The Nation's Bad Education
Feb. 6th, 2007 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
What is worse: to be caught reading The Da Vinci Code on public transport, or one of Dan Brown's other novels? Because to read The Da Vinci Code tells the world that you are a sheep, a lemming with no taste; but to read another Dan Brown novel means that you actually liked The Da Vinci Code.
Other books you should not be caught dead reading on public transport:
Any other reading material I should add to this list?
Other books you should not be caught dead reading on public transport:
- Harry Potter novels (for anyone over 14). Yes, they are pleasurable to read, but reading one in public is like going to work in your Halloween costume. There's a time and place (i.e. your home) for these if you are an adult.
- The Dummy's Guide to...
- How to Make Friends and Influence People
- Chick lit novels (these usually have pink or baby blue covers, with cartoonesque drawings.)
- Jehovah Witness pamphlets
- Celebrity magazines and trashy tabloids (although it's OK to read The Weekly World News.)
- Autobiographies by ex-Big Brother contestants
Any other reading material I should add to this list?
no subject
on 2007-02-06 12:09 pm (UTC)And, yes, I have read Harry Potter on public transport and quite enjoyed it
no subject
on 2007-02-06 12:16 pm (UTC)I always feel guilty when I read Harry Potter because I know I could be using my hours for something better written. It's sort of the same as when you realize you've spent your weekend playing videogames when you could have been doing something more productive with your time.
(no subject)
Posted byno subject
on 2007-02-06 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 01:07 pm (UTC)Novels by Danielle Steele - these generally have some raised banding of a metallic color on the cover and usually the same raised color for the title and her name
Self-help books "men are from mars..." "adult child of a transgendered alcoholic", etc.
"Auto" biographies of current celebrities, the type that usually appear in trashy tabloids. Paris, Nicole and some cast members of Laguna Beach, the real OC have them out now.
no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:48 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 01:20 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:50 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 01:25 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:38 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:50 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:49 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:51 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 02:38 pm (UTC)unrelated sort of
Posted byRe: unrelated sort of
Posted byno subject
on 2007-02-06 02:40 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 02:50 pm (UTC)Personally i'd add Stranger in a Strange Land to that list, not because it's a bad book, far from it, but because it caused mad old hippies to approach me on the tube and speak to me about whether i "grokked" it and how much it changed their lives. I would have prefered scientologists actually.
(no subject)
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on 2007-02-06 02:56 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 04:09 pm (UTC)i've never actually read any harry potter books and don't plan to. i wish joan aiken's books were as popular. they are so much better written. her stories with dido twaite warped me for life in the best possible way. i used to read those on the train in chicago all the time, but i had editions with edward gorey illustrated covers.
no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Posted by(no subject)
Posted byI thought of another one!
on 2007-02-06 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-06 07:24 pm (UTC)And when I took a trip to Chicago last year, the entire time I read Jade Goody's life story. So don't judge me. Addressing the problem is the first step to overcoming it.
no subject
on 2007-02-06 08:52 pm (UTC)-Why?
(no subject)
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Posted by(no subject)
Posted byno subject
on 2007-02-06 07:39 pm (UTC)hehe
on 2007-02-06 08:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Posted byno subject
on 2007-02-06 08:18 pm (UTC)I can't speak for britain's education system. however, what i've gleaned from observations and encounters of the years here, and in michigan, I'm no longer surprised by which authors are popular. Regardless, if someone elese's taste in lit isn't my own, I'd rather see someone reading than not.
Also, the WWN prints one hell of a crossword puzzle.
no subject
on 2007-02-06 08:20 pm (UTC)guess I need sum a 'dat remedeel lurnin' too. ;)
(no subject)
Posted byno subject
on 2007-02-06 09:00 pm (UTC)i am not ashamed of liking Harry Potter because i started reading those books when i was ten. if those books came out now i would be ashamed to read them, but as it is i need to find out what happens to that ludicrous pop icon in the approaching final installment!
i often see young black girls reading these really ridiculous books written by gay black men that are supposed to be homosexual erotica. they have these overly-muscled, ferocious looking men on them, usually dripping with water, behind huge hot pink font spelling out something scandalous. i don't really understand this to be honest.
Were you going for the Belle & Sebastian look?
on 2007-02-07 07:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Posted byno subject
on 2007-02-06 10:30 pm (UTC)Also, Harry Potter is machine in pop culture, because it's GOOD!
no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:45 am (UTC)You can call me Lord Voldemort... ;-)
no subject
on 2007-02-06 10:54 pm (UTC)and thankyou again for writing what we're all thinking very well.
And no more 'Go Ask Alice' please. Most teenagers read it because they think it gives them some depth, and perhaps, a brain.
no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Posted byno subject
on 2007-02-06 11:46 pm (UTC)*LOL*
no subject
on 2007-02-07 07:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Posted byno subject
on 2007-02-07 03:11 pm (UTC)If it's porn, I try and keep a low profile, though something sometimes gives me away.
no subject
on 2007-02-07 03:38 pm (UTC)Book Snob
on 2007-02-07 04:50 pm (UTC)Re: Book Snob
on 2007-02-07 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-02-08 08:46 pm (UTC)Dianetics (or anything Scientology related)
and
The Playboy Interviews (even though they are interviews with authors and artists and politicians and NOTHING to do with sex)
no subject
on 2007-02-08 08:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Posted byno subject
on 2007-02-08 11:39 pm (UTC)Also, Nancy Drew books don't make you look too cool. I shouldn't worry too much though...at a guess I'd say about 50% of the people on my bus route are illiterate anyway, so...
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