On Saturday, I bought Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
at CostCo. On leaving, the checker told me that I had bought the
887th copy at that store. This was 1pm, three hours after opening,
so they were selling at the rate of five per minute.
I started reading it last night. After two chapters,
when I had seen far too many references to earlier books
that I didn't recall, I decided that it was time to
re-read the earlier books. I'm a fast reader, but I don't
retain material very well.
In the first chapter of the first book, I came across
an ironically prophetic statement, made by Professor McGonagall
as she and Professor Dumbledore are leaving Baby Moses,
er, Harry on the Dursleys's doorstep:
He'll be famous -- a legend -- I wouldn't be surprised
if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future
-- there will be books written about Harry
-- every child in our world will know his name!
This of course was written when J.K. Rowling was an unknown,
when the thought of her being a millionaire, much less a billionaire,
was unthinkable.