So, I’m in the midst of tour; Internet access hasn’t been all that reliable, and I’ve been overwhelmed by the response to my events! I apologize, then, for really only announcing this on my Twitter and not on the site, but on Wednesday, I only had wi-fi access for enough time to publish this book and not do the normal post I do around here. BUT THE BOOK IS HERE AND IT’S TIME TO PARTY!
You can purchase Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for just $3.99 on MarkDoesStuff.com in three formats: PDF, Kindle/.mobi, and ePub (Nook and Apple readers).
Each book contains 117 pages, 74 footnotes, the 18 original reviews, plus 18 brand new, never published re-reads of the entirety of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. All MRHP books in the future will contain complete re-reads of every chapter!!!! I promised I would do them, AND HERE THEY ARE FOR YOU.
Please let others know that this book has been released, as the funds from this will keep my sites running and keep me on tour throughout 2012. Additionally, physical copies of BOTH MRHP and Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets will be on sale to everyone in a couple of weeks! PHYSICAL BOOKS. WITH PAGES. AND THINGS IN THEM.
Thank you all for the wonderful support you have given me. It means so much that you would buy anything that I have written. Without the fantastic sales of MRHP + SS, I would not have been able to book the Intensity in Ten Cities Tour. I have five dates left in Boston, NYC, Philly, D.C./Maryland, and Chicago, so please come out to see me do live readings if I’m coming near you!
THANK YOU!
THAT COVER.
IT IS SO FANTASTIC. Are you about to be eaten by the basilisk, Mark? Does your obliviousness to the basilisk represent your constant unpreparedness? I AM GOING TO GO WITH YES.
I am so broke right now that I can't buy your books, but hopefully sometime soon I will have enough to get them, and then you bet that I will own all of them! I would love to see the new, never-before-seen stuff. YAY MARK
Email me!
markreadsandwatches [at] gmail [dot] com
And every time I think this is markreadssandwiches.
I THINK THIS TOO
EVERY DAMN TIME
Although, as I have pointed out before, if ANYONE can read sandwiches, it's Mark. MARK CAN READ ANYTHING AND MAKE IT AWESOME.
HAHAHA. This is quite true 😀 Mark, will you read sandwiches for us?
"THE SNARKY LETTUCE JUST LAID DOWN RIGHT ON TOP OF THE BREAD. And then they both got bitten!! I was so unprepared for this"
OFFICIAL DISCUSSION THREAD FOR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE READ THE RE-READS. DO IT.
FUN!
I have not read them yet but I WILL.
And … what? A review and a new MRHP book? WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME IT WAS CHRISTMAS??! *is excite* *off to buy*
Because you asked for it… map of Hogwarts straight out of Jo's head. http://members.madasafish.com/~cj_whitehound/Fanf…
I'm pretty new to Mark Reads, I just marathoned(?) the Harry Potter reads in the last few weeks, it was fun!! So I didn't hesitate to buy the Chamber of Secrets, and had a ton of fun with the re-reads. This is probably the one that changes the most upon re-reading it, I have grown to love this book more and more – granted the first time I read it I was 10 and now I'm 22 so it's a bit different, but it's incredible how many new things you can pick up each time you re-read it.
Thoughts on the re-reads:
– Love the apology letter to Dobby. (L). Don't worry, I think we all thought he was annoying at first, I mean he was making Harry stay with the Dursleys!! Obviously we didn't understand his good intentions. PS- I actually got a tear in my eye when you said "I just wish you were still around to know that". MEAN REMINDER. *tears forever*
– The Malfoys. One thing I will probably never understand about the fandom is the love for Draco. People going to extents to try and excuse him, or to say he changes, when in fact he doesn't. The Malfoys represent taking the easy way out in the face of war and danger. I think some people may try to excuse them because we all know deep inside that a part of us would always consider in the face of war taking the easy way, I know I would. Hopefully, unlike the Malfoys, I would get past it and fight for what's right but there's a part of you that is always going to want to save yourself and the people you love, it's basic instinct. The Malfoys just look out for themselves and nobody else.
