liz_marcs | The Book Seller's Eye-View on HP Madness...no spoilers

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The Book Seller's Eye-View on HP Madness...no spoilers

Everyone's squeeeing about the book, so I won't do it here.

But, please do imagine me squeeing.

My favorite book before this was PoA. I think HBP equals it and may even top it. JKR must have all of Joseph Campbell's books in her library. While I've always seen the influence, this is the first time it's slapped me in the face.

Plus, it seems this book showcases the most controlled writing I've ever seen from her. I admit, her technical writing style isn't the greatest, but the writing in this book is the tightest it's ever been. Where once she would've gone on for pages about this (already known) character or another, or even this incident or another, this time she gets information and characterization across using a few key scenes spread throughout the book.

It's probably her most confident book in the series. I think it's helped by the fact that I had zero quibbles with the characterizations or interactions. There really is nothing in this book that took me by surprise on that front since a lot of this stuff was built in from the beginning. Of course, it helps that I like all of the characters equally (even the bad ones, I like them for what they are). So no bitching from me. I didn't think anyone was treated unfairly.

And so ends my discussion of the book before I cross into spoiler territory.

Anyway, on to the "Book Seller's Eye-View of HP Madness."

I survived the Harry Potter tsunami. (Obviously.)

I think I got home somewhere around 3 a.m. after working in my Borders's Harry Potter Party. So, I tumbled into bed waaaaaay too exhausted to read more than the first chapter. Then I fell asleep with my nose in the book.

Needless to say, I read the whoooooole thing today. A task, I have to admit, that was not helped by George the Amazing lovebird, who spent the day trying to chew the book, lick me to death, sitting in my Jade tree and chirping at the birds outside at the top of his birdy lungs, and generally buzzing me because my nose was in a book when I wasn't making him happy by playing with him.

At any rate, I suspect I'll be re-reading it the rest of the week before I lend it to my darling brother on Saturday.

The atmosphere was very holiday-ish and it was (strangely) relaxing. As crowded as my Borders was, not too many people were shopping. Mostly they were doing activities with their kids or doing them themseles (by the way, the HP Bertie Botts Jellybeans are vile). There was mostly people in costume taking in the groove and chatting up the book sellers (like me) in a friendly-ish way or wandering around with their kids. As shocking as this must sound, the kids were uniformly well-behaved. I didn't come across a little brat in the bunch.

Anyway, it's probably the only time I've ever worked a shift at Borders where we basically stood around talking to each other and no supervisor was pointedly looking at their watch. Plus, the customers were digging the fact that they could have long coversations with us without having to ask for a book.

Coolest costume of the night #1: A kid came in with a white t-shirt. In magic marker, he wrote on the front: "Cedric Diggory." On the back: "I may be dead, but I'm still the coolest kid to ever go to Hogwarts and play quidditch." That pretty much had all of us laughing our asses off.

Coolest costume of the night #2: A kid was walking around covered from head-to-foot with this long sheet of material over his head (like a ghost). It was very silver and shiny. We all thought he was a dementor, but it turns out he was wearing an "invisibility cloak." From the outside, it looked opaque. On the reverse side, you could see right through it. So even though no one could see him, he could see perfectly well (albeit through a haze of black nylon). Very cool.

Coolest costume of the night #3: One of my co-workers got dressed in (artfully) ripped kahki pants, heavy boots, and a torn-up olive green shirt. Then she stencilled "Azerkaban Prison" across the front and a "prisoner number" across the back. She died her hair really, really black and put some stuff in her hair to make it look a little string-y. Then she put on some drab grey make-up under her eyes. If you asked her who she was, she'd answer in this dead voice: "I forgot how long I've been here." Then she'd wander off in a "daze" without answering your question.

Heeee! The customers dug it. I think some of them went up to ask for help just to get that answer. And they all walked away laughing.

Ahhhhhh, the passive-aggressiveness of bookstore employees played for laughs.

Fanfiction lurve in the bookstore aisles: I got to talking to a high school girl (she's going to be a senior in the fall) about, of all things, "Books I hate."

