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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