Harry Potter 6!!!

This weekend marked the release of Harry Potter 6!!! Of course, it needs to explanation, one of the greatest book series' of all time. The second to last of the series itself, it is called "Harry Potter 6 and the Half-Blood Prince"

I took Friday off from work and all of us friends (Kevin, Annie, Michele and I) ventured up to Greeley to check in to our bed & breakfast. It was a great place, with lots of outdoor charm and a nice swimming pool which we used liberally. :-)

At around 9:30, we made our way back to Denver, to Cherry Creek actually, and waited on line at the Tattered Cover bookstore to get our copy of the new book! The book was being sold at the stroke of Midnight. We got on line a little before 10:30, we were about 20th on line I'd guess...and just chatted.

As the time grew near, things got very exciting. There was a buzz in the air, the lines had long filled out, and the whole bookstore was packed...and this is near midnight on a Friday! People were dressed up as all sorts of character and the mood was jovial. K and I, because of where we were on line, snapped some pictures of the new books before midnight as the lady was walking in and out of the room. She even posed for a great shot of her looking mortified, I hope that one comes out. :-)

Midnight strikes!

We had to wait about another minute and a half, and the books were ours! We hustled our way around hundreds of bodies and out the store, ready to go back to our B&B and read!!

K began reading in the car aloud. He got through a chapter and a half. I had trouble paying attention during parts as I was driving, so I had to read them both all over again anyway. We were in Greeley by 1:25, and while K and Annie read a little bit more, Michele and I dozed off.

Saturday morning hits, and the reading begins. I finished the first chapter again before breakfast. Then, we all went down to breakfast (not too exciting) and then came back up to our rooms to read. We read at a tremendous rate and then lunch. We went to Wendy's and brought it back to eat at a gazebo on the B&B ground. Very yummy, and we chatted about the book...at least, the parts we'd all gotten to. (Michele and I were a bit behind, especially me.)

The next 5 or so hours were tough, I fell asleep for about 2 hours, tired from the night before and having trouble adjusting to this non-stop reading regimen I never usually do. :-) By dinner, I was 250 pages into the 652-page book! And I had to finish it by the end of the night??

Annie and K were cruising...both in the 500's already! Michele and I were hundreds of pages behind, and facing a long stretch!

We got back, and Michele and I declined the pool in order to read. And read. And read. And read. And READ!

K finished the book at 8:30. Annie finished at about 10, and that's when they went to sleep. Michele and I were still quite a bit behind, with Michele about 30 pages ahead of me.

And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read. And we read.

We read til 3:30 in the morning, when we each finished the book within 4 pages of each other!!!!!

Wow, what a book! The weekend has motivated me to re-read the entire series all over again. If you haven't read the Harry Potter books, man, yer missing out -- I really recommend it! They are bloody brilliant!

Well, as with every other book in the series, this books get a 10 rating. J.K. Rawling is simply incredible. Can't wait for book 7!

No spoilers to report. Just cause I read the book in a day, doesn't mean I have to ruin for anyone else. :-) Also, if yer interested in buying my used copy for $15 (Michele and I don't need to keep both), lemme know.