Preparing for Saturday morning

I've read a slew of books, believe me (A Thousand Splendid Suns! Buy, Buy, Baby! and some pretty stupid chick-lit not worthy of a mention even on this blog). But I'm simultaneously rejoicing and mourning the release of the last Harry Potter book (whose title I need not mention) by re-reading the first 6 books.

(Confession: am thinking very seriously about buying the hardcover boxed set when it becomes available in September. The thing is though I hate the packaging--the box is a school trunk.)

(Confession #2: I am going to par-tay on Friday night at the local Borders while waiting for midnight to strike. Then I'm going to stay up as long as is necessary to finish the book. Motherhood/wifehood responsibilities be damned.)

I've always regarded Chamber of Secrets my least-favorite in the series, but I actually had a change of heart since re-reading it. Prisoner of Azkaban is still my favorite, followed closely by #s 1 & 4 (tied), then 2, 5 & 6. It's not that I didn't like Half-Blood Prince--I just feel that there should have been more stuff in it, esp. in relation to Harry acquiring the skills necessary to vanquish Voldemort.

I am so sad that the series is ending. It's the right thing to do, but still. Now I'm going to have to wait for Teo to be old enough to enjoy the story of Harry (in maybe 6 years?) to experience a thrill similar to that I've lived through over the last 8 years (I only started reading HP when Teo's Ninang Abby gifted me with the first 3 books all at once), each time a new book became available.

I haven't downloaded the countdowns to July 21 that you can get off Scholastic, but I've been counting the days and hours.

I can't wait. At the same time, I wish that day would never come.