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.
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.