[Side note: If you ever want to send me into a flying rage, try buying Jacob I Have Loved. And no, I won't link to it. I don't want anyone to get tempted and buy it. Anyway, I've been known to spend upwards of 20 minutes talking people out of buying the book with my venom-spitting hate. I want the day back that I spent reading it. Okay, I was 12, but I want that day back, do you hear me! Even Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff don't inspire that much hate in me and I have a lot of hate for that book and character.]

Somehow that led to "scary adult fans of Harry Potter." Then this girl and her friend tentatively admitted they read fanfiction and some of the stuff scares the hell out of them. Not the subject matter, but that some adults write this stuff and (the biggest sin in their eyes) really suck at writing. Then I tentatively admitted that I wrote gen fanfiction (not Harry Potter), which then had this girl bouncing in geeky excitement because she was starting to beta for gen Harry Potter stories.

Awwwwww.

Anyway, turns out she's an AP English student and admitted that she really needed to improve her grammar chops, both for school and her beta work. So I put Elements of Style by Strunk and White in her hands and said that this $8 book was really all she really needed for both. I told her to hold off on anything more expensive unless she really wanted to do this professionally.

The girl was so pleased with it that we went through the book on spot so I could show her where it might help with some of her blind spots. She walked off with it practically glowing with excitement.

Again: Awwwwwww.

I mean, that's great, IMHO. I know some beta readers (waves to

ponders_life) really take their beta duties seriously. But almost all the beta readers I know are adults and either work in some form of publishing or have ambitions in that direction. To see a high school student taking beta work so seriously and looking to apply that to her RL situation really did my heart good.

For some reason, adult beta readers don't take me by surprise. But this high school girl who seemed really into the whole beta process and seemed to love grammar with the same geeky love I do...well that took me by surprise. It was a pleasant one, I might add.

In which I face down some high school asshats: The only sour note is our local high school assholes decided that my 5'1" self would put up with them asking me where "Harry Potter" was and buy that "his brother" went to their school.

I rolled my eyes and asked to please cut it out (I was busy getting people into line so they could buy the book) because I wasn't in the mood.

But they kept aggressively pushing the joke and being obnoxious about it.

So, my 5'1" self immediately went into "I will kick your skinny ass" mode. (I think I said "I will kick your ass if you don't get out of my face this second.") Honest to god, when I get pissed off, I've been told my eyes actually get darker and my face scrunches in a very menacing way. I could actually feel my jaw clamp, so probably I was going into "pissed off face."

After two minutes of growling that they were going to die if they annoyed my shit for one second longer, they actually backed down and scattered. They then avoided me the rest of the night. (I caught one of them running when I turned a corner. He almost ran over another customer to get away from me.) I'm pretty amazed because three of the six guys were pushing six feet. I have no idea why I spooked him that much. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't spook me that much if I had a clear foot on me.

People applauding the books: About 10 to midnight, the supervisors starting rolling the sealed boxes to the front of the store (they were all covered in purple coth, so people couldn't even see the boxes) and this cheer went up that was positively defeaning. Then, at a 11:59 p.m., we started a countdown to midnight, with everyone in the store joining in and everyone was grinning like it was Christmas.

It was simply unbelievable.

When you get down to it, people were excited about a book. How many times has that happened? I mean, not you personally. Not you and your friends. I mean a store full of hundreds of people? And not just your store, but every book store across the English-speaking world, all full of a at least a few hundred people of their own.

There is, no matter how you slice it, magic in that.

It doesn't matter who wrote it, in the end. It doesn't matter how well it's written. Somehow, enough people believe in what all those HP books are about.

It gives me a little hope.

And yes, I think I might've shed a happy tear or two about it when the applause and the whooping was loud enough to shake that store.

Then came the two-hour wait: Overall, the vast majority of people were laid back about the wait. You had teenagers buying the book and taking pictures of each other holding it with these cheesy grins on their faces. You had younger kids walking out of the store hugging their books. You had tired, but happy parents thrilled to death that their kids were thrilled about a book.

