The Capital Letter - by BerlinBear
Interesting premise. I'd ask the respondents: "One in three of you have bought a book for the sole purpose of looking intelligent to whom?" Nothing makes me feel less intelligent than getting on an airplane, choking Shakespeare down a page at a time, and having some lit. professor sitting next to me and asking for my thoughts on the story.
Ha! Fair point. Hadn't thought of it like that since, as I said, I doesn't apply to me anyhow. I hope Shakespeare didn't hear you refer to reading his literature as "choking it down"! 
How strange is it that I had a discussion with my English prof yesterday about Popular and Literary fiction? I'll refrain from a long winded response. To be honest, I'm just glad that people are reading at all. Had it not been for Harry Potter, we'd have a generation of children who didn't read because they wanted to only when forced to. How sad is that? Especially when I think back at all the great stories that I've read and things I've learned...
I have a suggestion on how you can get more books....for free and (if you're up for it) share your books with others....check it out: http://www.bookcrossing.com
And not to brag or anything (surprised even myself!) I've read 6 of the books mentioned...
Well, at least someone's reading something. I hope some of the people who buy books for show will one day end up reading until the last page and finding they enjoyed it. I have never bought a book for show, although I have bought books on recommendation of others I considered to be in the know and then ended up not liking or finishing the book. I love to read and always have one on the go (often more), but the fact that I am working on a thesis in literature means I read a lot of things for work purposes and don't have enough time for non-work related fiction. Ah well.
That IS interesting -- given that so many of my students admit that they rarely read anything. One class, in fact, admitted eariler this semester that one of the books I assigned was the first one they read cover to cover in their entire college career to this point (they are juniors!).
Me personally - I tend to avoid the "great" books just because I feel like I read so much intellectual stuff for work that I need something mindless if I'm going to read for fun. Lately I've been reading David Sedaris and loving it.
I've read six and three halves of the books in the article. (The three halves were ones that annoyed me too much to finish, and one or two of them might not have been as much as 'half'.)
But I am the opposite of a book snob. I'll read ANYTHING. I am, however, a bookshelf checker-outer. I have been since I was old enough to read, and embarrass the family. We'd visit someone's home, and I'd wait as long as I could after the introductions (about ten seconds), then ask, "Where are the books?" My parents would then apologize for me, and I could never understand why.
I still check out books in people's houses, but I'm more polite about it. And I'm not looking to judge people. I'm looking for something I haven't read that I might like.
Ha! I am a bookshelf checker-outer too, and for the exact same reasons. Not because I want to see what they *haven't* got, but because I want to see what they've got which I haven't, with a view to considering remedying the situation. I would never ask to see someone's bookshelf, but given the opprtunity to sneak a quick peek, I'm there.
Commenting by HaloScan
