What do I have to say to that?
I wish I could deny it, stick up for those who want to read the classics and actually have read them, but the truth fails me here. I am a part of that 'everybody', this occasion less rarely than you or I could have predicted. At the prickling of hype over "Who Killed a Mockingbird", I borrowed the book from a friend. And for six months, it sat on my "High Priority" bookshelf, literally collecting dust.
I practically gurgled with excitement at spotting "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre" in the local bookstore, but to this day, nearly three months since the DOP (date of purchase), the former remains unopened and the latter only opened once, for two hours, on a curious Tuesday night.
Why do I even buy these books? Why do I feel so oddly proud to own them, if I never actually feel like reading them?
I guess, like the "everybody" that Mark Twain was referring to, I want to someday say that I have read them. I want to be able to tell my children, and my children's children, that titles as prestigious as those have been added to my "Reading Resume" - I want to be able to talk about the characters and plots and quote the stories in my conversations with friends or acquaintances who have read them.
It is for the same reason that a man would choose to purchase a Mercedes or a BMW, when a Kancil or Myvi performs the same function of transporting him from A to B. It is for the same reason that the Malaysian government has to campaign feverishly to get people to buy local products - because a large proportion of Malaysians are brand-conscious.
And it is for that same reason that I tell myself that I like to read "the classics", when the books I really enjoy are like "Who Moved My Blackberry" and "Freakonomics".
It is for the same reason that I would be more likely to list "Forrest Gump" or "Silence of the Lambs" as a favourite movie, than tell the truth and admit to madly loving "Mean Girls" and "Hairspray".
Maybe it's just me. Maybe none of you are geeky enough to see eye-to-eye with me on this. But I know I'm not alone - otherwise Mark Twain wouldn't have said it. ;P
