistakenly shipped 1,200 copies of the books. The U.S. publisher, Scholastic will be taking legal action against the retailer since it is a breach of contract on the embargo to not release any copies until Friday Midnight.

S, who used to work in a smaller bookstore explained that the books are shipped to bookstores in crates. Locked crates. The bookstores receive the keys on the release date, not before that. Whether security in larger stores is more strict or relaxed is another question entirely. Smaller outlets have more to lose than the stores like Barnes and Noble, who operate a multi-million dollar chain.

The point is, why spoil something that has actually gotten people to read?

Some of the GVL team member will be leaving desks to venture to Pacific Place Barnes & Noble tonight to stand in line with the masses and purchase the book as it is released. Bring us coffee, preferably an Americano, 2 shots, the smallest cup there is, little water, a splash of cream. S will thank you.