Books that make you look "cool"

[darren2k]

Hi everybody,

 

My names Darren, I am new to the board so wanted to make a post to hopefuly get to know a few of the existing members

 

Anyway I was just wondering what everyones vote is for the No.1 book that makes you look cool "to be seen reading in a public place". Now before we go any further, let me stress that I dont agree with this type of Tom Foolery...books should be read for the right reasons, but I do believe that some books have a certain kudos about them, and Joe Public might be seen reading these books on the tube to gain credibility amongst other commuters...(perhaps you have caught them out for holding the book upside down??)

 

I guess ultimately this is also in the eye of the beholder i.e. Whilst I might think somebody is "cool" for reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...somebody else might feel the same way about Bridges of Madison County.

 

So let me finally refine my question:

 

If you were on a train / the tube - and a chap / chapess were sat opposite you, what book would they need to be seen reading for you to deam them "cool".

 

Phew...I got there in the end

[Talisman]

Genesis of Man by June Austin !!

 

If you haven't worked it out already, I wrote it - now that would be cool, to get on a train/bus and see someone reading something you had written ... It would be even cooler to be recognised as the author, but then again, perhaps not.

Edited January 14, 2010 by Talisman

[Pablo]

I can't argue with Fear And Loathing, but I'm a tad stumped with any other suggestions. The temptation is simply to list my favourite books, which isn't what you're looking for.

 

If I'm going to be impressed with what someone's reading, it's usually on the grounds that it has a cool looking cover, or is brick-sized.

 

I'm not really sure what makes a book cool, so to speak. I suppose anything in the 'cult' cannon would qualify.

 

I'll go with 'Gravity's Rainbow' because I've tried to read it three times and given up. Also, anything by William Burroughs, or JG Ballard - I've had a crack at both and found them almost unreadable, so kudos to those who make it through them.

 

Was that what you were looking for Darren?

[darren2k]

Hi June,

 

I know exactly what you mean...I have produced music on a small scale for the last few years and on 1 occasion I had the fortune of hearing a piece of mine coming out of a strangers car stereo as they passed - I was immediately overcome with immense pride!

 

Pablo...yes thats what I was thinking! I guess there is no right or wrong answer...just hoping this would be a good way to get to know other members ...do you think you will give Gravitys Rainbow another shot??

[Nollaig]

Looking cool..... well I know what I WOULDN'T read and that's Twilight.

 

As for what I would.... A Clockwork Orange, maybe?

[sirinrob]

As for 'Gravity's Rainbow' I have read it - trick seems to be to get past the first 250 pages, then it starts to make sense:roll:

[darren2k]

Looking cool..... well I know what I WOULDN'T read and that's Twilight.

 

As for what I would.... A Clockwork Orange, maybe?

 

Hey Nollaig!! I agree with both...massive no go for Twilight...or Twiglet as its now referred to in my household...and Clockwork Orange is uber cool!

[Kell]

I just love seeing ANYONE reading ANY book in public. If I see someone reading a book, I automatically think to myself, "Cool! I wonder how much they're enjoying that one?"

[SueK]

Now, I reckon there is a fine line between looking cool and being a poser:lol:

 

My OH is from Thailand and one day after a trip up to London I bought him home a Thai newspaper and for a laugh I started to read it on the train home, I got some "cool" looks but I was really being a poser.

 

As for books to look cool reading, perhaps something like Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, or something like Crime and Punishment/Brothers Karamazov/War and Peace or something like that? I suppose it depends on what type of audience you want to attract.

 

As Kell says above, seeing someone reading a book is cool in itself.

[Freewheeling Andy]

It's either got to be something famous but difficult, like Naruda, or maybe stuff by Jung or Nietsche.

 

Or it's got to have the rebellious chic thing going on - Pynchon and Ballard are good calls, as is Hunter S Thompson. But you can't be reading the most mainstream of rebellious books, so not, for example, On The Road. If I saw someone reading Ballard's Concrete Island, or Pynchon's Mason&Dixon, or Brautigan's Trout Fishing In America, that would look very cool.

 

But it has to be something that almost nobody knows, really - reading mainstream-alternative stuff looks like you're trying too hard.

[frankie]

I just love seeing ANYONE reading ANY book in public. If I see someone reading a book, I automatically think to myself, "Cool! I wonder how much they're enjoying that one?"

 

I think Kell nailed it there

 

But to answer your question, I think if I would see a person reading something that's on my top 10 books of all time I'd think that person was cool personified Because obviously they have a good taste ^^ (For example: A Tale of Two Cities, Home at the End of the World, Shadow of the Wind, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Fingersmith, Running with Scissors...) I would also think a person's cool if they're reading something that I've been wanting to read for ages and think that book would be something that I would absolutely enjoy reading.

[Chrissy]

Any book by Haruki Murakami or Neil Gaiman or any book that you are enjoing so much you are riveted to it in a public place.

 

There's nothing cooler than an engrossed reader that has switched off from the world (while keeping a discreet eye out for fires and potential muggers!).

[Kylie]

Some great answers here!

 

I have to agree with Hunter S Thompson and A Clockwork Orange.

 

Any dystopian is going to make you look cool in my book.

 

Having just bought The Tibetan Book of the Dead, I think I would be impressed to see someone reading it (not because I just bought it but because, now that I think about it, it seems like a pretty cool book).

