‘Imagine how healthy the book business would be if people actually read all the books they claim to have read.’  — John Green (@johngreen) on Twitter

I haven’t read many of the well-known classics. My father would buy them for me, and I would go back later and exchange them for Nancy Drews, Tintins and other easy reads. Also, once I borrowed a book from a library when I was 11. I found it last year when my mother was renovating the house.

—  second year, economics, Jadavpur University

The book I lie about is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Because I like to consider myself as an avid reader of dystopian literature, and Brave New World is one of the benchmarks of the genre.

— second year, Asutosh College 

I have lied about reading Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. I never wanted to read it but everyone I met somehow assumes that I must’ve read it, so I play along.

— anonymous

As a romance, Pride and Prejudice left me bored. I had just finished These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer, which remains my favourite historical romance, and Jane Austen lacked Heyer’s wit, characterisation and the ability to tug at adolescent heartstrings. So, here’s the thing. I didn’t finish P&P. Now throw me off a cliff. (I did finish Sense and Sensibility, though, and that was a lot better.)

— a 27-year-old member of Team t2

I used to be an avid reader as a child but that changed as I grew up. I blame my fickle concentration. However, I knew it sounded good on a CV. When I was interviewing for a position in t2, I was asked by one of the interviewers (who’s now my senior, btw) if I read books. I promptly said yes. “Which book are you reading now?” “Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil,” I replied promptly. It was NOT a lie. The thing is, it’s been two years and I still haven’t “finished” reading said book. It’s a standing joke between my senior and me now.

— a 24-year-old member of Team t2

I can’t explain this, but each time I try reading a few pages of Love’s Shadow by Ada Leverson, something bad happens to me. It’s like a cursed book. That’s why I stay away from it now. I know it’s a bizarre thing but it is there.

—  second year, English, Jadavpur University

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I say I have read it to sound intellectual and get with the ladies. But too long, man. Too long.

— anonymous

My deepest and darkest secret is that I hate the Harry Potter books. But how can I possibly say the boy wizard does not interest me in a world full of Potterheads? People are going to bury me alive. So I lie my way through life. And therefore I live.

— first year, psychology, Asutosh College

I have not read a single Charles Dickens in the original. I have read the abridged and children’s versions, so I know the stories and so I go around pretending as if I had read ’em all — David Copperfield to Oliver Twist, Tale of Two Cities to Great Expectations. All was well, till I realised that David Copperfield is 1,000-plus pages! Now I have modified my lie and left out Copperfield

 — 34-year-old member of Team t2

I judge people who say they love Kafka’s Metamorphosis. I think they are pseudo and wannabe. I might not hold Twi-hards in very high esteem but at least they get points for honesty. I lump people who “love” Dostoevsky, Jean-Paul Sartre and Murakami in the same bracket. You know you are saying you love them because it makes you look intelligent.

— a 35-year-old member of Team t2

First and foremost, I love my country. But you can’t make me read anything written by Indian writers in English. And I don’t just mean the IIT-MBA types. I don’t care for even the so-called “intellectual” writers, even if they make it to Booker lists and other places of high regard. Let people whose mother tongue is English write in English please. There, I said it. Let all the colonial hangover brickbats fly!

— a 35-year-old member of Team t2

 

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