Harry Potter and the OOP

Harry Potter at Books of Wonder Gothamist was too tired from the Gothamist-601AM Happy Hour to face scads of screaming children at various Harry Potter parties around town (though we were tempted to go - believe us - it would have been a lesson in seeing who could be bigger babies). We had stopped by City Bakery on 18th Street, and learned it was staying open late because the Book of Wonder across the street had its midnight Harry Potter party. (PS, the Books of Wonder staff was pretty nasty when we went inside to take a picture of the boxes, but we suppose they were stressed out.) Anyway, Gothamist thought it'd need a good night of sleep, to prepare for reading the 870 page book, but we were concerned about book status:

Jake: so do you think harry potter is sold out?
Jen: i don't know
Jen: you should go and check
Jen: call them!
Jake: can't you? [typical]
Jen: i'll call my b&n [even more typical]
[two minutes pass]
Jen: "do you have any copies of harry potter left?"
Jen: (laugh) "we sure do!"

Michiko Kakutani liked Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; luckily, she did not write it from the point of view of Merlin or Glinda the Good Witch.

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By Jen Chung in Arts & Entertainment on June 21, 2003 10:14 AM

Comments [rss]

Jen

Thanks. I didn't take it too personally, I was just annoyed they wouldn't let me take pictures. I just can't imagine how people selling CHILDREN's books are snobby. Is it like the Strand for the kiddie set? Maybe we need to do an investigative report.

j.

Don't take your Books of Wonder experience, too personally, Jen -- those people are incredibly snobby all the time. I remember a few years back, when I actually worked in the book business, in the kids' book business, even. I had to go in there (on a work-related) visit, and was stunned how nasty they were.

jake

molly and i walked by the scholastic bookstore in soho at like 11pm last night- there were all these kids in harry potter gear lined up outside, surrounded by an even larger mass of scholastic interns and publicists and nyc TV crews... this one hermione was giving like 5 interviews- she was about 3' tall, but she was handling herself like she was on television all the time.

i ended up going to BN on astor to get my copy this morning- they had about 100 boxes of the books, so no one needs to worry about not getting a copy.