Potter: Crazy-Go-Nuts

Sales and reviews of Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix are all crazy-go-nuts:

Scholastic, the book’s U.S. publisher, estimated 5 million copies were sold the first day alone, well ahead of the pace of “Goblet of Fire.”

Borders Group reported worldwide sales of 750,000 the first day. Amazon.com shipped out more than a million copies of the new book, making Saturday the largest distribution day of a single item in e-commerce history.

In London, the supermarket chain Tesco said it sold 317,400 copies of the fifth in J.K. Rowling’s fantasy series in the first 24 hours, seven times the number sold in the first week of Potter IV.

“The book has now broken all our sales records and there is no doubt that this will be the best selling book we have ever stocked,” said Tesco book buyer Caroline Ridding.

….All the hype for Harry didn’t stop critics from enjoying “Order of the Phoenix.” The New York Times, in a rare front page review, praised the author’s “bravura storytelling skills and tirelessly inventive imagination.” USA Today cited Rowling’s “wonderful, textured writing.” The Associated Press said: “It was worth the wait. And then some.”

Lights burned all through the weekend as Potter fans didn’t let anything as silly as sleep keep them from working through the 870-page book.

Eleven-year-old Geronimo “G” Gisleson of New Orleans received his copy Saturday and was up to page 650 by midday Sunday [AP]

You’ll go blind, kid. Ha ha, I made a funny.

Yep, I may have to sang a copy for myself, one of these days.

The book also sold 1,777,541 copies in Britain on its first day on sale, according to Reuters.

More Potter here and here.