And more than a few of those parents had other kid books in their shopping bags.

Not to say there weren't a couple of asshats complaining about the wait. But as we beleagured book sellers pointed out to each other: "What the hell did they expect? That they wouldn't be waiting in line?" My favorites were the handful of people who came in at 12:45 a.m. and bitched about the line.

*rolls eyes*

Or the people who weren't happy when they showed up at 1:30 a.m. to get in to find out that we were not letting any more people into the store.

*headdesk*

Do I look scary to you?: Oddly enough, I was "the gargoyle at the door." I was assigned to politely tell the post-1 a.m. stragglers to go away, play nice with the cops, calm down those few "don't wanna wait" customers, and otherwise keep an eye out for trouble.

I was also assigned to make sure people got into line and stayed in line, like some human sheepdog.

I actually joked to one of my coworkers that I think they wanted me to work the Harry Potter party because they needed an intimidating enforcer to keep trouble-makers in line.

Said coworker looked at me and said, "Well, duh!"

I said, "But, ummm, how intimidating can I be? I'm 5'1" for Chrissakes!"

"Yeah," the coworker said back. "But you can really scare people when you set your mind to it. Deling with you is sometimes like dealing with a younger version of Granny Weatherwax."

*sigh*

Is it a bad thing that I took that as a compliment?

Only in a bookstore...

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I love your description. That sounds fun!

When you get down to it, people were excited about a book. How many times has that happened? I mean, not you personally. Not you and your friends. I mean a store full of hundreds of people? And not just your store, but every book store across the English-speaking world, all full of a at least a few hundred people of their own.

Awww. ((feels Grinch-sized Harry-Potter-disliking heart grow two sizes, or maybe 1 1/2))

Bless you for passing on Strunk & White! It's delicious. But why do you have JIHL so much? (Just curious -- I think I read the book once as a teen and was like, Meh.)

"But you can really scare people when you set your mind to it. Deling with you is sometimes like dealing with a younger version of Granny Weatherwax."

D00D. THAT IS, LIKE, THE BEST COMPLIMENT EVAR. ((is jealous))

HHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTEEEEE!

The whining! The nonstop whining of the main character! Her incessant jealousy of her twin sister who is (naturally) prettier, and more talented, and sings like a fucking bird, and makes friends easier than she does, and gets help to achieve her dreams!

DID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU, YOU WHINY BRAT, THAT MAYBE YOUR SISTER IS A LOT MORE PLEASANT TO PEOPLE AND THAT'S WHY THEY LIKE HER BUT DON'T LIKE YOU?!?!?!?!

And of course her big self-sacrifice in getting that midwife license and coming back to the community that TREATED HER OMG SO WRONG!!

And the "bittersweet ending" where she basically relives her own birth with those twins.

GAG ME BITCH!!!

*pant pant pant*

*kicks the shit out the book*

*even though I wouldn't pollute my house with it*

Sorry. You should see me "hate that book" dance to go with it. The ranting loses some of the translation without it.

And I've never failed to convince people to go for some other book. Hell, I've talked teachers out of putting that book on their summer reading list.

HEEEEEEEEE, oh man, now I'm really wishing I could see your "hate that book" dance.

I had nothing against Jacob Have I Loved, but don't get me started on A Day No Pigs Would Die. You want book-hate? You got book-hate! I'd seriously like to see it removed from every school reading list in the country simply because of its glaring and unforgivably WRONG portrayal of the Shakers!

*pantpant*

Did I mention about not getting me started?

Having not read "A Day No Pigs Would Die", what was wrong with it's portrayal of Shakers...

I have managed not to read A Day No Pigs Would Die despite its presence on more than one summer reading list. The plot synopses never appealed, so I never picked it up.

Now I'm glad I never did.

Boy, nothing inspires hate in a book-lover than a book they really hate.

Hee.

I can so relate. I worked the Midnight Madness for OotP at a Chapters bookstore in Canada... Madness being the operative word. But a nice madness. Today I worked a 9 to 6 out doing crafty-type things with the little'uns at my store... it was much more relaxed.