Yes, Draco isn't as bad as Lucius, that's for sure. We learned several times that Lucius has no problem killing others (he gave Ginny the diary!!). Draco on the other hand when tasked with killing Dumbledore isn't able to do it. Lucius is a killer, Draco is not. In that sense, we can excuse him. But that doesn't take the fact that his whole family care about nothing but themselves: which is fine, it's realistic that they exist. We all wish we could be Harry in the books, but IN THE SITUATION I think we would all -at one point and because we are human, consider just saving ourselves. That's what the Malfoys did. I don't think even Narcissa redeemed her family really, she just went along with this pattern. She helped Harry but only because she knew it was the only way to get into the school and make the war stop in order to save her son. If IT WAS IN HER INTEREST to have Harry dead then she would no doubt have told Voldemort that he was alive. It took courage FOR SURE, she's probably the most courageous out of the three of them, but she was courageous ONLY for her own, and not for the Wizarding world, not for the Muggles and Muggle-borns, not for Harry and for the other kids. The Malfoys are the ones that have no allegiance, no cause they are willing to fight for, the ones that don't pick sides: they only pick themselves. Lucius is a psycho, racist killer. Draco is a racist bully and they are both cowards… As for Narcissa, she's just a mom, of course she picked her son over everything and everyone, it's understandable and it was good of her, but it does not mean – in my opinion – that all the bullying, and killing, and hate that the Malfoys spread is forgotten.
I too feel sorry for Draco at some points, but I don't think that the way he was raised left him no choice. Draco was raised by a person who believed their status as pureblood makes them better, that their lives are worth more, but he had a choice to look past that. Sirius was also raised in this same environment, and however he was able to choose to be more open-minded, to question things instead of accepting blindly what his family told him. There's always a choice, for Draco it was harder to make the right one given his dad, but he could have made it and he didn't. I don't hate him for it, (though I certainly don't love him) in fact I understand perfectly but there it is.
By the way, you mentioned in your review that you didn't know if Malfoy knew the diary was a Horcrux: he didn't. He didn't even know about the memory of Riddle. BUT he did know that it was an item which would enable the chamber of secrets to be open. Let me find Dumbledore's quote about that in HBP:
"Lucius did not know what the diary really was. I understand that Voldemort had told him the diary would cause the Chamber of Secrets to be reopen, because it was cleverly enchanted. Had Lucius known he held a portion of his master's soul in his hands he would undoubtedly have treated it with more reverence – but instead he went ahead and carried out the old plan for his own ends: by planting the diary upon Arthur Weasley's daughter, he hoped to discredit Arthur, have me thrown out of Hogwarts and get rid of a highly incriminating object in one stroke"
– Lockhart. While I see where you are coming from about the gender issues, the female fan base does exist in real life – mainly with pop singers and such. Some famous people (such as all-male pop bands) have a specific target directed to females. I'm sure there are SOME guys who like them, like there are SOME guys who like Lockhart, but the female fan base is larger. Obviously Lockhart with his looks and hero-stories created a specific marketing campaign designed to captivate women. It does happen often. Don't be too harsh on Hermione for her crush on Lockhart. It might not make sense seeing as she is an intelligent person, with no problems to question authority, but she's just a twelve-year-old with a crush! They never make sense, especially at that age. The best of us fall for them. I'm sure deep inside she knew that he was a fraud, or at least not as good as he claimed, but she just had a silly crush, who can blame her?
