This photo, taken from the second floor of the Easy Chair Bookstore Cafe, pretty much sums up the night of July 20th and the earliest minutes of the morning of July 21st. Cohen (bottom left) and Alleyne (bottom right) were moved to the front of the line because they took the time to call Roanoke Times reporter Angela Manese-Lee who wanted to
interview some Harry Potter fans. It was our way of saying thanks for supporting Blacksburg's independent bookstore through all the hype, insanity and ridiculous discounts.
We counted down the last ten seconds, a huge cheer went up, and books were handed out quickly and without incident. The party was a great success and I never had so much fun handing out books. There is a lot of cynicism surrounding J.K. Rowling and her seven volume epic, either from ignorance or arrogance. I haven't personally been swept up in the stories, but my wife has barely put hers down since cracking the cover. She's on the porch in front of our Clover Hollow home as I write this and claims to actually be reading slower as she approaches the last chapters. To savor the experience. This is a person who
devours books.
It is hard to argue that Harry hasn't created more readers, even if the growth is short-lived or the young fans move on (or back) to electronic entertainment over time.
8.3 million copies in 24 hours. There hasn't been anything else like it, ever, in the publishing world. And I think that is what gets the detractors so worked up. "Harry Potter hasn't turned kids into
real readers, I mean how many of them will go on to read Saxo Grammaticus?"
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