I did kind of miss working the Midnight Madness and seeing protesters getting arrested for scaring kids for telling them they'd burn in Hell for reading the Devil's works, though.
Good times.

Hunh. I don't know if it's because I live in teh ebol Massachusetts or if it's because we had something like five cops standing around tellilng people they were "disguised dementors" (the cops were really weird), but we didn't have any protestors.

In all honesty, I was half-expecting to see someone stuffing fliers about the evil of Harry Potter around the store.

The only thing we were throwing away was fliers someone was leaving around encouraging people to "mail order" wands.

Maybe it's because the store is not even two miles from the Salem town line.

I was surprised this time and last time for OotP (I worked the weekend after instead of the night of last time) how mostly mellow customers are for HP. It's rather surprising to me on some level.

"Disguised dementors"? That's brilliant.

I said, "But, ummm, how intimidating can I be? I'm 5'1" for Chrissakes!"

"Yeah," the coworker said back. "But you can really scare people when you set your mind to it. Deling with you is sometimes like dealing with a younger version of Granny Weatherwax."

Echoing the Best Compliment EVER line. And remember - the shorter you are, the closer you are to reaching their gentitals with a rusty spork.

Heeeee. This would be true.

My librarian soul is glowing at the thought that so many people across the world are so excited about a book launch. A book launch, not a film, not an album, a book.

And for all those people who post articles in Library Journals (yes, we have entire journals dealing with the subject) who bemoan the loss of literary standards? So missing the point. People are reading these books. They are actually getting hold of a book and sitting down and reading it. That's what's important.

Yes, Joanne Rowling's writing technique can be a little creaky sometimes, yes she seems to struggle from time to time with just who her target audience is (and that's not actually her fault really, Philosopher's Stone is clearly written for children, the next five books are trying to cater for children and adults both, mostly she manages it but sometimes she misses the mark), but it's as valid as any of the so-called literary classics.

And I'll echo the 'best compliment ever!' remarks referring to the comparison with Esme!

Yeah, we have libriarian journals here as well and they seem split.

One side of the argument points out that HP gets kids to read, which is really the whole point of children's books. Plus, the HP books has also opened up the children's market (especially for intermediate and young adult books, which covers approximately 8 to 18) for authors. Because of HP, you have a lot of really interesting and imaginative books hitting the shelves now and kids are jumping on those. More than a few "adult authors" are now also writing really good young adult books.

Then you have the other side of the argument going into "snob mode" who do the whole bemoan. Then again, the other side of the argument are also bemoaning the Captain Underpants series and the A Series of Unfortunate Events series. But the thing is, those books appeal to kids are aren't necessarily big readers and need to be convinced that reading can be fun.

Parents seem to split. For every parent who has "issues" about, say, Captain Underpants, there are 10 that are thrilled their son or daughter who "just doesn't read" will read something.

As for JKR's writing issues, my own pet theory was that she tries to aim for the kids who are Harry's age in the book. PS is aimed at the young side of the tween divide and HBP is very clearly in the Young Adult category. (I joke that 95% of Young Adult could be sold on the adult shelves, but are in Young Adult because of marketing or because the protagonists are aged 16 to 18).

The problem with CoS, PA, GoF, and OotP (I think) is that kids at that age really do vary in reading ability. Some kids really don't need a lot of explanation about what's going on and can read between the lines perfetly well. Other kids are a lot more literal.

So, in some way, HBP is really the first book since PS where she's got a clear level to write to. Also (and this may sound weird), I think she trusts her audience a lot more than she once did to get things without beating them around the head with it. There's a little heavy exposition in one of the last chapters, but I didn't feel like I had been beaten with a baseball bat like in GoF and OotP (I had to keep reminding myself when I'd get irritated with those two books that she wasn't writing for my age group, but an age group that probably needed all that exposition in one place).

