You Mean One Has To Read The Pesky Thing?

"Books are the new snobbery", according to a new survey. The Guardian's report says:

" 'Driven partly by pressure from incessant literary prize shortlists, more than one in three consumers in London and the south-east admit having bought a book, 'solely to look intelligent'."

One in 25 surveyed had read Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children; one in 100 had read Andrea Levy's Small Island and -- gasp! -- not one so far had read John Banville's The Sea.

The report continues: "Elyas Choudhury, an Expedia director, said yesterday: 'We seem to have lost sight of the fact that reading a book should be a personal, enjoyable and relaxing experience, not one dictated by social pressure.' "