– Snape. My views on Snape sometimes differ from the popular, because while I respect him I don't love him. One of the things that infuriates me the most is when people hate on James for having picked on Snape, but they adore Snape. NO NO NO NO. It is not ok to say that James was a horrible person because he bullied Snape and clear Snape of all guilt. I love Snape as a character, he's by far one of the most interesting BUT that does not mean that what he did throughout the years is ok. And one thing I see in the HP fandom frequently is a (hypocritical) hate for James and love for Snape. James bullied Snape with his friends, that was mean, and wrong and it was in no way OK but he was a kid, one who made mistakes, but he grew up. He learned he and his friends were idiots, and tried to correct his life. Lily would never have fallen in love with James if he was still like that. James matured, he changed, and he redeemed his life by SACRIFICING IT for a better cause. HE GAVE HIS LIFE in order to get rid of Voldemort, he was part of the ORDER actively fighting to rid the world of evil. HE DIED FOR THIS CAUSE. Snape is a bit similar, he bullied others but I believe he also SOMEWHAT redeemed himself by also SACRIFICING his life for a better cause, he did it for LOVE and it's admirable. BUT he was a bully, and in my opinion he was WAY worse than James because he bullied CHILDREN while he, himself being a GROWN ADULT. From a position of power he made others miserable, he picked on the weaker like Neville, how terrible is it that with all the dangers in the world (after what his parents went through) Neville saw SNAPE as his boggart? That's messed up!!! A grown man, in a position that requires respect, bullying CHILDREN!! I admire Snape for giving up his life for the greater good, I think he was a brave man, but I can't accept the idolization and picking on James that I've seen so much around. It's where I clash with the fandom the most. I had to get that out.
So basically I agree wholeheartedly with your views on Snape!
That's an interesting point on people being inclined to try to forgive the Malfoys because we're all at least somewhat selfish, which they personify. I don't think I would have ever thought of it that way, but now I think you're right. Luckily we're not all racist, classist assholes too.
Haha, yes thank god for that… And actually I don't have a theory for why people are so quick to forgive THAT SIDE of Draco, he is one of the biggest bullies in the book, and it's pretty horrible to read… But meh, I guess he is an interesting character to analyze. 🙂
Hm, I'll form my own reply chain as I read, sort of like Maru but probably with a lot more replies, as I don't think I will get through everything so quickly.
COMMENT 1 (RE-READS UP THROUGH CHAPTER 4)
I think one thing about this book that Mark kind of points out in these early chapter re-reads is that there's a whole lot of side characters and subplots introduced, but without knowing the later books they feel kind of underwhelming, because they only promise later awesomeness without delivering in this book. Things like the existence of Borgin and Burkes, and the fact that Mr. Weasley works in the Ministry of Magic. The bigotry of the Malfoys is only slightly dealt with in this book, and it's handled much more satisfyingly later. The same could be said for the existence of Dobby and house-elves in general. The idea of meeting the Grangers is, unfortunately, never really delivered upon.
The largest example of this might be the entire character of Ginny. I remember disliking this book when I first read it, and I think I subconsciously thought Ginny was just annoying. And her 'crush' on Harry seems really silly when you don't know the grand scheme. Because if we judge this book singularly, this characterization seems largely unnecessary. Ginny's feelings about Harry don't really play into the endgame of the novel, EVEN THOUGH GINNY HERSELF IS KEY TO THE ENDGAME OF THE NOVEL. Of course, on a re-read, we can see Ginny's crush as cute, and more importantly, Harry can already be seen to care about her even this early, where he refuses to either ignore her or laugh at her silliness. In fact, it's really touching to see him give her his free Lockhart books.
Also, "What about men [becoming obsessive about] professional sports culture, especially football, basketball, and baseball?"
OBVIOUSLY HOCKEY IS THE ONLY TRUE SPORT AND ALL OTHERS ARE JUST A BUNCH OF POSERS.
COMMENT 2 (RE-READS UP THROUGH CHAPTER 8)
Was he [Dumbledore, when Snape brings Harry and Ron in about the car] sitting there thinking, “Sweet fucking Merlin, why do I have to deal with this bullshit?” WE WILL NEVER KNOW.
Hahaha, this is the best line so far.
Also, can't agree more with this assessment of Lockhart: "the best detail of Gilderoy Lockhart's character is that he's an antagonist who isn't evil. He is simply a liar who provides conflict throughout the book through his sheer ability to annoy and irritate … he also truly believes he is better than the people around him … he's just that delusional." YES YES YES
In regards to Hermione's 'crush' on Lockhart, I think there is one thing to remember. This is a 12 year old girl who considers BOOKS the ultimate resource. She also reads all of her coursebooks before coming to school. So when she comes to school this year, having read all of Lockhart's books, and learning that Lockhart, THE AUTHOR HIMSELF, will be the teacher, I kind of get the feeling that she was swept off her feet before she ever really met him. I can almost imagine Hermione being unable to wrap her mind around the idea that a BOOK could be a lie (AT AGE 12). My view of this might be a bit colored by reading a fanfiction set of Hermione's diaries (can I just admit that these things are AWESOME? A very well-written look at books 1 through 4 from Hermione's eyes). I mentioned this in Pittsburgh, Mark, and you sounded like you might be interested. If so let me know and I can post a link or something.