We had someone complain in our local paper a few years back who took the "kids should read the classics" stance. I wrote a letter to the editor pointing out 1) "Classics" are often popular works that have stuck around for a long time (Shakespeare's plots? Can you GET any trashier?) and 2) Kids need to read to strengthen a basic skill, not to become literary critics.

sounds like a cool shift!
I've ordered all my HP books from Amazon, but maybe I'll buy the last one in person - sounds like fun for all.

And I didn't like Jacob Have I Loved, either, but the book I hate the most is Gone With The Wind. Frickin' ode to slavery....perhaps I shouldn't say more than that! (Sometimes, a student will ask about, and I have a hard time not swearing when I explain the general plot and that I'm not very fond of it!)

I haven't started HBP yet, because of a home improvement project. I can't wait to start it (so thanks for the no spoilers policy)

I can't even watch the movie. What few snippets I've seen inspire hate just on the slavery issue. Ain't no way I'm reading the book. I don't need to add another hate-that-book dance to schtick.

I can't even watch the movie. What few snippets I've seen inspire hate just on the slavery issue. Ain't no way I'm reading the book. I don't need to add another hate-that-book dance to schtick.

I want to gouge my eyes out whenever someone suggests watching GWTW! It was on TV when I was a kid, and my mother made me watch it. Ugh.

Having said that, have you ever seen the Carol Burnet show parody of GWTW? One of the funniest things I've ever seen on TV was Carol as Scarlet, walking down the stairs in the dress made from drapes - still attached to the curtian rod (at the shoulders). "I saw this in the window and just had to have it!" she deadpans. Cracks me up just thinking about it.

My mom likes the movie, I don't know if she's ever read the book (I doubt it) For me, the movie was hate at first sight, and I had a slight bias against (Maureen O'Hara?) because of the character Scarlett. I never read to book, because if the truism that the book is better than the movie could be applied in reverse...

Somehow, I managed to hate the pastiche/parody even more, mostly because of the extremely unclear tenses.

I heart this whole post. It even made me all teary when everyone cheered.

This statement really encouraged me: Plus, it seems this book showcases the most controlled writing I've ever seen from her. I spent ten years in book publishing, and it seems the most common thing is for writers to get huge egos and accept no editing -- or else their editors assume they're doing something so right they need no editing (but the first books that made them stars were probably edited to a faretheewell). It's so nice to hear the opposite.

I have got to get off my keister and read these books. I have the first two on audio (a prezzie from the publisher I worked for when they came out), but ... not till I get back from vac. And I'm now reading three books anyhow.

Heh. I was thinking about the same thing on the editing. It's almost like reading the anti-Anne Rice this go 'round. I don't know if it's because JKR is improving on her own or if its because she worked with her editor(s). There is a blessed absence of the use of capslocks that were in the last two books, although she still does love those ellipses in some instances.

In preparation for the new book, I sat down and read through the previous five. I have to say, HBP is light years ahead of GoF (my least favorite in the series) and ahead of OotP (which I liked) in technical writing.

As for reading three books at a time *nod nod* I can relate.

i admit i was one of those people who wandered down at 12.30. However thats cos i was doing other things, and well i had to go to the 24 supermarket anyway. at that point there was no queue, so just grabbed book, and went and picked up some apple juice, and milk and so on.

The fact that they weren't really doing a party as such meant that noone was really around for it, dispite being a good €12 cheaper than any book store. (thats approx $16 for you americans, i think)

It was a fun read, but well vaugely disappointing.......

*giggle*

We were sending people to the 24 hour supermarket to get the book after 1 a.m. I'm pretty sure there were no lines for it there. I think they were selling it only $1 cheaper than we were (not sure how much that is in pounds).

people were excited about a book.

My geek love is turned up to 11. Thanks for giving us the inside scoop.

Your welcome. I did have fun.

I've only read the first Harry Potter book, which didn't impress me very much--though I do read the fanfic...:> I might give it another try, since I'm seeing so much good stuff about it.

My Teen Book(s) of Hate are I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier, and A Boy of Old Prague...thought it's I Am the Cheese that I swore to never read again.

