I am disHeartened by My Jetta: There's Something About Harry...

Well, J.K. Rowling's 6th brick of a book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," hit bookstores midnight on Saturday (July 16). In the first 24 hours this book had smashed all previous sales records - selling 6.9 million copies, at an average of 250,000 per hour! For a comparison, Rowling's last brick sold a mere 5 million in the same time span.

As you can imagine, this was the richest opening in publishing history and most likely the first time that a book outsold the boxoffice. That's right, Harry Potter grossed more moola than the combined estimated take for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Wedding Crashers."

Want Some Harry Stats? (Sure you do!)
*25 Million copies of the first 5 books have been sold in 200 countries.
*Harry Potter has been translated into 60 languages.
*Rowling's estimated worth is 600 million euros. I don't know what this is in dollars - but it sounds like a freakin' lot!
*The films, thus far, have grossed 2.2 billion euros. Again, I don't know what this is in dollars...but I wish I had that much.
*The books have garnered much distaste from conservative Christians around the world. To read one organization's view, click here.

* Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, first published in England as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, has won the following awards:
Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 1997 Gold Medal 9-11 years
FCBG Children’s Book Award 1997 Overall winner and Longer Novel Category
Birmingham Cable Children’s Book Award 1997
Young Telegraph Paperback of the Year 1998
British Book Awards 1997 Children’s Book of the Year
Sheffield Children’s Book Award 1998
Whitaker's Platinum Book Award 2001

* Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has won the following awards:
Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 1998 Gold Medal 9-11 years
Scottish Arts Council Children’s Book Award 1999
FCBG Children’s Book Award 1998 Overall winner and Longer Novel Category
British Book Awards 1998 Children’s Book of the Year
North East Book Award 1999
North East Scotland Book Award 1998
The Booksellers Association / The Bookseller Author of the Year 1998
Whitaker's Platinum Book Award 2001

* Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban has won the following awards:
Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 1999 Gold Medal 9-11 years
Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year 1999
British Book Awards 1999 Author of the Year
The Booksellers Association / The Bookseller Author of the Year 1998
FCBG Children's Book Award 1999 / Longer Novel Category
Whitaker's Platinum Book Award 2001