Harry Potter books: July 2007 Archives

Well, a well-respected U.S. newspaper (aka: ‘it which shall not be named’) has already posted an early review of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ complete with spoilers. Arggh! What idiots! A Harry Potter fan site, www.the-leaky-cauldron.org, is asking Potter fans to write letters to the editor to ‘it which shall not be named’ taking them to task for this bone-headed move. Maybe Fred and George Weasley can come up with a nice present for them as well. The Leaky site is experiencing tons of traffic so keep trying!

In a few hours we will know the fate of Harry and his friends. In the meantime, we can amuse ourselves with other Potter mania. You’ve heard of March Madness; how about the Potter Madness brackets? If the characters in the Potter books were to meet other fantasy heroes, who would rule? Would Captain Jack Sparrow from “Pirates of the Caribbean” outwit the dreaded Lord Voldemort?

The U.S. publisher of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ is taking legal action today against two companies which they say are the source of leaks hitting the Internet. DeepDiscount.com and Levy Home Entertainment are accused of breaching the on-sale agreement by sending the books through the mail early so that some people received them before July 21.

Harry Potter fans across the ocean are breathing a sigh of relief Tuesday after the second largest supermarket chain in Britain, ASDA, apologized to the publisher of the Harry Potter books, ending a dispute that had threatened to keep ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ off the stores’ shelves. The tiff centered on the price for the last book in J.K. Rowling’s series of the boy wizard.

The release of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ is being subjected to intense security—at a pretty hefty price tag . Among the measures being taken to prevent anyone from leaking its contents before July 21 are guard dogs and satellite tracking systems. In Britain, some print factory employees ‘reportedly had to work in near-darkness to prevent them reading the book.’

MuggleNet posted on their site what they say may be the opening of the first chapter of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.’ The excerpt originally appeared in the newspaper, ‘The Guardian’ in an article they published about an upcoming documentary on J.K. Rowling.

So for those of you who were at the midnight shows for ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,’ what did you think? Was some stuff from the book omitted that should have been in the movie? One reviewer commented that the movie has taken a darker turn, “leaving innocence behind.” But didn’t the book do the same thing?