COMMENT 3 (RE-READS UP THROUGH CHAPTER 12)
HAHAHA "Re-writing the entire series from the point of view of Hermione. I don’t care how biased I am, I would throw my life’s savings at J.K. Rowling for this … Again, I wouldn’t turn away a complete re-write of the series from her point of view. Never." Alright this is a bit stronger than the vibe I got at Eljay's. I'll just post this link here, and claim that even though it's not JKR, it's still amazingly fun to read:
http://www.sugarquill.net/index.php?action=profil…
You want "Hermione, Queen of Witches, Book x". Most of them are near the bottom. You will also eventually get links within the stories to Ron's viewpoint on a few things as well, which are awesome. Most of all, though, reading BOOK THREE from Hermione's point of view is AMAZING. Seriously, her slow breakdown into madness trying to take all of those classes, and getting ignored by Harry and Ron FOR LIKE MONTHS, is wild.
In regards to Snape in these early books, I think this is partly purposeful exaggeration on Rowling's part. The reader HAS to continue to have reasons to hate Snape beyond his treatment of Harry. But in terms of the world itself, I think Mark was right to surmise that Snape hates his life. There's no indication that he ever wanted to be a teacher, especially not a Potions teacher. The only things he ever wanted to be (that we know about) are:
-a Slytherin (as told to Lily on the train) thus he seems to have an apparent pride in his house
-a Death Eater (implied by Lily, and reasonable to assume) this would mean that even if he is not necessarily as bigoted as Voldy's followers in his heart (he does love a Mudblood after all), he most likely holds a very judgemental point of view on people, all with little to no compassion
-Lily's soulmate (duh) which obviously contributes to the irrational treatment of Harry
-independent (this is my assumption based on his sparse comments about his home life to Lily, and even though he joins the Death Eaters who employ a group mentality, he is portrayed as rather separate from their 'group' even when they believe he is on their side), and now he is essentially being controlled by a man who he respects. He submits to Dumbledore's control out of love for Lily, not for Dumbledore. This means that, in his twisted worldview, he's being forced to carry out a task (teaching) that has nothing to do with his original intent (protecting Lily's son, which he's half pissed about anyway). And this is all for someone who is not even the person he wishes to be doing favors for.
This feeling of ill-usage can only be exacerbated by the fact that Dumbledore, in fact, DOESN'T SEEM TO VIEW HARRY'S PROTECTION AS THE END GOAL. Hell, Dumbledore ALLOWS HARRY TO FACE DANGERS AND GROW FROM THEM. This is not what this is all supposed to be about, from Snape's point of view. In Snape's mind, Harry should have been prevented from getting a sniff of the Sorceror's Stone, whereas Dumbledore GIVES HIM HIS INVISIBILITY CLOAK BACK. All I'm saying here is that there are lots of reasons why Snape would hate the idea of being a teacher for Dumbledore, especially when he THOUGHT he was committing to something else (protecting Harry).
"There are spells in this chapter [the Dueling Club] that I don't think we ever see again." Actually I think one of the surprising things about re-reading the books is the reoccurence of spells you THINK are just one-off's. For example, Tarantellegra is what makes Neville drop and break the Prophecy in Dept of Mysteries, and Lupin uses Finite Incantatem to stop it there.
Peeves is clearly the ghost of a Tolkien elf.
COMMENT 4 (RE-READS UP THROUGH CHAPTER 16)
"I cannot believe that J.K Rowling literally tells us in this chapter that Tom Riddle killed Moaning Myrtle, and it’s just a joke. SHE TRICKED ME!!! I don’t even remember reading that part at all."
HOLY SHIT I never noticed this. This is awesome, even if it is depressing.
