It wasn’t long ago that I was proud to pull out my bestseller on the subway. I would relish over those occasions when looking up from the pages, I would spot a fellow reader emerged in a matching thick paperback like Middlesex or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and we’d exchange that knowing glance that said “I feel like I know you, stranger” or “that ‘crocus’ part was pretty weird, huh?” Moreover, I used to love judging people based solely on their book choice; you can realize that the attractive hipster fellow takes himself too seriously before you even talk to him, based on the tattered copy of Catcher In The Rye he’s reading. Reading on the subway was a way to bring people together, to make yourself look like whatever literary sham you always dreamt you could be, and a way to inconspicuously judge everyone around you. But the days of smugly displaying your intellectual capacity on public transportation are over, all because of Fifty Shades Of Grey.
Yesterday my friend (who works at a book store and publishing house, and is a lover of literary transit experiences) confessed that she has started the Grey series and is so ashamed of partaking in the indulgence in public, that she has considered buying a Kindle (ultimate book store employee betrayal) so she can read without judgmental eyes. She say it’s inappropriate and embarrassing to read Fifty Shades in public because even if people haven’t read it, they know what it’s about. It’s up to par with reading Playboy in the barbershop. But with her long commute each day she can’t stand leaving it at home, and can’t help read it if it’s with her.
So, friend, here are some ways to help hide your scornful addiction to scholastic smut (which I haven’t read…yet), and hopefully the next book you’ll read will make everyone around you feel dumb by comparison.
-Photo Via Shut Up Merlin
To reach this post’s author, Kate Messinger, follow her on Twitter.
