Monday, October 11, 2010

Are you ashamed of what you read?

I´ve been thinking… It´s not a secret that I read a lot and in all sorts of places. In my bed, on my couch, in my tub, on the terrace, in the waiting room at the doctor´s, while eating alone, during classes at university, when I can´t sleep, while waiting for my bus (yes, I´ve decided since I kill so many trees due to reading books I should make it up by using public transportation, you know mind your carbon footprint and all that) and in the bus. Which brings me directly to what I´ve bee thinking about.

I can´t help but notice that there are A LOT of people who seem to be dying to know what you´re reading. Naturally the first thing that catches the eye is the cover. Even more so when many people (here in Germany) don´t understand the title of the books I´m reading (you would be surprised how few people actually really understand English).

Now, as it is really annoying sometimes, I´ve been thinking of buying one of thses: they are called “Hide-A Cover”, a funny way of concealing your reading preferences. Just look here:

hide a cover 3 hide a cover4 Hide a cover 2 Hide a cover 1

I really love the last one, the tiny font says: If you can read this...you are too close! :) Follow the link and you´ll find even more funny and stylish Hide-A-Cover. But honestly, I don´t want to hide my books. I´m totally comfortable showing what I read. I just find it amusing from time to time to watch how others react to the books I read. Would you like to know as well? I can tell you, some of the people in the biggest tow south of the Bavarian Forrest are quite… well, how to put it… uptight. There are many –sorry-old people taking the bus, your typical hormon overdosed teenage boys as well as students like me, you get it. Not to mention all the clichés that are connected with reading romance books, be it paranormal, historical, sci-fi or your typical chick lit book.

I´m planning on doing a little experiment on myself. I´m gonna choose say four or five books, YA, UF and PNR or whatever comes to mind, read it very publicly and tell you how people react.

Now, I´ve already got a few in mind. Look:

ecstasyindarkness hungergames tempest-rising-634x1024 halo Wait for dusk The Darkest Kiss Final Firelight cover

Have you any other suggestions? Or do you want to see how people react to one of the books you own? Check out my goodreads “to-read” and “read” shelves see all the books I own and let me know! Or tell me if it´s a total stupid idea please!

11 comments:

Fi-chan said...

LOL, would really love to know the result of your experiment. :D

and I thought quite a lot of people in Germany understand English very well. I have a few online friends from Germany, they are pretty good in English.

Steph said...

I am not at all ashamed of what I read. I would love to know how your results!!! I think its funny that people actually want to hide there books from other people!!

Anonymous said...

I myself have gotten very negative reactions from the books I read (why I love my ereader), but the only one I see getting any "ok, whatever" responces from would be the Hunger Games and the Firelight, the others? Good luck, and let me know how they react.

Sullivan McPig said...

Good luck!
I myself don't care what people think about what I read.
And here in the Netherlands it's the same: lots of people aren't that good in understanding English so I get more raised eyebrows over reading English books than over what kind of book I'm reading.

Savannah said...

I can understand why people do react they way they do because of the stuff that is in the books. For ex. romance book are considered porn in the christian world. I have to be careful with what I read. Because of course of the sex, lauguage, etc that is in the book. I mostly read YA. Sometimes I will feature out and read something different. Don't get me wrong, I love romances. When I do read it as soon as it get to a bad sex scene, I skip it. I love the plot, the drama, etc. so thhose parts really don;t matter to me. Sometimes I wish it wouldn't be so explicit. But I am not ashamed of what I read. I carry my books with me everywhere. And I take them out everywhere. Where I live were poor. Very poor. So not that many people are literate and don't know what I read. But I love to sit there and tell them all about it. Good Luck with your experiment!

Jeremy said...

I love the idea! I can't wait to see your results. I also read in public a lot and I would always get asked what I'm reading. I tell them the title then I get the blank stare. Then they ask what its about, like their going to read it.
But, I now have a kindle so the only question I get is "What is that?" The name of the book I'm reading never crosses their mind. HA

Christine said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christine said...

@ Fi-chan: everybody has English in school today, but there are indeed lots of people who only know the basics nonetheless.
@ all of you:
Thanks for your encouragement! I´m going to start my experiement right away, even though I´m most excited about how people are going to react to Ecstasy in Darkness! *grins*
Maybe I´m thinking of starting with dear Jane True... I´ll keep you posted! :)

Kelly aka yllektra(I Work For Books) said...

ROTFL!!
OMG, I so understand you!
I live in Greece and a lot of people actually speak English enough to get by, so any book including the word "Lover" in the cover is sometimes the object of ridicule! lol
I remember when I was reading Lover Eternal and the other books of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward... hehe, some of the younger men were kinda snickering! lol

Midnyte Reader said...

I don't remember the last time I've been embarassed by a book I've read. I think if I was that ashamed, I would just read it at home.

However, I do carry & read my books everywhere. To be honest, I wish more people would take an interest! I want to talk about books! Which is why I'm so glad I have met all the book bloggers.

I think this is a great experiment. I can't wait to hear what happens. I'll pay more attention to people's reactions to my books too.

Unknown said...

LOL I've been thinking about those fake covers too!!! Though i do llike to read whatever I LIKE and just see how people react hehe

xoxo