The Nation's Bad Education

[dotinthesky]

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:

• 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?

Comments

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Scientology is a big NoNo over here (despite the huge temple they just opened downtown.) I think you can get away with Playboy though, since many people openly read The Sun (which has its notorious Page 3 girls.)

[olamina.livejournal.com]

Yeah Scientology is a big no no for me now too. It was a weird few years.

Playboy Interviews is
Since Playboy's inception in 1953, guys have been telling their sweethearts that they read the magazine for the articles. The third installment of Playboy interviews gives their claim some validity (although probably not enough). The first two collections were grouped under the topics of sports figures and film directors, while the latest simply has the designation "Larger Than Life," and indeed those interviewed were awfully big for their britches. The interviewees include Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Bette Davis, Bob Dylan, Mae West, and Muhammad Ali, among others. The interviews--in true Playboy fashion--are revealing, but also fascinating to realize are the periods in which they occurred. Sinatra was interviewed in 1963, and the cold war was definitely on his mind. Bette Davis, in 1982, had a long career of ups and downs to sound off about.

Interesting? yes. Sexy and salacious? No

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

And they also published short-stories didn't they? I think I remember Gore Vidal or John Updike mentioning once in an interview a story of theirs in Playboy.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I can relate to the weird cult years thing. I went through an Osho period. *shudders*