I read the first Harry Potter book after all the books had been published. I didn’t get the delirium everyone felt over a series of children’s books, so felt no rush to read them, even though I’m a huge bookworm and read practically everything. I think I was trying to make a point (not sure what point) and felt above it all. Little did I know….
I read the first two books Harry Potter quickly, felt a lot of things were unexplained, too many loose ends, and overall the sense of the books were childish. I didn’t get the genius of JK Rowling yet. I didn’t get that with each book, and with each year that Harry matures, the books do also. After I finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I was hooked. I couldn’t read the subsequent books fast enough, and luckily they were all available since I waited so long to discover them. When I finished the series, not only was every question answered, but every seemingly trivial detail in the first few books took on significant meaning. There were layers of story built upon layers, a whole magical world interwoven and intricate and incredible that was clearly planned from the very beginning, from the very first written word, and slowly unveiled for us with each book.
And it was over. I was shut out from this world because there were no more books. So I reread the series, and suffered the same acute pain at the end a second time. Afraid of going through it again, I decided to return to favorites, but never reread the last book because I hated the finality. I was also desperate to get the books in eBook format because my hardcover and paperback copies were so beaten up. After several teasers and many years, J K Rowling has finally agreed to put her novels on eBooks.
Pottermore, J K Rowling’s soon to be premiering Harry Potter site, will offer the Harry Potter books in eBook format for the first time, and they will be the exclusive providers (making a lot of eReader retailers unhappy). What would have been a huge score for Amazon and Barnes & Noble is now Sony’s prize, because they are apparently working with Rowling in some capacity towards Pottermore and the eBook unveiling in October 2011.
I don’t have any Sony eReaders (I have the Kindle and the NOOK Color) but according to various sources, the book will be made available in multiple formats, including these popular eReaders- good news since I have no intention of buying a Sony eReader. Rowling, it seems, did not want these companies making a killing off her books or selling the gadgets that would host them, and I don’t blame her. Amazon takes a huge chunk out of each sale, and for newbie authors, they take about 60-70% of their money- not cool.
The new Harry Potter world of Pottermore.com promises to be interactive and magical, offering a deeper journey into the wizard world for fans everywhere. Details, information, further story and character development….I can not wait! What is shown on the site so far is already amazing and exciting. And here is J K Rowling herself, on her new site:
That’s awesome. I adore the HP series! I haven’t checked out Pottermore yet though.
I listened to the entire HP series from audio books and LOVED them! I only ended up reading the last couple but the audio books were awesome for me. The guy that narrates had such a great voice for it!
Wohoo! I know there will be many happy fans out there.
That is SO great for traveling!
I was wondering what Pottermore was going to be!
Kas
Ah yes if they are going to be sold on the sony e-book store it will come as an e-pub which means anyone that has a device that can read a drm book in e-pub (meaning pretty much all the mainstream e-readers except the Kindle).
I’ve never been a Harry Potter fan, and my family is probably one of the only ones left where none of us have read the books or seen the movies.