I Am the Cheese had issues. But the Chocolate War by Robert Cormier was actually pretty good.

I can't totally hate any of Robert Cormier's books because he's like a homie. I worked with people who knew him when I was a reporter for the Sentinel & Enterprise in Fitchburg (he was a reporter there for years) and he lived in Leominster his entire life.

He actually put his home phone number in I Am the Cheese and kids would call him from all over the world to talk to him. Hell, I even called him once to talk to him.

I read a lot of Robert Cormier back in middle school. I Am the Cheese was the one with the bike and the crazy kid (or maybe he was being drugged by the government or something?) and then there were the parts written in present tense and the interview transcripts and junk? In retrospect I have to agree that that book was a little wacky, though I remember I loved it at the time - mostly because up until that point I was pretty much following my mom's recommendations in reading materials, and she seemed to think that the Laura Ingalls series was proper reading material for a beginning reader... then it was the Anne of Green Gables series, then Heidi, then the All Animals Great And Small series, then Johnny Tremain and Treasure Island and the like, then everything by Alexandre Dumas from The Three Musketeers to The Man in the Iron Mask (which, despite popular opinion, are actually part of the same series)... Looking back on it, I'm surprised I like reading as much as I do. ;P

I don't hate any of those books though. I never really hated any book until I read His Dark Mateials by Phillip Pullman. The best thing about that series was the title. Okay, I mean, from a purely intellectual point of view, it was kind of interesting, but as a children's book it absolutely sucked. Pretty much every single adult character turned out to be evil. There was no good side at all - the girl's father separated her best friend's soul from his body to make war on heaven - and heaven itself was pretty warped. Then there were all those references with the magic 'dust' to childhood innocence and puberty and all that junk that kids weren't going to get anyway... Seriously, why was this thing on my little sister's reading list? It was depressing and morbid and all around kind of pointless...

Although admittedly, I only ever read 5/6ths of the series, so I suppose Pullman could have pulled off some sort of spectacular recovery, but I doubt it.

While I'm not a fan of her writing style (I read Lord of the Rings when I was eight, books written 'down' to kids make my teeth hurt, since they can understand anything an adult reader can, and often have already dealt with 'adult' situations like the death of a grandparent, divorce of parents, or something), I have read the books because the kids do, and I like being able to talk to them afterwards. The discussions can get pretty lively! The oldest is even saving her copy of HBP to read after she has finished re-reading the last one, which amazes me, since I never had that sort of willpower... I can't put a book down. I read everything in one sitting (if possible), and on holidays would go through three or even four novels in a day of vigorous laying about.

I am thankful that the books have done such cool things for literature in general, encouraging families to read (and discuss) together.

Plus the fact that religious people don't like them is a plus in my book, too. :)

Set

What you said about the people applauding and cheering the books reminds me of the crowd at the Hugo presentations at WorldCon in 1992, Atlanta. I don't know how many hundreds of people were in the auditorium, but the guest speaker that evening took as his theme the previous nominees and winners of years past. They dimmed the lights and flashed up on the screen just simple slides of the covers of these books, many of them decades old, and the audience went *wild*. Thunderous applause, feet stomping, cheering until we were hoarse as each favorite was shown -- several dozen. That building rocked. I got tears in my eyes just to be around a few hundred book lovers like myself.

I would have liked to have been at another WorldCon Hugo award ceremony, can't remember the year, where Connie Willis gave a speech that I later saw in print. She started off with her usual witty introduction, but then gave a tour of a few dozen of SF&F's most well-loved books by just speaking their first lines. It was apparently a huge hit with the audience as everyone strained their memories to see if they could identify each one.

Waaaaiiiiit, Joseph Campbell? It might just be time for me to start running away.

On the other hand, Campbell might end up interesting filtered through the brain of Rowling.

Your account makes me somewhat sad that I spent Friday evening watching Garden State instead of hitting up the local Borders. I would love to see that many people get that riled up over books.

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The Book Seller's Eye-View on HP Madness...no spoilers

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