In regards to Riddle's diary scene, I would be really surprised if anyone actually thought that Hagrid was totally innocent and that Riddle was the liar on first read. Although it is interesting to note that Ron has his doubts about Riddle right from the start.
Mark brings up a point about Hermione and Lockhart that never occured to me: "Does she want the same positive attention he gets for being smart (or rather, appearing to be) instead of all the ire and disrespect she gets for the same thing?" My personal opinion is that Hermione sort of fell in love with Lockhart before she ever met him, and as a 12-year old she had trouble looking at him logically rather than romantically for a while. She has a tendency to break down and lose her logical and even moral steadfastness when her emotional attractions get involved (Half Blood Prince). But I'm kind of fascinated by Mark's idea here, that part of her continuing attraction to Lockhart is a sort of hero-worship thing because she sees him as essentially what she wants to be: 1) an author of BOOKS that is honored for that fact; 2) a learned and skilled wizard who uses his powers to help those in need; 3) physically attractive. This last bit can be argued, but I think there is a slight undercurrent to Hermione throughout the books (that is entirely lost in the movies) of self-doubt, not just because she is Muggle-born, but because she regards herself as unattractive. After all, she basically TRICKS Madame Pomfrey into 'fixing' her teeth. Hermione is not one to deceive an authority figure unless it's for something that she REALLY cares about. Snape says a lot of terrible things to Hermione, but the only one that actually causes her to break down and cry is when he insults her teeth (leading to the Pomfrey fix).
I'm going to discuss Mark's comments about picking a career at such an early age in a separate reply.
"Snape is like the worst Debbie Downer of all time" HAHAHA this might be the new best line.
I'm not sure if I agree or disagree with Mark on the idea that Harry 'reads' people well. He does occasionally read people when he is the center of their thoughts (he can tell Ron and Hermione are staying at Hogwarts to keep him company in Prisoner of Azkaban), but even then he sometimes has trouble (same book, and he can't decide what McGonagall's face is showing when she refuses to sign his Hogsmeade permission slip). He can read Ron when the feeling might be mutual, but when it isn't (the Goblet fight) he actually needs Hermione to explain in words what Ron might be feeling. His date with Cho is a disaster because he LAUGHS when he finally realizes she's worried that he'd rather see Hermione. And if it's not about him, he doesn't usually seem to care. He doesn't really seem to try to read Hermione's feelings for the majority of the series. In fact, I'd make the claim that the only character that he has some consistent read on is Ginny, and that is on purpose by JKRowling (although even that is turned on its head in Half Blood Prince, since a boy who likes a girl instantly becomes oblivious to any hints that the girl might like him too, haha).
COMMENT 5 (RE-READS UP THROUGH CHAPTER 18=ENDING)
While it is pretty cool to read this and realize Harry just destroyed the first Horcrux and he's basically MILES AHEAD OF DUMBLEDORE ON THE WAY TO THE TRUE ENDGAME OF THE NOVELS, there's a part of me that still wants to stand by some of Mark's original comments. Maybe just out of stubbornness? I still believe that most of the coolest stuff about this book, and especially about this endgame, is NOT PART OF THIS BOOK. None of the other books feel this way to me.
See, when Mark says he missed how "horrific" this ending reveal is in terms of Ginny's character, I can't help but feel that the reason one misses this the first time is at least partially because this book never really makes the reader care about Ginny! It's only in later books that she becomes awesome! Throughout THIS book she's just kind of weird, and her infatuation with Harry is more annoying than it is endearing, in my opinion. The same goes doubly for the anagram thing. It's only cool when you look at it through the lens of Book 6, and the psychology of Riddle that we learn there.
Enough complaining though. There are still plenty of awesome things to like about this endgame. Mark points out a lot of them. (Hagrid raising werewolf cubs is awesome. Lockhart being fucked by his own fuckery is awesome. And of course, Dobby.) And isn't this the book where the exams are cancelled at the end and Hermione is upset EVEN THOUGH SHE'S BEEN PETRIFIED FOR WEEKS???
"I wonder if Rowling doubted what she wrote in Chamber of Secrets because no one truly understood it, or if she sat in silent contentment, knowing that she had written brilliance that no one truly understood."
