So how will you be reading?
kennymod
kennymod at yahoo.com
Fri Jul 15 14:42:17 UTC 2005
My wife and I are getting an extra copy so we don't have to share.
I thought it may be over the top, but then I saw this in the morning
paper, www.chicagotribune.com
POTTER' BOOK ETIQUETTE
We're adults. You can't make us share.
By Erica Noonan
The Boston Globe
Published July 15, 2005
Share the new "Harry Potter"? No thanks. We're married.
There are plenty of things spouses should share: the last beer, a
bed, a good laugh. In a pinch, maybe a toothbrush or the TiVo remote.
But not "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." On Saturday, we
will pay an extra $20 for a second copy that we won't need in a few
weeks. But in the long run, it's a small price to pay for sanity,
and pleasure.
For starters, we both really, really want to read the book. Now. Not
when the other has finally finished it.
And a 672-page book hurled by whoever doesn't win the coin toss
might do some damage to the living room. (Just kidding, neither of
us would relinquish the only copy long enough to throw it.)
Anyway, buying two copies of a children's book is a privilege of
adulthood. You don't have to be a weirdo-in-a-wizarding costume to
regard a new Harry Potter book as a quasi-significant pop culture
event for grown-ups.
It's J.K. Rowling's sixth installment, not so shiny and new anymore,
but still fun enough to qualify the book's release day as a minor
entertainment holiday of sorts, ranking somewhere above the season
finale of "Desperate Housewives" but below a "Lord of the Rings"
movie.
I can understand why Harry Potter-crazed children should be forced
to share one copy of "Half-Blood Prince" to learn a Very Important
Life Lesson about sharing. (For extra parental credit, bore them in
the checkout line with a lecture on rampant consumerism and instant
gratification.)
But when you pay your own credit card bills, it's a whole different
story. With two copies of "Half-Blood Prince" in the house, it's a
guaranteed great day. Me sprawled on one couch, him on the other.
Not answering the phone or checking the Internet. Ordering in
Chinese food for lunch and hoping the baby takes a long afternoon
nap.
Every hour or so, we'll take a break (yes, I'd love another Diet
Coke if you're getting up) and analyze the story as it unfolds.
On the other hand, trying to share one copy of the book is an
invitation to serious domestic unrest. The day would go something
like this: One of us tries to read while the other loiters around,
periodically begging for a paragraph or two to be read aloud.
When the reader tries to take a quick bathroom or snack break, the
non-custodial spouse grabs the book and darts into a locked room.
The rightful reader is forced to disassemble the door, wrestle the
book back, and reclaim his or her space on the couch.
The "Potter"-less spouse continues to pester and whine and is
finally ordered to take a walk, watch a movie, or, for Pete's sake,
just go somewhere, anywhere else and leave the other alone. Yelling
and sulking ensue. Someone call a marriage counselor.
That's why no sharing.
I try to explain to people who still don't get it that we wouldn't
share a seat at a film. (I watch the first half of "Revenge of the
Sith," he watches the second hour?) Likewise, we see "Harry Potter
and the Half-Blood Prince" as that sort of experience, something
worth sharing with the one you love, but best enjoyed separately and
simultaneously for everyone's safety.
Of course, married people often hold hands at the theater. But I
don't think we'll be doing a lot of that on Saturday. Too hard to
turn the pages.
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