I'm not all that surprised by the reactions of the first boy and I'm only assuming you found another boy of the opposite spectrum because of the location you were in—a university.
People, in general, don't like to read, or readers for that matter. And in Bangladesh's case, the case is more severe.
Syed Mujtaba Ali complained about Bangali's book reading habit, Promoth Chowdhury complained too. So did some other literary figures. It's not like we don't have money to buy books. But we'd rather buy a beef stake one evening than buy a book that would change our lives forever.
About Murakami, I'm in the middle, not an enthusiast, neither a nay-sayer. I liked his Kafka on the shore quite a lot. 1Q84, not so much. I've picked up Killing Commendatore and read up a bit and it looked promising but was distracted. Will pick it up again soon.
Statistically People in Bangla used to read a lot in the past. The ratio of female book readers were also higher than the male. It's such a shame that our society continuously drifting away from the knowledge.
I am still suck in the Well. :3