Harried about Harry

Tomorrow is the release of Harry Potter, in case you've been living in a cave. Yes, I've had it on pre-order forever, it seems, although I don't plan on reading it till the fall, when I'll be at home a lot with nothing but a crying Brown Brown for company. Right now I have too much reading for work and for freelance to even think about starting the--gasp--896-page book, which means I'm sure someone will spoil it for me by telling me who is killed off, but that's just a risk I'll have to take.

It's been hard to avoid the articles, but one that's stuck in my craw is from Book magazine, which somehow I seem to now have a subscription to (I believe it's because I have a Barnes and Noble Reader's Advantage card and this came with it. And, yes, I do shop Barnes and Noble. I also shop Amazon. And I shop my local independent bookstore. It's not like I could ever have enough books). The article is fine; it's the content that's scary. It says that instead of making kids read more books, Harry Potter has had the opposite effect, and it makes kids think that no other book will live up to it, so why bother. Of course, publishers aren't helping: fewer kids' books are being published. Also not helping is the fact that adults aren't reading as much either. According to Book: "Adults...now spend an average of 109 hours a year reading--down even from 1996, when the average was 123." What I'd be curious to know is what are they reading? Does this number include magazines and newspapers? Not that there's not merit in that, but it's hardly the same as delving into a good book.

As a writer, I find it sad. What it means is if I ever do get around to finishing my novel, no one's going to want to read it.