Of the bespectacled hero and his anxious followers

He had the most excited tinge in his voice when he asked me in the middle of the night yesterday whether I ordered for 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'. I was not aware until then that the book was gonna hit the stores in the weekend. In my relentless quest for knowledge, I figured the auspicious date to be July 16, 2005. Not sure if Ms. Rowling believed in 'Rahu Kaalam' etc to zero down on such an unassuming date in the Gregorian Calendar. Almost, seems to me, like a wait for the most awaited world premiere of a Hollywood Mega Blockbuster. First of all, I find the whole idea of ordering for the book months in advance, a bizzarre concept. Till date, I have received 358 emails and 273 sms'es reminding me to avail the best price for the book if I did an advance booking. There are so many bestsellers floating in the bookshops. What makes these so special? I mean what is the whole deal about?

I can only deduce one of these:
... You are a desperate, fanatic stalker of Ms. Rowling's bespectacled protagonist and his friends and foes and the goblins and wizards and the other creepy-crawly creations. So much that if you are not among the first 100 to read the book, you are likely to suffer from withdrawal symptoms.
... You are striving to be the most up-to-date individual, competing for the Best Kept Harry Potter collection award, whether or not you have read the books. But yes, I would go with the assumption that you have read the books.
... You want to gloat to the world displaying your literary assets and you know, play the neighbors-envy-owners-pride game.
... You think life is short and it is but necessary that you read all HP books before you knock the Pearly Gates.
... You dont trust the publisher to publish enough books to satisfy all the bookworms of the world. Oh but with so many enthusiastic fans, I am sure these publication houses would not run bankrupt satisfying their demands.

But whatever may be the reason, the whole hype about the books and the pre-ordering business is rather too complicated and whimsical for my juvenile or should I say 'rusty' brain to comprehend. But hats off to Ms. Rowling for generating ripples of desperation in the youth and old in the planet and I hope the book lives up to the expectations. Amen.

*Going for a walk down the memory lane remembering the glorious days of the Five Findouters, Mr. Meddles, Malory Towers and Amelia Janes*