There are large numbers of differences between the British and American editions of all six of the books so far, and they’re a lot more than just spelling and punctuation. Here’s a website with a long list for each book:
Go down towards the bottom of this webpage to the section called “Differences between the British and American versions” and to the subsection called “Individual books”. Each book has a separate webpage for the differences. Notice also that on the webpage given above is a short list of textual mistakes which were fixed in later editions of the books.
I wasn’t into Harry Potter for the other books, but I just missed the last one. I started casually reading the first book the day Half-Blood Prince was released. A week and a half later I finished HBP, and wished to god I had started a few weeks earlier, so I could have been in on the excitement. Since this is the last one, I want to be one of the Midnight People for this, my only chance. I already pre-ordered the book from Amazon, but we need two copies in this household anyway (my husband read all the books and became a fan too after I did).
I want to be where the action is, but I also want to support independent bookstores. Any suggestions on where I should go in the Chicago area (in the city, NOT the suburbs)?
July 13, 2007 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie released
July 21, 2007 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book released
We did the “waiting in line at midnight” thing for the last release, and while fun and exciting, I was frankly too tired to go home and read! I think this year we’ll pre-order online for our first copy and get a good night’s rest.
Equipoise: I suspect that the movie’s release date is the reason the book is being published on the 21st rather than the much-anticipated 7/7/07. The HP PTB don’t want the movie to be overshadowed by people still discussing the just-released book.
As for me, well…Orthodox Jews won’t have the opportunity to do Saturday midnight vigils at the nearest bookstore. I’ll probably pre-order from Amazon, get the delivery some time Saturday, and open the package and read the book once Shabbat ends, which will be around 8:30 PM.
If my family is lucky, I’ll come out of isolation by Monday morning.
I think I’m going to stay away from the Internet and other people (if I can) until I finish the book. I knew the spoiler from the last one because I was reading the Rotten Tomatoes message board and saw it a couple of days before the book was released. At the time, since I hadn’t read the books and didn’t care, seeing the spoiler (which someone had put in the SUBJECT LINE!) didn’t bother me, but I thought “Wow, if I were a Harry Potter book fan I’d be really pissed off.” Then I started reading the books and became so hooked I flew through them, and when, a week and a half later, I actually started reading HBP myself, I WAS pissed off then because I knew the spoiler and it DID matter.
Nowhere is safe. I saw this horrible video of a guy driving by fans outside a book store and yelling
“SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!” then driving away. That’s the biggest worry about going out to buy the book, other people with big mouths.
There’s also the bridal factor: tons of weddings being planned around 07/07/07. Why pit a movie opening and a major book release based on the same author’ work at the same time?
