Why do I find it so funny that John Irving reads Harry Potter? According to a Reuters article, both John Irving and Stephen King are urging J.K. Rowling not to kill off Harry Potter in the seventh book of her popular series.
"My fingers are crossed for Harry," Irving said at a joint news conference before a charity reading by the three writers at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
I knew King read the series (bits of Potter's universe show up in the Dark Tower series), but Irving?
5 comments:
Look for the Irving/Rowling crossover novels: A PRAYER FOR RONALD WEASLEY and THE DURSLEY HOUSE RULES.
Speaking of PSB, Steve, have you seen his latest blog post?
Hey, I read Harry Potter. Love it in fact. It is so nice to escape from the adult world every now and them .
It's always interesting how easily we humans pretend that the spheres of children (who read Harry Potter) and the spheres of adults (who might read Irving)do not overlap.
I was surprised as well, on first seeing that comment, so I understand how wild it seems to see someone 'serious'(aka Irving who writes candidly about incest, sex, pedophilia, abortion...) enjoying something 'child-appropriate' (aka the global sensation of the Harry Potter universe).
The thing is, Irving has three sons and was a stay-at-home dad for much of their lives: indeed all of his youngest son's life as the boy is high-school age. That puts Irving in the position to be reading what his children are reading. And why shouldn't adults enjoy Harry's story as much as children? We were all kids too, at one time.
If you mean it's weird to see an author (who tends to kill off characters with an emotional flourish) encourage another author not to do the same...yeah, that's weird. But I think Irving's talking as a person who likes her stories rather than as a fellow author.
Irving did write a children's book a few years back; well, I think it was part of A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR, but he still published it as a picture book, which is really cool.
I agree that Irving probably said what he said as a fan rather than another writer giving advice. But if she did kill him off, how powerful could that have been? I think it would be pretty cool, rather than the "they lived happily ever after, except Snape" ending.
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