Guilty secrets: the books we lie about (65% in survey admit lying about classic novels)

[BurtWorm]

Are you guilty? Would you believe me if I told you I read War and Peace just last year? I did. Honest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/05/uk-reading-habits-1984

• Readers are also impatient and dog-ear the pages

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Ring any bells? How about: "The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats." Many will not have read the novel from which these are among the opening lines - but nearly half of us are happy to lie and say we have, a survey reveals today.

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four comes top in a poll of the UK's guilty reading secrets. Asked if they had ever claimed to read a book when they had not, 65% of respondents said yes and 42% said they had falsely claimed to have read Orwell's classic in order to impress. This is followed by Tolstoy's War and Peace (31%), James Joyce's Ulysses (25%) and the Bible (24%).

The poll, conducted to tie in with World Book Day today, also reveals that many of us are impatient readers - we skip to the end - and are not particularly bothered about how we treat the actual book - we turn the page to keep our place.

While 33% say they have never lied, a clear majority have. The writer Francesca Simon, creator of the Horrid Henry children's books, believes it is possible to get sucked into making false claims. She recalled an Oxford don asking her if she knew the works of Italo Calvino. "I said that I'd heard of him and she started questioning me over which books I had read and I couldn't get out of it. It felt lamer to then say 'yes I've heard of him'. Like saying 'yes, I've heard of Shakespeare'. I think she just thought I was stupid."

When asked to name the writers they really enjoyed, 61% of people ticked JK Rowling and 32% John Grisham.

...

[salvorhardin]

1. There's a slightly better article at the BBC

1. 1984 - George Orwell (42%)
2. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (31%)
3. Ulysses - James Joyce (25%)
4. The Bible (24%)
5. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (16%)
6. A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking (15%)
7. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (14%)
8. In Remembrance of Things Past - Marcel Proust (9%)
9. Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama (6%)
10. The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins (6%)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7925720.stm

Of those most-lied-about books I've only actually read 1984 and The Selfish Gene. And that's the truth. ;-)

[BurtWorm]

2. I've only read 1984, War and Peace and Madame Bovary

I swear!

[salvorhardin]

15. I wonder if similar results would be found if...

I wonder if similar results would be found if the poll was conducted with only science fiction readers as a sample group and the literature choices restricted to classic science fiction novels (Caves Of Steel, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Childhood's End, Dune, Ring World, Gateway, etc.)?

[BurtWorm]

24. I'd do much worse on that one, myself.

I've never been a science fiction fan.

[Greyhound]

6. Kick for my list. (Why not?)

1. Yes
2. Tried, but failed.
3. No
4. Yes, once and skipped through a lot.
5. No
6. Yes
7. No
8. No
9. No
10. No

[alfredo]

19. Read three on that list. "Midnight's Children" is on my must read list.

I have to be in the mood to read him. Read "My Name is Red" by Orhan Pamuk. I'm not a mystery fan, but I like his writing.

[SidDithers]

22. 1984 and Brief History for me...

but, seeing it on the list, I might have to go find a copy of The Selfish Gene.

Sid

[madaboutharry]

3. I was an English Lit major, so

I really did read many of the classics. There have been times when I have actually caught people not telling the truth about having read something. I frankly don't know why someone would pretend to have read a book that they actually didn't read. It seems silly.

[BurtWorm]

4. It's much easier to say you've read one than to have actually read one.

:shrug:

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. There's the 'seen the film' angle

I genuinely can't remember if I finished 'Pride and Prejudice', for instance - I know I started it, and got a fair way in, but I have the suspicion I had to return it to the library before I finished it. But I'd already seen film and/or TV adaptations, and so, plotwise, I'm OK on it. I have at least once said "I've read it" rather than go into a complete, long-winded explanation like this.

[KittyWampus]

5. I read Ulysess in school but don't remember it. Read 1984 but remember only a few scenes.

One would wonder if the survey accounted for things like lost brain cells.

Some books I remembered only long enough to take the test.

Others left a lasting imprint but I read on my own outside school (How Green Was My Valley & Tess of the D'Urbyvilles).

[Missy Vixen]

8. I've spoken to hundreds of people that tell me all romance novels are crap

and they've never read one.

Romance accounts for over fifty percent of mass market fiction sold in the US, and I'm thinking we also have a hefty market share in England (where this story originates) as well. This is over a billion dollars a year.

What do people tell me they read? The classics. ;-)

[Democrats_win]

9. Isn't that what bush did? People are following our former dear leader.

[seabeyond]

10. read 1984. wasnt impressed. no need to lie or feel guilty, i read tons

and have all my life. if i hadnt read 1984 recently and disappointed, lol i would not have remembered the book. i cannot even begin to remember all i have read. i read at least a book every other day for the most part

i never felt pressure to read a book i am not interested in because others have decided i should read it. cant/wont do it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. I'm reminded of that "greatest fictional character list" posted in the lounge a few days ago.

95% of the characters were from throwaway "classics" that were considered worthwhile 30 years ago.

People have their egos wrapped up in these books for some reason.

Sort of like the wine connoisseurs who couldn't tell the difference between red wine and white wine with red food coloring when tested.

[ogneopasno]

12. Ha! I just reread 1984 last week after 20 years. And I'm not lying. I read a ton, and went through

a bunch of the classics during long boring adolescent summers. If I haven't read it, I say so.

[kestrel91316]

13. I've read Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. A truly worthwhile classic.

[LanternWaste]

14. I'm not at all surprised...

I'm not at all surprised. Of everyone I know, it's only the contemporary sub-literature that is discussed and talked about. And even among the classics-readers themselves, there seems to be only a small niche of books (those classics which can be easily applied without much thought to current political winds-- much like Orwell, or those which have been co-opted by pop culture (gamers, goths, etc)-- like E.A. Poe or Shelly) that are read.




But bring up Whittier, Bunyan, or Carlyle and even the "hippest of the hip" will stare blankly (but nod intently).


(But I've never read War & Peace... :evilgrin: )

[salvorhardin]

16. I think part of the problem is what is considered great literature

For instance, what about To Kill A Mockingbird? It's an easy, fast-paced read (I'm rereading it now), the characters are engaging, and Harper Lee's voice is intimate. I wonder how many people today have read this book (which was only published in 1961 I think)? How many would lie about having read it? Do they consider it great literature?

[Lyric]

17. I'm not ashamed of what I've read and what I enjoy.

I've read lots of the classics, but not all of them--some of them I'm not even particularly interested in reading. I also love to read good sci-fi (a.k.a., nothing newer than the 70's) and both good AND bad fantasy. :)

Of the lied-about list above, I've read 1984, half of Ulysses, and the Bible. Nothing else.

:hi:

[azmouse]

18. I've read a ton of the 'classic' novels...

Problem is I did it many years ago and I don't remember every line or character.
But I did enjoy reading them. :)

[alfredo]

20. I still have "Silas Marner" nightmares.

[AlCzervik]

21. I just bought 3 Edith Wharton novels last week, is she a classic, i have no idea but

Newland Archer is kind of pompous douchebag.

i read some classic novels but i thought everyone had to read 1984 and animal farm in highschool, i know i did.

[SidDithers]

23. I pick up one of the adventure classics every now and then...

Ivanhoe, Three Musketeers, Horatio Hornblower. Fun stuff like that :)

Sid

[kiva]

25. When I started grad school, I learned the phrase:

"I'm familiar with his/her work." A lifesaver during class discussions...not an admission of ignorance, but not a lie. Of course that line didn't work if the book was the one under discussion that week.:P