British survey says 62 percent of people lie about having read classic books
Have you ever pretended you鈥檇 read a well-known book at a dinner party when you鈥檇 only seen the movie version or read the summary on the back?
Then you鈥檙e not alone.
According to a new survey, 62 percent of Britons say they鈥檝e read classic books they鈥檝e actually never picked up. The results of the study, which were discovered by people billed only as 鈥渁 leading research team鈥� by the , came from talking to 2,000 members of the British public.
Fifty-two percent of those who responded said they鈥檝e displayed books on their shelves that they haven鈥檛 actually read, while 42 percent said they鈥檝e only seen a film or TV version of a classic novel but have pretended they read the book, too.
The novel most people lie about having read, according to the Telegraph, is 鈥�1984鈥� by George Orwell, with 鈥淲ar and Peace鈥� by Leo Tolstoy coming in second, and 鈥淕reat Expectations鈥� by Charles Dickens in third. Coming in at fourth place was 鈥�Catcher in the Rye鈥� by J.D. Salinger, 鈥�A Passage to India鈥� by E.M. Forster took fifth, and the 鈥�Lord of the Rings鈥� trilogy was sixth, followed by 鈥�To Kill A Mockingbird鈥� by Harper Lee at seventh, 鈥淐rime and Punishment鈥� by Fyodor Dostoevsky at eighth, 鈥淧ride and Prejudice鈥� by Jane Austen at ninth, and 鈥�Jane Eyre鈥� by Charlotte Bronte at tenth.
According to the , women are more likely to lie about having read a classic novel than men.聽
Those who rely on film adaptations of classic books to pretend they perused the page have better shots at getting away with it if they鈥檙e fibbing about titles like 鈥淟ord of the Rings,鈥� 鈥淧ride and Prejudice,鈥� and 鈥淛ane Eyre,鈥� which each received high-profile movie adaptations within the last 15 years. Meanwhile, 鈥淕reat Expectations,鈥� which came in third on the most-lied-about list, has been adapted into a film starring Helena Bonham-Carter, Ralph Fiennes, and Jeremy Irvine which will be released this October in the US.
