Several days ago, I linked to and wrote about an article that concludes that the Harry Potter series has had no significant impact on the reading habits of young adults. Now, it seems the same is true of the adults as well:
[W]hen we’re not horning in on our kids’ favorite books, most of us aren’t reading anything at all. More than half the adults in this country won’t pick up a novel this year, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. Not one. And the rate of decline has almost tripled in the past decade.
(…)
Data from the NEA point to a dramatic and accelerating decline in the number of young people reading fiction. Despite their enthusiasm for books in grade school, by high school, most kids are not reading for pleasure at all. My friends who teach English tell me that summaries and critical commentary are now so readily available on the Internet that more and more students are coming to class having read about the books they’re studying without having read the books.
And when their parents do pick up a novel, it’s often one that leaves a lot to be desired. True, Oprah Winfrey can turn serious works of fiction such as Jeffrey Eugenides’s “Middlesex” or Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” into megasellers. But among the top 20 best-selling books on Amazon.com this week, only six are novels — and that includes the upcoming seventh volume of He Who Must Not Be Outsold, James Patterson’s “The Quickie,” the 13th volume of Janet Evanovich’s comic mystery series and a vampire love saga.
The vast majority of adults who tell me they love “Harry Potter” never move on to Susanna Clarke’s enchanting “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell,” with its haunting exploration of history and sexual longing, or Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials,” a dazzling fantasy series that explores philosophical themes (including a scathing assault on organized religion) that make Rowling’s little world of good vs. evil look, well, childish. And what about the dozens of other brilliant fantasy authors who could take them places that little Harry never dreamed of? Or the wider world of Muggle literary fiction beyond?
Because, as the article points out, the popularity of the Harry Potter books had less to do with a revival of the love of reading than it did with a highly successful marketing campaign that receives more and more free media coverage each time a new book is released.
I haven’t read a single Harry Potter book, because, as the author points out, the stories are clearly written for children and young adults and I am neither a children or young adult. When I do read fiction, I prefer to read something that has some actual substance to it, not the literary equivalent of a Pepsi.
