Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will clock in around 225,000 words, according to its publishers. One report says that this entry is 33 percent longer than the Goblet of Fire, suggesting that the 272 page Goblet was around 151,000 words and that the Phoenix will be around 350 pages, so we'd all better start muscling up our biceps.

Here are the lengths of other literary works:

Hawaii James Michener: 500,000

David Copperfield Charles Dickens: 357,000
The Bible (King James Version): 181,000
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte: 116,000
Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson: 68,000
Julius Caesar William Shakespeare: 19,000
Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln: 272

The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss: 237

What I really wanted to know was how long this book is going to be compared to War and Peace, but whatever, because I found that elsewhere. (It's around 600,000, for those interested, and Gone With the Wind is around 416,00.)

I don't actually remember now why I wanted to know those things except that I thought 225,000 was too darned long for a children's book and started mouthing off about the subject and someone sent me some comparative numbers which seemed like as much of a reason as any to start a new blog entry.

In any case, publishers don't actually count "words", they count pages, right? They assume something like 250 words to a page, so the new HP book, at 225,000 words, must be 900 pages and even as I'm typing this, I know that's got to be wrong but math isn't my strong suit, okay?

The critical thing to remember is that the new book is about 1/3 longer than the previous one and while I grew to like Goblet, the first time I read it, I thought it needed some serious editing.

I hate the part where an author gets really famous and the publisher stops editing their work.

It's practically undemocratic and I don't care if J.K.R. lives in a Constitutional Monarchy. It ain't fair.

The lack of decent editing had a lot to do with the drastic decline in quality of Stephen King's stuff. R. A. Heinlein suffered from stringent editing and, late in his life, admitted that it had been a good thing. For that reason, I never bought any of the "expanded" versions of his works that were released after his death.

Speaking as someone who suffered the slings and arrows of having about 30% of my output deleted each time I wrote a new story, I think it's unfair that other people don't have to go through it.

Spike

Nothing new to report on that front is all I have to report.

Haven't had a chance to watch any new episodes since Monday and I stopped in the middle of what appears to be a two-parter where they'll either restore Angel's soul or Buffy will finally have to kill him or something. And Spike is Up To Something, based on the fact that he's hiding his renewed ability to walk from both Drusilla and Angelus.

I'm finishing up a book I want to do a review of (no, not in this space, so don't be afraid), re-reading P. G. Wodehouse, as I said previously, and playing the new Zelda game on the Game Boy. All of these hobbies require time and I can't neglect any one of them in favor of another, can I?

And!

Today I'm having lunch with a friend. Saturday I'm having lunch with a friend.

I just booked my airline ticket to Escapade and I'm going to book my train ride from the airport to Oxnard later today.

I get paid this week!

All in all, things aren't bad.