 

People reading classics would get a nod from me. Oh, and Vladimir Nabokov. But then again, it's a fine line to tread. As much as I love reading classics and anything by Nabokov, I would possibly think of someone as a poser if they did the same (double standards or what? )

 

It's probably for that reason that I usually try to hide the book that I'm reading so people can't tell. I don't want people thinking I'm a poser when I'm really just reading for the enjoyment! (I know - I shouldn't care about the opinions of complete strangers.)

[Freewheeling Andy]

Yeah, I kept War and Peace hidden because I didn't want to look poserish. That's why it has to be fairly obscure. If you know most people don't recognise a book, then you know it's not being carried for pose-value.

[Kimmy619]

If I saw anyone reading any book that I had read and enjoyed, then I would think that they were pretty cool as I have fantastic taste

[Janet]

I just love seeing ANYONE reading ANY book in public. If I see someone reading a book, I automatically think to myself, "Cool! I wonder how much they're enjoying that one?"

I'm like that - and I'll try at all costs to subtly see what they're reading!

 

If I saw anyone reading any book that I had read and enjoyed, then I would think that they were pretty cool as I have fantastic taste

Ditto!

 

I perhaps shouldn't admit this but on the flip-side I had to read a book in December for bookworms which is not my usual type of read, and when I was reading it in public I was very careful to keep it flat on the table so people couldn't see what it was!

[SueK]

I think the book cover also has a lot to do with it. I like Elisabeth Chadwick books but recently the covers look like real fluff books so I keep the cover down when I'm reading. That's being snobbish though isn't it?

 

I could always put a Samuel Becket cover on it and pretend I'm reading Waiting for Godot or something:mrgreen:

[Rawr]

If i were bothered by looking either 'cool' or 'intelligent' in this strange thing which we call a society these days, it would either be:

 

Twilight by Meyer (to look c00l)

 

or

 

Ulysses by James Joyce

[Nicola]

Or it's got to have the rebellious chic thing going on

 

Yup...I totally agree with you Andy It has to be rebellious but not too mainstreamed and if it's slightly twisted or difficult then you'd extra marks. So I'd probably say Hunter.S.Thompson, Richard Brautigan, Chuck Palaniuk, Chancery Stone.....I might have said Irvine Welsh but I think he's pretty mainstream now. I think anything attached to the Gonzo journalism scene would seem pretty cool too.

 

I also think that an extremely worn, old book can look pretty cool.

 

I once saw a woman in the hairdressers reading New Moon and remember thinking "that's not a good look".

[Scarlette]

Looking cool..... well I know what I WOULDN'T read and that's Twilight.

 

Come now, Nollaig, all the cool kids are doing it...

 

I think a book that gets me interested in reading it myself - whether it's a title, cover, or just seeing the reader enjoy it - would be something cool.

[ethan]

Gravity's Rainbow was the first title I thought of when I saw this thread. I was taking some evening courses back in the seventies when Pynchon was starting to really catch on in the academic world, and I had many a conversation when caught reading GR (actually re-reading it, if you can believe it, so besotted was I with Pynchon's prose) between classes. Moby-Dick is another one sure to get noticed. Lolita will definitely get some glances, but they may not be the kind to be comfortable with.

[Pablo]

As I said before - hats off to Sirinrob and Ethan for getting through the text jungle of Gravity's Rainbow.

 

I probably will give it one more go, but only when I have plenty of time on my hands, Darren. From what I read (about fifty pages), I did like the style, and have tried to emulate it in my own writing, but I found that it wasn't a book to leave for any length of time.

 

I also want to say that Nietzsche (had to google that for a spelling!) would really impress me too. I've only read snippets of his philosophies, but they've all been interesting.

[catwoman]

Looking cool..... well I know what I WOULDN'T read and that's Twilight.

 

As for what I would.... A Clockwork Orange, maybe?

 

I agree. I keep my Twilight reading at home if I can. I try not to read Dan Brown or Twilight in Public. I was reading New Moon in the coffee shop and I had the cover to the table so no one could see I was reading it

 

As for books that I think people think are cool.

 

Umm Chomsky I think is quite a cool thing to be reading. Very policital, very 'in' I suppose you can say. If I am reading a Chomsky book, I alway get loads of people come up to me and ask if it is good? what are my views on his theories, stuff like that.

 

Fiction author, hmm *Thinks* Some people would say Twilight. I think The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is kind of cool at the moment, I see a lot of the books from the series on planes and trains.

 

What a great thread!

[Freewheeling Andy]

The more I think about it, the more I suspect that I'm really impressed by people reading intellectual non-fiction; and ideally looking a bit too old to be reading it for university so you know it's just for their personal edification. Chomsky is a very good suggestion for that kind of thing.

 

I must try Gravity's Rainbow sometime. But Pynchon is hard. I've read two of his, and I think I need something like a 5 year break between them to let my brain relax. But, that said, I've never felt a need to discreetly cover up the fact I'm reading a Pynchon novel, so I guess that makes me think it's very cool.

[Nollaig]

I think reading any classic makes a person look literarily (?) cool. A lot of young adults read YA, a lot of people read new releases or well known modern fiction. But seeing someone sitting down with a battered, clearly re-read copy of some Dickens or Hemmingway or something - makes them look like they're really into their LITERATURE, as opposed to reading. Which I think makes them look cool.