I think they're following the "It's grim and hopeless, so it must be Great Writing" theory. Which, IMO, is a pile of pants.

I mean, I've always loved reading, but nearly always hated the books we had to read for school - luckily UK schools don't do the summer reading thing (or they didn't when I was a kid, anyway) so I could read what I liked in my own time (within the bounds of what the local library had of course).

What does Charlie like to read?