I can't remember where, but I'm pretty certain I've read Rowling mentioning that she had originally planned to put a lot more into Book 2, but decided to let it wait until Book 6. It makes Book 6 FUCKING AMAZING AND AWESOME, but I can't help but feel it leaves Book 2 a little bit shortchanged. Then again, none of the other books have a DEATHDAY PARTY so fuck, maybe this one IS the best.
One thing Mark brings up in this re-read is the idea about schools forcing kids to make career choices so early (in CoS, the kids have to pick their subjects for third year, UNLESS THEY ARE HERMIONE THEN THEY CAN JUST PICK THEM ALL, RIGHT???).
I'm an instructor at a college, and two of my best friends are high school teachers. I struggle with this idea a lot. People definitely change, and too many people go to college only half-knowing what they want to get out of it. I actually made a comment to a guy at the meetup in Pittsburgh that it might sometimes be better for people to wait before going to college. But I'm not sure. The problem is that there are some fields that require LOTS OF CONTINUOUS STUDY. And does the educational system do these people a disservice by not having them start early enough?
It's such a tough thing to balance. Students in middle schools and high schools often question why they have to learn specific material, as if they somehow already know what skills they will use in the workforce. From one point of view, they can't know. They're kids! Not only should they not be FORCED to choose specializations, they shouldn't even be ALLOWED to. Thus there are core courses that are compulsory.
On the other hand, what if the kid's right? Can educators really claim to KNOW what a child needs for their future more than the child (or his parents) do himself? The workforce is so varied right now, and there are actually a lot of jobs that rely on technical trade school educations rather than university educations. In addition, while there is still a certain respect for a well-rounded individual who has knowledge of many different fields, this doesn't seem that important for a lot of jobs. Is it really important to appreciate art and literature to be able to fix a roof? Is it really important to 'appreciate' and be able to perform trigonometric manipulations, to be able to go into law? Perhaps the children should be able to choose a specialized path early on.
And then finally, the question of whether or not they should be FORCED to do so. A school has a limited amount of space and employees, and students cannot be educated one at a time. To achieve maximum efficiency, is it not helpful to separate the kids into groups so that similar groups can learn together? But how can this be done without forcing the kids to choose a 'group'? In America we do it with test results, which is unfortunate, but there doesn't seem to be any other alternative.
As a first stab at an opinion, I will claim that forcing kids into groups is actually the best option. There are too many sorts of knowledge to force all students to study everything (AGAIN, UNLESS THEY ARE HERMIONE). That said, there are also compulsory classes, especially in the mathematics and sciences, because these are subjects where the workforce requires EXTENSIVE background knowledge and practice, and learning the basics on the job is not normally an option. To keep the option of going into mathematics, science, or engineering available, all students who have any interest in these subjects really ought to be encouraged to continue taking the most advanced mathematics and science available to them, and they should not be sharing a classroom with students who have already decided that they will avoid these disciplines while searching for employment.
I'M INTERESTED IN WHAT OTHERS MIGHT THINK ABOUT THIS, BECAUSE I AM NOT AT ALL SURE ABOUT ANY OF THAT WALL OF TEXT.
You know, you still missed the most important clue on chapter 13 even after a re-read 🙂
"And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend he'd has when he was very small, and half-forgotten"
Horcrux Harry anyone?
Okay, well, I HAVE to bring this up because I don't think you mentioned it in the CoS reread:
MARK DID YOU NOT NOTICE THAT IT WAS PEEVES THAT BROKE THE VANISHING CABINET?!!!! THE VERY SAME VANISHING CABINET DRACO SPENDS ALL YEAR TRYING TO FIX IN HBP?!!!! NEARLY-HEADLESS NICK CONVINCES PEEVES TO DROP IT WHILE HARRY IS IN FILCH'S OFFICE!!! I WAS HOPING YOU'D NOTICE THIS!!! NOW FLAIL AT THE GENIUS OF JKR!!!
Oh My goodness, this is amazing! The first one is already out?! HOW DID I MISS THIS?
