A great novel can make your legs hurt

[fpb]

A great novel can make your legs hurt. If you had the silly idea of booking your copy at a shop far from your home, because it has a midnight opening, you have to leave your home before eleven at night and stand around for a long time waiting for a rare night bus. The night bus does not decant you near your destination, however, but only in the very general vicinity - meaning a couple of miles away. Instead of waiting for another rare night bus, you may then decide to walk the rest of the way. And if, when you get to the shop, you find a queue the length of the nearest two blocks, you must not have the bad idea to stand around and observe. You will be discouraged. You may then take a further walk to kill some time, during which you observe that another branch of the same bookstore is even more besieged. Then you may come back and stand in the queue again for a good half hour. Then, having obtained your copy, you may have to walk back another couple of miles - with your legs already exhausted from all the walking and queueing - and stand around again for half an hour, waiting for yet another rare night bus.

That is how a great novel can make your legs hurt.

Comments

[joanna-may.livejournal.com]

I'm not actually on your friends list, but I thought I'd comment anyway.

Be glad you didn't reserve your copy with Tesco. I love them to bits (hey, they pay my wages, after all), and usually they're fantastic, but they're using parcelforce as their delivery service. Disregarding the general crapness of PF's service, their depot is just round the corner from my house. Meaning that when they put my book on the van, it's the last one in the day's route. So I do not have my copy of the book, nor can I actually go and get my hands on one, since then I'll end up with two copies of the book.

Rant over. Apologies for randomly ranting on your journal.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

You are very welcome. And I don't know whether you had the opportunity yet, but the book is a masterpiece. Anyone who, after this, disputes JKR's right to be called a great writer, does not, in my humble opinion, know what the &$£!!! literature is about.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

PS - unless I f-lock something, it is open to everyone to read and comment. I reserve, of course, the right to delete comments and ban people, but I hardly imagine that will be an issue with you. Read and comment any time you like.