This could be from any age really. I remember reading lots of books like Harry Potter as a 4th grader to seem smart to the teachers looking at me but I didn’t understand any of it. When the big YA dystopian boom was happening, I read tons of terrible YA dystopias to seem cool but many of them frustrated me.
In France we have an author, Aurélien Bellanger, the king of super complicated novels about specific, niche stories of economy and philosophy. Hardest prose I ever had to read, but sorely proud to have read him.
Back in primary school, I read an encyclopedia to look smart
In France we have an author, Aurélien Bellanger, the king of super complicated novels about specific, niche stories of economy and philosophy. Hardest prose I ever had to read, but sorely proud to have read him.
Back in primary school, I read an encyclopedia to look smart
I read Lolita at 14. I spent the rest of that summer hanging by the road, hoping some handsome grown man would take me on a cool road trip.
I read Lolita at 14. I spent the rest of that summer hanging by the road, hoping some handsome grown man would take me on a cool road trip.
I don’t get reading books to look smart. Three times now at lunch I’ve had random girls I didn’t know come up to me and ask what I’m reading, and every time it’s been so embarassing when I have to reveal that it’s V’s Dictionnaire Philosophique or Foucault or whatever instead of something normal people read at lunch. The last time, I just said it was something for class 😬
Yeah, I defs grew out of that whole “reading to look smart” thing back in middle school. I really really don’t want people asking me about what I’m reading because how do I explain to them “yeah I’m reading a book about different fishermans’ stories catching bluefin tuna.” That’s not really very exciting at all.