It must have been during my trip to San Francisco, but no worries because I got to meet and hug Mark, and now I have double the re-reads to read! It's like Christmas but better.
The cover art is nothing short of brilliant! This is going to look great in my kindle library. Hoorah.
Insta-buy! I'm so excited. It's 11pm, but I don't even care… probably reading the whole thing tonight. 🙂
Hi Mark, first time commenting but I've been following ever since Mark Reads Harry Potter The First Time Around! I'm from England and was wondering if you were going to set up a British price in pounds, so that we foreigners don't have to go through the exchange rate!
Really looking forwards to reading MRHP either way, but just wanted to know!
I have a question.
Mark, is it possible for you to publish the Kindle version of the books in the Kindle Store? They'd be a tad easier to buy. (Granted, I'll buy the books anyway, but…)
I can't. In order to publish to the Kindle store, you have to get ISBN numbers for every book, and they are hundreds upon hundreds of dollars per EACH book, and even then, it's then dependent on Amazon to approve them. The whole process would take months to get one book there.
Do you have your Kindle set up to accept emailed .mobi files? That's what I do with mine. It's super easy!
I don’t know. I’ll ask my parents.
If not, I shall find a way!!
What Mark says: buy the mobi version, email to your Kindle, and Amazon will even store them on "manage your Kindle" for you – it really is super easy, promise!
Thanks!
😀
The email address to send to should be under "manage your devices" in the manage your Kindle bit of Amazon. And when you've emailed it to yourself, the book will appear under "personal documents".
I've had a looooooooooooooooot of kindle problems, so I know way too much about getting stuff (back) onto my Kindle. Oh, and if for some reason you delete something from your Kindle that you sent there by email, it'll tell you you're removing it permanently, but it's lying: Amazon will still have a copy of it in manage your Kindle. You can't access it from the archive on the device itself, but you can get it back from myk, you don't need to email it again 🙂
Or you can download the mobi file on to your computer and tranfer it to the kindle via the USB cable (just drop it in the 'documents' directory on the kindle.
I also recommend the free program Calibre. You can import the book into it and click 'Send to Device' from it.
Just in time, too! J.K. rowling just announced she's got a publisher for her next novel for adults!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/23/jk-ro…
Woohooo! Physical books! *dances*
E-books have their places, but I like to read in the tub…
Rats. I can't figure out how to order the physical books. I was hoping to buy them at the tour to get signed but obviously that didn't work. So, I'll just keep checking the store for a listing.
OMG, so excite!! I can't wait to get home and buy MRHP&theCoS! And also, yay for people liking my cover! The art for MRHP&thePoA is ALMOST done. It's not hilarious like the previous two, but I hope you will like it anyway. 🙂
I think I like this one better than MRHP&SS (no offense to SS cover).
We decided to go in a different direction with the covers after the first one was out. Now they're more focused on Mark, and less focused on specific characters from the books, if that makes sense. It's really challenging, but a lot of fun! 🙂
Physical copies?! I LOOOOVE PHYSICAL COPIES! I am gonna buy EVERY SINGLE ONE. 😀 😀 😀
I just ordered both MRHP books in pdf format! When can I expect this glorious edition to my personal library?
EDIT: OH WAIT NVM I CAN JUST DOWNLOAD THEM LOL
So excite for physical books! Thank you on behalf of all your Luddite fans!
I just ordered Kindle copies of HP 1 & 2 last night! So excite! I'm loving revisiting the originals and the additional insight added in the re-reads. So much good and wonderfulness and joy! I cannot wait for the rest of the books to come out!
There was one thing I would have liked to see, and I'm probably not the first person to mention it. Instead of reading all of the original reviews and then all of the re-read reviews, I would have much preferred to read both reviews of each chapter before moving on to the next. I understand that the first two books are already released, and you probably want to stick to the same format for all the books, but would it be possible to add coding that would allow easy navigation between reviews of the same chapter for books 3-7? I'm not a code person, so I have no idea how difficult this would be, but I wanted to suggest it, because I doubt I'm the only one who would like to read the books in this way.
Thank you again so much for all your hard work, and thank you to your cover artist and editors. You are all doing an amazing job!