Have you ever lied about reading a book? Why?

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Not about reading a book, except for Peyton Place, but come to think about it, the only ones who knew I read it because they were as guilty as I!

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This is terrible, but I lied about reading the whole Bible! When I was about 12 years old, I was supposed to be reading the entire bible, a few verses at a time each day. I had this book that told you what verses to read each day and then had a little devotional to read along with it. My grandmother was reading the same thing, and she would ask me every week how I was doing. I led her to believe I read the whole thing over the year-long period. I just didn't have the heart to tell her that I had become bored with it early on, and wasn't keeping up with it. I guess I didn't want to disappoint her. I STILL feel guilty about that, and I'm 32 now!

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Absolutely not!! Why would anyone put themselves in such an embarrassing predicament. How can you fake a discussion of a book?

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The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. We had to read it in high school and I couldn't get past the first chapter. I was an English honors student and .......I still remember this 30 years later. :)

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Sure have....Great Expectations in junior high school. What little I did read bored me to death.

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Yes, the teacher told me to read a book I didn't want to read but it was an easy topic for a book report so I made chocolate gooshy worms(not real) and said it was about kids that ate worms : How to Eat Fried Worms. By the way I got a 100 on my bookreport.

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No, because I would not have been able to ask any questions about the book if I ever lied about it.

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No, I truly dislike lying. Once I could not read a book that was assigned reading for a Critical Analysis of Lit. class, because it was a favorite of my recently divorced husband. I finally went to the professor and told her that reading Catch-22 was impossible and too painful for me. She smiled and gave me other choices.

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Yes I have - a friend gave me a book that she said I would enjoy - tried to read it and it stank - told her I did and thanked her.

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I lied when I said I read some EM Forster books for a college english class. They bored me to tears!

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OK, I confess I have lied twice about reading Moby Dick. What a load off the conscience of this English Lit major to finally fess up. I just could not get into this fish book. Required reading for two separate lit courses. I just winged it on the Cliff Notes and what I remembered of the movie.

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I don't know if this counts as "lying" but I have discussed or brought up in conversation books I haven't read. Usually what I say is based upon reviews I have read etc. Then again, I never actually say I have read them, but I also usually don't come out and say I haven't unless asked.

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I lied to save face, of course. I work with a reporter, Lyn Riddle, who also writes true crime books. When she visited our local mystery book club promoting her book ASHES TO ASHES, I had not read it. It was embarrassing, so of course I lied, nodding in appropriate places and acting like I was in the know. I have, however, read her latest release, OVERKILL, and am assured she is an excellent true crime writer. 

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Hasn't every one who has ever been to school; starting at about 5th grade and going through graduate school?

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Only in my high school years. A few times, instead of actually reading the WHOLE book, I would buy the Cliff Notes and scoot by with the abbreviated version. If, after reading the short-version, I needed more clarification, I would THEN open up the book. I can proudly say I didn't use this method of study in college. 

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I went to three different high schools, read only half of the same three books I read for "bookreports" for each school. Also, I never really read any of the books for any of the other classes. (I graduated with a B average) My desire to read anything from cover to cover didn't return until after high school. Since then if I don't have a book in my hand people don't recognize me. 

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Sins of omission? I can't say that I've lied about reading a book, but I've certainly discussed a book as though I had read it and never mention that I haven't. Between reviews on NPR, NYT Times, Book magazine, The New Yorker, etc, it's really quite easy to do. I think a lot of people do this. In fact, several years ago there was a clever essay about doing just that -- the author finally fessed up, saying "No, I haven't but' I've read the review." To be honest, I don't think I fool all people. Folks who know me well can usually tell whether I've read it or not based on my comments and questions - although reviews that quote huge passages make it easy to fake it.

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The only time I lied about reading a book was in college. We were supposed to read this book, I never had time to read it. But when asked by the prof. if read, I said yes. Not a good lie b/c I had to answer a question in front of the class re: the book...

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No, never...it would be so easy to be caught in a lie. It is easier to ask the person about the book and put it on your summer reading list! 

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No...somebody always ask you about a particular scene & it's hard to bluff that....

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Never. I freely admit that there are books I haven't been able to finish, but to lie about reading a book is tantamount to throwing it in the trash. In fact, I subscribe to the quote, "This book shouldn't be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force!" Unfortunately, I can't remember who said that. Fortunately, there have been mercifully few books that I've had to say that about.

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YES! While I was bedridden from an accident, my dear friend brought me a HUGE box of Gothic Romances. (Approximately 100) I just knew she would ask me later, if I had enjoyed the books, so I skimmed over two books. She still enjoys telling our mutal friends how much I enjoyed reading her books, while I was recouping. Every one just loves to ask me why I don't have any Gothic Romances in my collection of over 5,000 books. You know, my friend has never mentioned the copy of "Delta Venus" that I placed among her box of books! :-)

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This is probably the most common reason---junior high school English class. We had read the Brontes, Dickens, George, and were ending up reading the Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I couldn't stand the book and was reading T.H. White's Once and Future King on my time. There was no room for such darkness and until this day I have never read that book. Thank goodness for the exam; there were essay questions and you could pick four. 

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I probably have lied about reading a book, but I am such an inveterate reader that I probably would read rather than not about anything. More likely, I have thought I'd read a book and then realized through conversation that I hadn't. Sometimes I read without paying attention to the author's name or the title, but that's happening less and less.

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I lied about reading Joseph Conrad's LORD JIM. My English professor, my sophomore year in college, was Dean of Women and my father's first cousin. I was expected to not only take her course, but to do very well in it. I had no problem reading the literature assignments until I hit LORD JIM. I tried several times, but could never get going on that book. Knowing we would be tested on it, I made a quick weekend trip home and bought the Classic Comic Book. After reading it, I loaned it to another student (whose family lived across the street from the professor's family in her hometown), who couldn't read it either. It saved our skins. We both passed the test.

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If I had to read a book for assignment when I was in High School and haven't....might lie about that:)

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Yes and I did it to save time by reading the comic book, the classics version, but teacher tripped me up and had to read the book anyway and never did it again.

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Absolutely not! Why would a person lie? If I had needed to read it for a class, I would have to have read it sooner or later anyway, so why lie. If I were just chatting with people about books, I would rather hear them tell about a good book that I might read. What on earth would be the point of saying I had read something if I hadn't?

anonymous - 
Yes, I have lied about reading a book for a class, just to get credit because I had fallen behind in my reading for the quarter. But, I felt the guilt and promptly read it for my own self worth. I have not lied about a book since.

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Yes, I remember lieing about reading a book,,,about 100 Years ago in school, When a required book report was due, and the book was not very interesting to a young girl at the time.... Now I choose which books I want to read.

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Yes, at our school we have the Accelerated Reader program. You read a book and take a test on it to earn points. Every one in our grade is required to read and pass 1 book for each semester. One semester I was reading books that weren't on the "list" (this means you can't take a test on that book) Come the day before the deadline and I watched the movie instead. (I passed with a 95%)