Harry Potter: Countdown to Book 6

Today is Friday, 15th July 2005. Tomorrow, Harry Potter Book 6 (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) goes on sale.

Did you know, there is actually concern that this release date is going to compromise the opening of Johnny Depp's Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, a movie that's in cinemas today? It's a remake of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory which had Gene Wilder as Mr Wonka, and is considered one of those children's classics (it *did* get cleaned up on the silver screen, I hear the original book by Roald Dahl was a lot darker! Either way - I *love* the Oompah Loompah's song!!)

Speaking about 'darker' .... maaan i really am waiting impatiently for HPHBP! For those who know, the Harry Potter books have progressively gone darker (and thicker,as in voluminous), more serious... heck, in The Order of the Phoenix (Book 5), there was a lot of social commentary, on government administrators meddling in school affairs, of entrenched politicians who are concerned more with staying in office than in doing the right thing... pretty deep stuff for kids... I do think J.K.Rowling, seeing as her audience includes as many adults as children, is writing to the adults more than the kids... not that it's a bad thing... It's an excellent way to get kids nowadays perhaps a bit more socially aware!

I might have gotten onto the Harry Potter bandwagon much later that I already did: Simply assuming that I read the series, my parents got me Book 4 (The Goblet of Fire) for my birthday when it came out in 2000. I was definitely biased against the series - heck, I wasn't going to be caught dead reading a kid's book, let alone buying Books 1 - 3 in order to get to the fourth! What changed was one of my officemates at the time happened to be a big fan, and was so keen for me to read that he offered to lend me the first three books. I also didn't want my Book 4 to 'go to waste' so I agreed.

And the rest is history.

When Book 5 came out three years later, I had actually pre-ordered it from MPH.com, and was totally impressed to have it delivered on the day of release (June 21 or 22, 2003) at ~ 5pm. I proceeded to devour it within 48 hours (started reading on Sunday), finally finishing it in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Of course, most other people at work were nowhere close to being done yet, so I couldn't discuss the book with anyone for the longest time!! :p agony!

And now... Book 6 is on pre-order again, this time from amazon.com. I dunno whether the book's gonna be in my hands tomorrow or not, I kinda doubt it... will just be keeping an eye & ear out for the UPS / mailman early next week... and hopefully I can pace myself so I don't consume this book too fast!!

Next post: Harry Potter movies & cool links :)