Tom Phippen

Or the discovery of moronic snobs and the struggle to understand them

The Grauniad has a story on people who lie about what books they’ve read and folding the corners of pages.

On the first point, lying about a book is just a bit dim really. Do the people who don’t read the books also not watch bad sitcoms where a little white lie ends in acute social embarrassment? Or are they just snobbish enough to want to be well-read, but too lazy to do it? Who gives a fuck if you’ve read Ninteen Eighty-Four?¹ (Or if you spell it 1984?²) Just read and enjoy what you want to, even if it is the rubbish chick-lit that Mum reads³.

And on the second point, people who bitch about folding page corners are missing the point. It’s not the actual physical book that matters, it’s the bloody words inside it. A paperback⁴ costs a few quid so it’s not the end of the world if you read it to breaking point, and everything will be digital soon anyway which will sort of prove my point.

¹ Well I do, because it’s a great book. And you should read I Am Legend as well, the film was shit
² Apparently people who comment on The Guardian website
³ I do own 11 Tom Clancy books so and snobs can feel free to look down on me
⁴ I use the dust cover to keep my place with hardbacks, I wonder what the anti page folders think about that?