[Python] How to store a html file in a variable as a string in python

I have html file and I want to store the contents of that file in a variable as a string value. I have tried this but it returns a blank string. How can I do this?

def myfunc():
str = ""
with open("/home/suman/Alert_logo_report.html") as report_file:
raw_html = report_file.readlines()
str = ''.join(raw_html)
return str

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