Always Anna

I read a brief article in Newsweek yesterday, “Seen, and Not Read.” The article brings up the idea that some books seem to be purchased just because they look good, not because people actually enjoy them. Since I am an avid reader - I’ll read just about anything - I found this pretty interesting. Are there people out there that buy books just to put them on a shelf, whose main goal isn’t to actually read the book, but to impress people by implying that they have? Who are these freak shows?

Jason recently blogged about a related idea - buying books because it has been turned into a movie. Like me, he’s embarassed to admit that a movie may have been the reason he bought a book. I refuse to buy books that have movie photos on the cover, because I hate the idea that Hollywood could make me buy a book. I don’t think this kind of snobbishness is the same thing as buying a book just to impress people, but it did make me wonder - am I a snob too?

I’m still working my way through “Guns, Germs and Steel,” although I have broken it up with a couple of Nora Roberts books. So, I don’t think I am a book snob - if I admit I read romance books, I can’t be, right?