Do you read romances? Have you read the classics?
Have you ever pretended that your read a book? Have you ever lied about it? This usually happens with the classics and famous books. A lot of people really want to read them, go to the bookstore, search through the new releases and end up buying that classic novel that everyone says it’s a must read, often recommended, and want to understand why. But never had the chance – or time – to read themselves.
Time goes by. You don’t have enough time. You forget about it and now you’re not excited about it anymore. You give up. Oh well.
Alright, but…You do have that book at home, just sitting and waiting for you to open it! …Right? Then one of your lovely curious friends go to your house, sees the book lying there and pops the question: “What did you think? Did you like it?” – Uh oh! That’s when the pretender rises.
You say something good or bad about it, though you never got to read it – obviously you won’t tell this little, tiny fact.
Sometimes the pretender never even had the book, but says he read it anyways. Just a small lie.
Finally, there are those who say “I only read the good stuff, not the bestsellers.”, when hidden under the pillow is a shiny, but not very new, bestseller everyone has been talking about for the last few months! Nasty.
***
That leads me to the following questions:
• Question #1: How do you find out when a person s pretending about reading a book?
Is it easy? Yes! Well, he won’t know the details, will he?
• Question #2: Why pretend?
Very easy. But complicated. They want to show that they’re as – or more – cultured, clever, and intellectual as their friend(s). Feel as if they’re part of the group. It can be pathological, an unconscious condition till someone finds out the truth…Oops! What else would cause it?
• Question #3: Do short stories count?
…Did you open it? Are you interested about the content? But then before the first chapter you abandoned it and said you read it. Yes, no matter the size, a lie is a lie..Or am I wrong?
• Question #4: What if the question was only “Did you finish that book?” ?
Yes, convince yourself that to omit isn’t to lie ; )
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Now here’s my story:
But in the end all of us have told one of those little lies before, at least once in our lives.
I did when I was younger! I lied about the first Harry Potter title, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone when I had only read the second, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. But of course, kids like the pictures, the format and listen to mom reading before bed – the latest never happened to me, I will never recover from that! But the visual is as important as the content for them. Sadly, I eventually stopped reading when I was a teenager, especially the big, old, classic books – Shame on me! Had I known I was missing so much!
But when we’re teens sometimes we find other things that suddenly grab our attention more: music, internet, dance etc…Then we leave school and are forced to face the dusty, boring books during college. That’s when I started to reconnect with books and the splendid experience of reading once again. I’ve had an opportunity to catch up and fill my recently bought bookshelf – and it goes without saying that I’m now part of the RWPRG*, and by that:
1) I solemnly swear not to do any good to never again be a pretender.
2) I also swear to catch up on all the books on my to be read pile…Someday. I promise to do my best, Okay?!
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OR You can write a post with your confession and link up!* Welcome to #RWPRG – Readers Who Pretend(ed) Recovering Group
Have you ever pretended? About what book(s) and when?
Confess and you’ll be forgiven! Hit the comments! We’ll support you through your recover
This post was influenced by this article written in portuguese.
3 comments
Maria D.
May 28, 2012 at 11:39 AM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Lol….great post! I’ll admit that I haven’t read a lot of the classics but I do usually admit that I haven’t read the book but have seen the movie…lol….then there are some classics that I had to read for school and I’ll never forget them (Lord of the Flies anyone? or The Scarlet Letter?). I never did understand why I had to read the Scarlet Letter three times between Jr. High School and High School….would have preferred to have read it once and then read two other classics instead. I’ll admit that I have not read “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austin but I have started it 3 times…I just always seem to put it down though.
Nat
May 28, 2012 at 11:41 AM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
I bet Pride and Prejudice is a winner in that category, a lot of people said they’ve read it while they’ve only watched the movie!
Thanks for commenting, Maria =D
Tyraa
May 28, 2012 at 8:01 PM (UTC -3) Link to this comment
Great post! I remember getting out Pride and Prejudice from the library and only reading about a quarter before throwing the towel in LOL. I kept having to look up what words meant. Although to be fair I never have claimed that I’ve read it fully. But ONE day i to.