The Order Of The Order Of The Phoenix

I have to admit that I read very little fiction. I think that the number of novels that I have read in the last twenty years is probably a single digit number. I am a voracious reader of non-fiction of many different sorts, but fiction just isn't my thing... except for Douglas Adams, and the Harry Potter books. The latter was recommended to me by several friends early on in the series, and our whole family, has devoured every book. We've listened to the audio tapes together as a family on long drives, more than once for each book. My eight year old daughter has tackled the first book on her own, and my wife, my daughter, and myself have all read all of the first four.

On Saturday morning, as I bundled the kids into the car to head for camp, I noticed that the mail had arrived early. It was difficult to miss, actually, as there was a large package sticking out of the mailbox. It took about a nanosecond for me to realize what it must be: the copy of Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix that my wife had pre-ordered from Barnes & Noble dot-com. The first thought through my head was "That's amazing! They timed the mail-order delivery to arrive on the morning that the book was released." The next thought, though, was "Darn! I thought I'd have a few days to read it myself before I have to send it to camp... but the kids are going to insist that I give it to them now!" Another copy, ordered by grandma, is on the way, but it will be a few days before it arrives. And so, now begins the question of the order of reading of the Order Of The Phoenix!

My older daughter was awarded first dibs. I'm not quite sure how that happened, actually, but it did. I have a distinct advantage, however, in that my bedtime is quite a bit later than hers. As I wes staying over at the camp until Sunday, I managed to convince her to let me have the book for the night, with the promise that I would give it back to her int he morning. I got through almost 200 pages of it... and it is everything I expected it to be. Unfortunately, I'm home now and the book is at camp, and now I just have to wait for my next fix ;-)