Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Of Thickie Pariahs and Books By The Yard

Victorian Beckham has never done it in her life.

Neither had Noel Gallagher ... until just recently.

Read a book, that is.

I think there are plenty of people out there who don't read books and who are none the worse for it
says Hester Lacy in today's Guardian:
... it's fine for anyone to confess that they really can't stick shopping; one can even seem quite smug about it. Not so if you aren't keen on books. Reading must be about the only pastime that is pretty much universally seen as "good" and virtuous - so to say openly that you don't like books puts you beyond the pale. For someone to say they don't care for reading labels them as some kind of thickie pariah, fair game for any insult. To decide any such thing on the basis of one single trait seems both sweeping and snobbish.
Meanwhile, concerned to show the world that he certainly isn't (despite popular opinion) a thickie pariah, George tells us what he's taking along as holiday reading . Convinced?

I remember Thor Kah Hong of Skoob Books telling me years ago about how he had customers come into his shop and order books by the yard to complement their home decor and fool vistors.

Update:

Apparently Gerry Adams (Sinn Fein leader) isn't much of a reader either. According to Rober McCrum in The Observer he confided to the New York Times not only that he had never finished Ulysses but didn't know anyone who had. McCrum asks for suggestions for a reading list to rescue Posh from the depths of her own ignorance.

5 comments:

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

haha, i am inspired by that last paragraph to post something at my Clouded Moon blog. watch for it!

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

it is impossible that a person can NOT have read a book in her/his life. surely in school, you would have been forced to read ... something. non?

eyeris said...

Some people actually DO buy books just for show.. They usually go for the popular ones or award-winning ones so that when visitors come and see their booshelves, they will think the guy damn intelectual..

waste of a good book, if you ask me

Pyewacket said...

Oh, a big chimpanzee hoot for that! No wonder he needs such long holidays, poor thing, it's slow going when you have to sound the words out syllable by syllable....

bibliobibuli said...

Yes, I went and took a look at your blog Visitor. I'm impressed by the decorative qualities of your bookshelf ...

One would have thoght that Ms. Beckham was probably forced to read a book somewhere along the line ... otherwise it doesn't speak very well for our British education system, does it?

eyeris - oh yes, I've seen such beautifully bound matching collections of "classic" books on non-readers bookshelves and wanted to nick them for myself just to give them a home where they were loved ... (I also feel upset for my books when they aren't being read by anyone, surely they must feel lonely? That's why I tend to tend them out from time to time!)

3rd chimp - ohhhh ... that explains it ... *LOL*