You have book 7 in your hands, what now?

[dungrollin]

> Annemehr:
> Sure.  As for myself, I *never* read endings first (even though, 
like you, I enjoy *re*reading my favorite books very much).  

Dungrollin:
Yeah, me too. I figure that I'm only going to have one shot at 
reading DH without knowing the ending, so I'm going to enjoy the 
suspense! 

Annemehr:
> On the other hand, I've recently come to the conclusion that for 
the 
> end of DH it matters much, much less to me whether Harry lives or 
> dies than *what JKR is communicating* by the story and its 
> conclusion. This is handy, because at least the book won't 
> be "ruined" for me should the life/death spoiler happen to leak.

Dungrollin:
Me too again. I'll be well miffed if it turns out that either the 
character who got a reprieve or one who dies who was originally 
intended to live is Harry. So long as I can see that she'd planned it 
this way for good reason right from the beginning, I don't much mind 
either way.

Annemehr:
> So for me, it'll be: get the book, get comfy, and read straight 
> through (but not too fast; it takes me a while).

Dungrollin:
I've just booked my flight back to the UK for the 20th! Hurrah! I've 
been suffering low-level anxiety about whether I'll get back at the 
right time since we got the release date. I've also discovered that a 
shop within cycling distance is opening at midnight, and figure what 
the hell, it's the last chance, I'm going to go.

So I shall try to sleep as much as possible on the flight, touch down 
at Heathrow at four in the afternoon, make my way home in time for 
dinner, and spend the evening repairing my bike. Once I have the book 
in my overexcited sweaty little hands, I shall bomb it back home, 
make an extra large cup of tea, and install myself on the sofa with a 
packet of hobnobs. (Is one packet enough?? Should I get in a box of 
chocolates as insurance?)

Then I shall read straight through the night. I may switch from tea 
to coffee if it looks like I'll flake out before the end.

Dungrollin
Finding the anticipatory excitement difficult to bear.