Readers in the WW (was: JKR and "Think of the Children!")

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 162104

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Except the non-reading occurs in the very real life setting of   
> > the Dudley suburban home.  So I don't think your original "rule" 
> > even applies.

> >>Alla:
> I think what Neri meant ( hopefully I understand it) is that it    
> would screw the feeling of Potterverse in general as **real** ( as 
> much as it can be), as in it would be easier to think - if Harry    
> reads the fiction that when he goes to WW, it is all product of his 
> imagination, regardless of whether he started reading fiction at 
> Dursleys or not.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Why assume that the only fiction out there is fantasy?  Why assume 
that the only books on Dudley's shelf are fantasy?  Why assume that 
if JKR wanted to make Harry as book-lover or a reader she'd have 
limited him to the fantasy genre?

All I'm saying is that Harry doesn't touch the books on Dudley's 
shelf.  He is not a reader.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > <snip>
> > (Honestly, I find the scramble to try and show that Harry *is* a 
> > book lover a bit amusing too.  Why does he need to be? 
> > <snip>

> >>Alla:
> It is not a point of whether he needs to be or not to me, it is a 
> point of some of us indeed seeing Harry picking up a book, thus 
> concluding that he reads at least something, you know?

Betsy Hp:
Harry reads his school books, yes.  But no canon has been presented 
to show that Harry reads for the pleasure of reading.  And he 
certainly doesn't read any fiction (and fiction does not mean just 
fantasy, to be clear).  Ergo, he is not a reader; he is not a book-
lover. (Which, as Magpie pointed out, does not suggest that Harry is 
illiterate.)  And that's *fine*.  So yes, the scramble still amuses.

Betsy Hp