Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Discussions

This post is more of a warning for the Harry Potter fans out there who will be reading the books over the next few hours and in some cases days. Many of you will read the book virtually non-stop once you have it and many of you will wait hours at some store tonight to get a copy as soon as you can. I had originally planned to drop in a Wal-Mart at about 2 or 3 am local time and get a copy and then try to read it. BUT it turns out, a copy of the book was "leaked" and this time the leak was authentic. I received photos of the book about 2 days ago and the first 10 chapters in pdf. SO I admit, I have already read the book. After I read the photo version of the last 20 or so chapters, the complete pdf version appeared. It has some typing errors but the text of the book was clear enough

Which is why I am posting a Spoiler warning. Over the next couple of days, I will be posting some thoughts about the book and some polls to get your opinions. SO please, if you have not read the book and do not want to learn what is going to happen, avoid reading this blog until you are prepared to discuss book 7 or at least hear about what happens in book 7. I won't begin posting anything about it until sometime tomorrow (saturday) which is when I would have finished reading the book anyway. And yes, I am buying the book! I just won't be visiting Wal-Mart in the wee early hours of the morning to do so. In fact, I have already bought 2 copies from Amazon UK and they are enroute as I type. I hope to save up and get the deluxe version also. So if you have read the pdf version, or the photographed version, please go ahead and get the book also. Fair is fair.

Spoilers * Photos of Deathly Hallow

*Spoilers*

Read no farther if you do NOT wish to have any advance knowledge of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Someone has taken photographs of the Table of Contents of Scholastic's version of the book. Below I transcribe those photographs except I use a : rather than a period since the period in the photos is elevated to the midpoint of the text - I couldn't figure how to replicate that so I use a colon instead. The Photos show the Table of Contents beginning on Page *VII* and ending on page *X* . The font and typeset appears very similar to that used in Order of Phoenix - I checked one recent book to compare.

Yesterday I wrote about avoiding being spoiled. And there are different levels of "Spoilage". To me, knowing the Table of contents is minor. I don't mind knowing which is why I don't mind sharing the information. But in fairness, if you don't even want that small bit of tainting of book 7, please don't read this post.

For months people have been circulating a fanfic by Melinda as the real book. It isn't and she had no involvement in the scam. There have been other efforts by people to fool everyone with fake versions of the book or fake versions of the Table of Contents. This may be yet another fake, but it passes my intuition test. I think it is the real book's table of contents. This list is directly from the photos posted.

Contents

One
The Dark Lord Ascending : 1

Two
In Memoriam : 13

Three
The Dursleys Departing : 30

Four
The Seven Potters : 43

Five
Fallen Warrior : 63

Six
The Ghoul in Pajamas : 86

Seven
The Will of Albus Dumbledore : 111

Eight
The Wedding : 137

Nine
A Place to Hide : 160

* VII *

Ten
Kreacher's Tale : 176

Eleven
The Bribe : 201

Twelve
Magic is Might : 223

Thirteen
The Muggle-born Registration Commission : 246

Fourteen
The Thief :268

Fifteen
The Goblin's Revenge : 284

Sixteen
Godric's Hallow : 311

Seventeen
Bathilda's Secret : 330

Eighteen
The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore : 350

Nineteen
The Silver Doe : 363

* VIII *

Twenty
Xenophilius Lovegood : 388

Twenty-One
The Tale of the Three Brothers : 405

Twenty-Two
The Deathly Hallows :424

Twenty-Three
Malfoy Manor : 446

Twenty-Four
The Wandmaker :477

Twenty-Five
Shell Cottage : 502

Twenty-Six
Gringotts: 519

Twenty-Seven
The Final Hiding Place : 544

Twenty-Eight
The Missing Mirror : 554

Twenty-Nine
The Lost Diadem : 571

* IX *

Thirty
The Sacking of Severus Snape : 589

Thirty-One
The Battle of Hogwarts : 608

Thirty-Two
The Elder Wand : 638

Thirty-Three
The Prince's Tale : 659

Thirty-Four
The Forest Again :691

Thirty-Five
King's Cross : 705

Thirty-Six
The Flaw in the Plan : 724

Epilogue
753

* X *

That is a transciption of the photos. I did not post the photos here. I can not verify they are true photos of the book but they seem to me to be. If you want to see the actual photos, drop me a note with a valid email address and I'll try to email you the links.

Friday the 13th! -- 1 week to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Yes today was Friday the 13th! But Jason was no where to be seen at least around here. I guess he still has about 20 minutes to make an appearance. That is for you horror film movie buffs. I have to admit I was never a Friday the 13th movie fan. But Friday the 13th as a day has always been good to me.

Now take this Friday the 13th. Doesn't the title of JK Rowling's last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter andthe Deathly Hallows just seem to go with today? I mean Friday the 13th and Deathly Hallows? Has a ring to it, doesn't it? A kind of symmetry? I thought so anyway. Too bad they didn't decide to release the book today. I think it would have been appropos. Maybe they thought it would be too close to the Order of the Phoenix movie release.

Anyway, today marks the 1 week milestone. One week from today, at about this time many of you will be gathering at bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, or Borders Books, or a local Wal-Mart and queueing up to get your hands on the last of the Harry Potter series. I may also. I still have not decided. For Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I did the midnight trip to our local Wal-Mart, bought the book, got home at about 1 am and proceeded to read the book more or less non-stop. I finished it sometime early evening that day.

This time around I already have my order in at Amazon UK for one of their Adult and one of their Children's edition just as I did last time. But as I type, I am tempted to wait until about 3 or 4 am to go to my local Wal-Mart. By then all the frenzied crowd will be gone. I should be able to walk in, get the book and leave.

And what about spoilers? You know people who scan the book looking for key moments and then go around telling everyone the information before they have a chance to read it for themselves. How many of you will take precautions in the upcoming week and continue until you finish the book to keep from learning what happens from others? I know I will, but since I live in the middle of nowhere, I more or less just have to be cautious on reading what is posted on the internet and avoid anyone shouting inforamtion when I go to book. I don't plan to rush through this one but still if I get it early saturday morning I suspect I will have it finished no later than sometime Sunday afternoon.

So here is to one more week of anticipation, one more week of avoiding spoilers, one more week until the end of one of the best written series in history.

Then I'll have to wait for her next book in a different genre. Yes I will read it also. I'll have to post a blog here just on books and authors sometime. JK Rowling is an exceptional writer but there are others out there worth reading also. But that is for another day.