[HPforGrownups] Readers (was Re: JKR and "Think of the Children!"(was: Se...

[MadameSSnape at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 162069

 
In a message dated 11/27/2006 10:35:46 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
a_svirn at yahoo.com writes:

Actually, Hermione only reads the study-related stuff, or 
maybe  "culture"-related (to acquaint herself with the WW customs and 
ways). We  never see her reading anything for fun


 
========================
Sherrie here:
 
Having had the same accusation leveled against me (by a sister whose idea  of 
heavy reading is Danielle Steel - I'm gagging even THINKING the name), I feel 
 compelled to speak up for Hermione.   What constitutes "fun"  reading?  I 
read almost constantly - even when watching NASCAR - yet other  than Harry 
Potter, I can't recall the last time I read a fiction book (not  counting scripts 
for plays I've done!) - probably the last time I picked up  THE KILLER ANGELS, 
which was several years ago.  To me, "fun" reading is a  good history book 
(particularly, though not exclusively, anything related to the  War Between the 
States, the Salem Witch Trials, or Henry VIII).  There is  far more romance, 
intrigue, humor and tragedy in history "than any Russian play  could guarantee". 
 Even Tolstoy or Dostoevsky couldn't have thought up  Henry VIII and his 
tangled life!
 
It's something I identified with in Hermione right away - because I've been  
that way since I was a child.  My parents laughed a few years ago when I  
found a copy of one of the first books I ever owned on ebay - a book I'd  
originally gotten & read when I was not-quite-five.  It  wasn't Dr. Seuss - it was THE 
HOW & WHY WONDER BOOK OF THE CIVIL WAR.   (I didn't read THE CAT IN THE HAT 
til I was in college, & my youngest sister  was learning to read.)  The first 
fiction book I remember reading was  Taylor Caldwell's A PILLAR OF IRON (I was 
eight).
 
My point?  Erm - I had one, it's got to be around here somewhere...oh,  yes, 
here it is.  It's simply that, to Hermione, what you consider  "study-related 
stuff" may BE fun reading.  She probably also enjoys   visits to historical 
sites and museums, and perhaps planetariums or aquariums -  it's one of the 
reasons I don't hold much hope for a relationship between her  and Ron; they're 
fish and fowl.  Each one's idea of "fun" bores the other  one silly - and trying 
to force the other to have "fun" (by their  definition) generally breeds 
resentment.  A couple of years of being  dragged to Quidditch matches, & I see 
Hermione braining Ron with HOGWARTS A  HISTORY, or some equally heavy book...or 
maybe the bookend - she wouldn't  mistreat a book that way!
 
Sherrie
(who doesn't think it will become an issue, because Ron will snuff it in  the 
final battle)
(and who ought to have left for Gettysburg an hour  ago!)


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