Books We Lie About Having Read

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The Bible

oddly, I think that's the one the most people claim to have read but haven't.

Personally, I skipped the book and when straight for the movie.

I think it stared mel brooks.

[Belfaborac]

The power of Scotch should not be underrated. I flunked my exam the the first time around (I've always had a problem performing under test conditions, regardless of actual competence and knowledge), but passed with flying colours the second time around, fuelled by a breakfast consisting of two slices of toast, two very strong coffees and three double shots of Bowmore 17yo.

Originally Posted by nogle

the (incorrect) presumption that if you read well written books, you will write well

I don't think that's an incorrect presumption, at least not in a general sense. I certainly attribute my own writing skills (such as they are) to having read a ____load of well written books.

[Phogg]

1984 was a decent book, and not that awfully long anyway.
The rest look to be tedium well worth avoiding.

I will proudly proclaim to have not read them.
Okay, I may have read Gatsby, but I flushed it after highschool.

[Scott Nielsen]

Originally Posted by Phogg

I will proudly proclaim to have not read them.

How peculiar. Why does that make you proud?

[emellaich]

I suspect this is the wrong audience to answer the OP question. Most (all) of us are avid readers. As such, I/we? don't feel the need to apologize for not reading something. There are thousands of books I have read.

On the other hand, take someone who doesn't like to read, and is a bit ashamed of it. It could be a tough conversation: "Oh, you've never read XYZ? Well what type of book do you like to read?" It's probably easier to just nod and wait for the subject to change.

[zhanzr]

Holy Bible should be on that list.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by JOZAWUN

This was a worldwide phenomenon in the case of Hawking's "A Brief History of Time".

Yup. And I never understood that. It was clear and not difficult at all.

[Rumpelteazer]

I didn't read a lot of books I had to read for both French and Dutch in Secondary school. In my opinion the reading lists for those two classes were designed to dissuade people to read books for themselves.

The last time I lied about reading a book was at university when we had to read Jane Eyre during exam/handing in reports and essays times. I simply didn't have enough time. I did get the book on tape and listened to whilst writing my placement report.

I never tell people I've read books I haven't read and I never lie about books I have read. I don't see the point in doing that.

[FlorenceArt]

The top five books Brits claim to have read but haven’t really are:

1. ‘Pride & Prejudice’

2. ‘The Lord of the Rings’

3. ‘Jane Eyre’

4. ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’

5. ‘The Hobbit’

That's a funny list. I think that the people who lie about reading Tolkien are probably not the same as the ones who lie about reading Austen, Bronte and Hardy. But maybe I'm wrong.

Funny thing is, I read most of those books several times, I think the only one I read only once was Tess, though I'm not sure about Jane Eyre, I read it recently and I think I had read it before but I'm not sure.

About lying, I think emellaich is right, if you read a lot you won't feel threatened or embarrassed to admit you haven't read a specific one, but if you're not big on reading you may feel guilty or ashamed to admit it.

Personally I wouldn't lie about a book I haven't read. On the other hand, there are books I tend not to mention I have read, although if asked outright I would admit to it.

[Andy_T]

I might understand if somebody claimed to not have read something like "Twilight" or "Da Vinci Code".

Best regards,
Andy

First I have to add another defense of Confederacy of Dunces. Marvelous book, hilarious cover to cover. I've read it three times in my life and now that I have the ebook version I hope to fit in another read sometime soon.

Looking at the list of books that list of top five books that Brits lie about reading, I've only read two of them; The Lord of the Rings and Tess of the D'Urbervilles, both read only once and long ago. I see no point in lying about reading a book. The list of very popular and best selling books of recent times that I have not read is almost as long as that list itself (all but one of the Harry Potter books, all of the Twilight books, The Hunger Games books, the Game of Thrones books, anything by Dan Brown, . . .). If I find myself in a group of people talking about any of these I just sit and daydream, not try and fabricate some knowledge of a book I have never read because it never interested me.

[Joykins]

I've read some of those books, others, like Moby Dick, are so dominant in the culture that I've read some plot synopsis/summaries, criticism, and satire of it. So, yeah, I can and have discussed books I haven't read. I don't LIE about having read them, though. If someone asks, I'd say the above...just like I'll say I have read A Confederacy of Dunces in audiobook (hilarious) and the abridged version of War and Peace (excellent, couldn't put it down).

Also I was a lit major so I have read a lot of classics and am supposed to know something about the others.

(I also haven't read Twilight or 50 Shades but I have read reviews/criticism/discussion, so I can talk about them without even claiming to have read them. Also I have not read the Davinci Code but I saw part of the movie so by all means discuss it with me...)

[Sil_liS]

I don't remember lying about having read a book. I read more books than people around me, and I have no need to pretend to have read more than I actually have. I read for fun.

[ProfCrash]

I never believe anyone who says that they finished James Joyces's Ulysses. (sp) Everyone of my College Profs told me that they either barely finished it or never made it past the first quarter.

I have a long list of books that I started and was bored with or disliked so I didn't finish. I read enough to be able to discuss them and I would count them as books I read, I normally give up after reading a third of a book. I do own up to not finishing and can normally explain why.

I wish Wuthering Heights was on that list but I had to read it for AP English and it was going to be one of the books on the test so I actually did read it. We spent an entire sememster on that awful book. It was very painful.

[theducks]

Except for a required book report.
Who cares what I have or have not read? (OK, some authors might, if I had not read their work )

Then there is the definition of 'Read'. Cover-to-cover: every word. Just The good parts . More than 1 chapter