Guilty Reading Secrets Revealed

An online survey carried out by World Book Day this year has found that two thirds of people have claimed to have read a book they actually haven't. The principal reason given for lying is the desire to impress, and a reluctance to divulge the writers they really enjoy reading. The most popular book to have lied about reading is 1984 by George Orwell, with 42% of surveyed people saying they had said they had read it even if they hadn't. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy came second with 31%, and Ulysses by James Joyce was in third place with 25%.

Those who lied have claimed to have read:
1. Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell (42%)
2. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (31%)
3. Ulysses by James Joyce (25%)
4. The Bible (24%)
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (16%)
6. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (15%)
7. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (14%)
8. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (9%)
9. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama (6%)
10. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (6%)

J.K. Rowling, John Grisham and Sophie Kinsella were among the authors that people actually did enjoy reading. 41% of respondents confessed to having turned to the back of the books to read the end before finishing the story. Additionally, 48% admitted to buying a book for someone else and reading it first. Many respondents, 91%, said that they had stayed up late at night to finish reading a book. The survey also found that people can't bear to throw their books away, with 77% of respondents saying they buy extra bookshelves when they fill up. In another survey for World Book Day undertaken by Sky Arts’ “The Book Show”, it was revealed that 56% of people would like to write a book, with most women (18%) wanting to write crime/thriller or mystery and most men (20%) wanting to write sci fi and fantasy. 11% of those asked also revealed that they have written a book but not yet had it published. The survey found that book club numbers have doubled over the past year. It also revealed that 44% of children claimed they would rather be reading books than speaking to their friends on social networking sites, reading magazines, using Twitter or blogging.