I put up a Facebook status about how I have no plans to ever read Harry Potter. (Don’t you judge me, dammit! I just don’t want to read it!) What made me saddest about my status was the number of individuals who agreed with me. Let me explain…
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m an English major and in college. I plan to teach English. I love reading. I think people should read much more often. Reading is a GOOD thing! I love it when people read anything! I don’t care if other people read Harry Potter. I have no problem with other people doing that. People are allowed to read what they wish to read! If series’ out there like Twilight or Harry Potter encourage more people to read, more power to them. I don’t have to like them or agree with them to know that I agree with what they’re getting people to do. That’s the key.
What I dislike about the Harry Potter crowd is that many of them will resort to name-calling with those of us who do not wish to read their series. Nothing makes me angrier than someone trying to bully me into doing something. Calling me stupid or foolish or saying that I have no taste isn’t going to make me read a book! If you want to bring people to your cause, you’re doing it wrong, Harry Potter fans!
What really made me sad about my status, though (and back to the point of this post), is that one of the the comments I got back proves to me that people don’t read much these days. It makes me sad to think that people agree with me simply because they are too lazy to read. I know people who have vowed they would never read another book after high school and have kept to that promise for the seven years that my graduating class has been out of high school, which is even more sad. I mean, I love it when people agree with me, but I want them to do it for the right reasons!
As a side note, here are some good reasons to be uninterested in Harry Potter:
- you like non-fiction books
- you are older than twelve and would like to read accordingly
- wizards give you the creeps
- you like to read like a hipster and avoid the mainstream
- you hate J. K. Rowling and don’t want to give her a dime
- you are allergic to bullshit
- the movies have ruined it for you
- you hate books with made-up words
- you hate books that feature characters with scars
- you prefer 18th century British literature
- you just don’t hate yourself that much yet
On the other hand, as much as I want more people to crack a book and expand their minds, I don’t agree with everything in said books. The Twilight sigh-ga, for example, is a terrible message to young women about what it means to be a woman and to be in love. Bella is a horrible heroine, and Edward is a terrible hero. Neither of them are suitable role models for free-thinking and intelligent individuals. Bella is the anti-feminist, and Edward doesn’t really want that to change. On the subject of Harry Potter, my refusal to read those books restrains me from making a judgment call about the content therein.
If you want to know why I don’t want to read them, I have no problem with explaining myself. In fact, here’s a convenient, bulleted list:
- I’m not a young adult. Those books are geared toward children, and I am not a child. I am an adult, and I think like an adult. I would like to read accordingly.
- I don’t need any more heroes. My childhood has been filled with great examples of morality and heroism. You can find these examples in fantastic novels like Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time or Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
- I want to expand my mind. Novels that confuse me or make me ponder or even make me angry are novels that I want to read. I’m dying to get to my American Lit class at school because I want to learn more. While J. K. Rowling’s work might be good, I doubt it will be what I’m looking for in the way of stimulation.
- The movies bore me. Yeah, that’s right, I said it. I find the movies boring. They do nothing for me. My attention was hardly kept. Sorry, kids. Normally, I won’t judge a book by its movie, but this time, I will.
- I’m just not interested. No amount of arguing or salesmanship will change the fact that I just don’t care about a bunch of brats at a magic school. I know people out there will be dying to tell me, “No, Jessica!!! It’s SOOOO much more than that!” but the fact of the matter is that I just don’t care. Attempting to sell it to me will only make me care even less.
- People have pushed me too hard about it. I might have given the books a chance ten years ago, but the more people who gasp in shock when I admit to never having read them, the more people who accuse me of being stupid or having no taste for never having picked them up, just further prove to me that I’m not missing anything. When people try to drive home a point like that, something in the very fiber of my being just rebels. I can’t help it, and I don’t really want to change it.
- I’d rather spend my time reading something I actually want to read, not something that everyone else wants me to read.
- I am allergic to bullshit. (Oh, come on. You had to know I was going to include something from the above list.)
Here’s the take-home point: READ. Seriously, people, pick up a book!!! I don’t care if it’s Twilight, Harry Potter, something by Nora Roberts, something you bought at a garage sale for fifty cents, something you found in a waiting room or something you stole from your best friend’s dad’s bookshelf. READ! It’s good for you! I promise! But, whatever you do, stop trying to force people to read the same things that you enjoy. We’re all different and that’s okay!
