Boston, a luxury apartment, a middle-aged white man hurriedly took the internal elevator to the underground parking lot, found a Ford, opened the door and sat in to start the car, and quickly left the apartment.

More than 20 minutes later, the car drove to the Barnes & Noble bookstore in downtown Boston, and before he could get out of the car, he saw a crowd of people in front of the bookstore.

Oh damn it, the middle-aged white man let out an angry scolding sound in the car, and the middle-aged white man thought and thought about it, and finally decided to get out of the car and line up.

There were four lines in front of the bookstore, and the middle-aged white man found a line closest to the parking lot and lined up, and there were about 200 people in front of him at this time.

The middle-aged white man was looking at the person in front of him depressedly, and his shoulder was suddenly patted, and at the same time, a rough voice sounded:

"Parker, you're also here to buy Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?"

Parker turned his head to see a broad face, it was his colleague Butler, and said embarrassedly, "Yes." ”

Butler laughed out loud when he heard Parker's answer:

"Parker, didn't you say you don't like Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone? Say what kind of shit it is, why did you come to buy books today? By the way, it's a weekday, you asked for leave!"

Parker's face flushed, and he took a few deep breaths and said, "I didn't buy it for myself, I bought it for my children." ”

Butler looked at Parker with suspicion and said, "Didn't you buy it for yourself?"

"How could I read this kind of children's book, if it weren't for my kids crying and wanting to read it, I would have been sitting in my office drinking coffee and reading a novel serialized in the New York Times. ”

Parker's expression had returned to normal, and his tone grumbled.

"Well, I believe in you. Butler shrugged.

"Damn, how can there be so many people in line?" Parker said, changing the subject, looking at the people in line.

"I didn't expect so many people, I only took 1 hour off, and I had to go to work after 10 o'clock, looking at the current situation, if I want to buy a book, the time must be more than 10 o'clock. ”

Butler looked at his watch and said unhappily.

"I also only took 1 hour off, and if I couldn't buy it today, my kids would say that dad is incompetent, damn it. Parker's expression was more upset than Butler's.

He did buy Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for his children, and his children were crying and wanting to watch it.

If he hadn't bought the book today, he wouldn't have known how to face the eyes of his children, but he promised them that he would definitely buy Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone today.

He had previously watched the New York Times serialize the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and he thought it was a garbage novel.

Later, when he saw that some people in the company liked the book, he denigrated the book in front of these people, for example, it was a book written by a mentally handicapped author for mentally handicapped children.

Later, his children were fascinated by the pamphlets, and he saw that the cover of the pamphlet read "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".

At that time he wanted to throw away the pamphlets, but his children cried so much that his wife spoke, and he had to return the pamphlets to them.

A few days ago, he saw ABC, CBS, NBC broadcast commercials for "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".

His kids were thrilled by the strange costumes on TV calling for Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Then he was tragic, and his children cried and bought "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", he wanted to refuse, but he couldn't resist the children's begging and his wife's orders.

Because Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released at 9 a.m., he had to take a one-hour leave from the company.

Now he saw the huge queue and felt that it would take a morning to be enough.

The queuing time is not a problem, he is more worried that if he can't buy "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", then he will be miserable,

Parker cursed the author Xu Qing in his heart for a while, why did he write this novel called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".

After a while, he was cursing the people in front of him, what is so good about "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", it's work time, you guys hurry up and go to work.

Oh well, most of the people in line are middle school students, and the teacher doesn't care, so many people skip class.

Parker lined up with mixed feelings.

……

The Philadelphia metropolitan area, the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States, has a large population and a developed economy.

Philadelphia was once the capital of the United States, the most historic city in the country, one of the cultural centers of the United States, and people here are very fond of reading.

Barnes & Noble is only smaller than New York and Los Angeles, and much larger than Barnes & Noble in other cities.

The distance between Philadelphia and New York is just over 100 kilometers, so the New York Times sales in Philadelphia are very high.

Many people in line at Barnes & Noble's bookstore in Philadelphia today read a review of a book written by Rock in the New York Times to buy "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."

Plumlee also read Locke's book reviews to buy "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", he is a big fan of Locke, and most of the books are bought after reading Locke's book reviews.

In recent years, Locke has stopped writing book reviews, and he feels very sorry, and he thinks that Locke will not write book reviews again.

On May 18, he saw a review of Locke's book in The New York Times, and he was ecstatic and read every word of the review very carefully.

Locke's book reviews are still as good as ever, but the book recommended this time made him a little confused, it was a fantasy novel, and the books recommended by Locke before were basically social literature and detective literature.

He still came to buy "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" because he believed in Locke's reputation for more than 20 years, even if the book did not meet his reading taste, it would be a good book, and he could collect or give it away without reading it.

Plumlee had a leisurely job, and he didn't have much to do today, and he wanted to get his hands on the books recommended by Locke as soon as possible, so he went to Barnes & Noble's at 8:20.

He thought he had arrived early, after all, 40 minutes early, and he thought that there were very few people who bought "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", after all, it was a book written by an unknown author, and it was still a fantasy novel that was not very popular.

However, what he saw now overturned all his thoughts, including a little doubt about Locke before.

A tidal wave of people waiting to buy Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

He had bought a book at Barnes & Noble hundreds of times, and had never seen so many people buy the same book as he does today.

When did a book by an unknown author become so popular on the first day? When did fantasy novels become so popular?

Is the world changing too fast, or is he not keeping up with the trends?

But no matter what, Locke's book is as good as ever.