American OotP 896 Pages

Scroll to the bottom of this FoxNews article and you’ll see that Scholastic is reporting that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be 896 pages long. That’s 164 more than GoF (thanks Flavia for pointing out that the press release erroneously states that the hardcover GoF is 752 pages, when it is 732). For $29.99. Those grumbling about the price should remember that most hardcovers approaching this size are over $20.00 (such as Jamie O’Neill’s acclaimed At Swim, Two Boys, which is 572 pages in the American edition, list price $28.00, with Amazon discount $19.60 – incidentally, am reading it, am loving it). Also, the average list price for a hardcover Series of Unfortunate Events installment (what, 100, 150 pages at most?) is over $10.00. $29.99 for eight times that? And at the discounts most booksellers are offering? For the most anticipated book in recent history? Hopefully Bloomsbury et al will run a deal for libraries, but otherwise consumers are getting a bargain, si?