The title says it all. I picked this up from the
following short article, the lead being:
Quote:
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Earlier this week, an English Web site published a list of the “top books that Brits lie about reading.” It inspired us to come forward with our own list of books we’ve been less than truthful about having read. Here are some voices from our staff (names have been redacted to protect the guilty):
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And it goes on with such shameful admissions as:
Quote:
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“A Confederacy of Dunces,” by John Kennedy Toole. “I couldn’t finish it, but I have left that detail out in certain conversations.”
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Which, oddly enough, I too read and couldn't quite finish, unless you count finishing as reading one paragraph, skipping ten, all the while hoping the fabulous-starting book will somehow get good again.
I'm not ashamed to admit that. Really. Truly. Why would I be? Why would anyone be?
But would I lie under any circumstance? Suppose I was at a dinner party (as if I would be caught dead at a dinner party) and the topic of conversations about great books moved on to A confederacy of Dunces. Most everyone at the table read the whole thing and...oh!...what a marvelous book.
Would I join in, discussing the finer details of those chapters I did read and liked?
Would I lie simply by omission; nodding knowingly and the wonderful dinner-side review without telling what I personally thought of the hack?
Or would I proudly tell them it started great but from chapter three on, I thought it pretty much sucked?
Probably the most latter. It's also probably why I don't get invited to such things as dinner parties.
So if you're reading this, Tell us all honestly if you'd ever lie about having read or enjoyed a book.
You can fess up right here ______________________